3abHNeng Noter
The World
The poem is interesting in context with "The Hobbit" although the poem
is from 1650. Because Tolkien was a professor of literature (Oxford) so he
has most likely read the poem. He might have been inspired by this poem.
The poem is religious. It refleckts a dualistic conception of the world
with a secular, perishable world with gold and pleasures. Above that
there is a devine and eternal Heaven.
The poem gives examples of persons who prefer the secular world eg.:
-The anxious miser ('gnier') who clings to his material riches and is so
afraid of thieves that he doesn't even trust his own hands.(Line 31-36)
The miser in "The Hobbit" could represent the dwarves and the dragon.
-The epicure (livsnyder) enjoys life. But there are two kinds of
epicures: the one who does it in a small way and there are the ones who
wallow in pleasure. Bilbo is in the begining an epicure. (He loves food,
a good pipe and so on). But the elves are worse.
-The ones who live in grots and caves and prefer darkness. Bilbo, the
orcs and Gollum live in places like that. Gollum also hates the
light.
Jenni