LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 07 - In the House of Tom Bombadil

[Bêthberry]

Just popping in for a brief comment on the passage which HerenIstarion has discussed. (A pleasure to see you back, HI, even if briefly.)

Ho! Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadillo!
By water, wood and hill, by the reed and willow,
By fire, sun and moon, harken now and hear us!
Come, Tom Bombadil, for our need is near us!

Before I point out something about the last line, I want to provide this short preamble. Literary allusions can be a conundrum. What role do they play in helping readers interpret passages? Who are they meant for? If readers don't "see" or "get" the allusion, is the meaning lost? Or can it be ascertained elsewhere in the text? And when is an allusion "really" there? If I see a resemblance which another reader does not, what matters that?

"Come, Tom Bombadil, for our need is near us!"

Tom teaches the hobbits to sing this, the lesson placed significantly at the end of our current chapter. And, of course, when the hobbits do get into trouble with the nasty barrow wight, Frodo recalls the verse and sings it, in effect summoning Tom's help to save them from the wight.

So, what's the allusion here? Well, the line reminds me of a line from a well-known Psalm, in a passage which for me is familiar because I have seen it used in other English texts.

Psalm 22: 1, 11.

My God, my God, why hst thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

. . .

Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

The psalm provides an eloquent and evocative description of the physical sensations of fear and affliction and succour in the lyric rhythm for which psalms--songs--are revered. Do I think this means Tom is Eru? No. But there is an elemental cry for help to one who is master of himself, the Ring, and his realm.