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I would have to disagree, Child. I to this day consider Smith of Wootton Major and his Beorthnoth poem, both late, very accomplished effective considering what he was trying to do with them. I think his biggest problem was depression. Plain and simple. And mostly unresolved. Feats unaccomplished were his doom, and they are in themselves cause for depression. People in the throes of depression often say they are "too tired". Consider his tendency to play endless rounds of Patience, wasting his time on something frankly vain except that it gave him minor accomplishment for "getting at least something done", and even winning often enough. It seems like it was a drug/tranquilizer that he needed to fend off the despondency of so much unfinished.
Maybe there's a chance that the Tolkien estate will, some far generation from now, open up the Legendarium to be recreated by some capable hand or hands. Who knows?
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