'The World Ahead'

I've never explained why I decided to title my blog, "The World Ahead." If it isn't already imminently obvious, I'm a huge fan of the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. I grew up reading "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings," and have probably read the books upwards of a dozen times. The books were the roots of my imagination as a child, and as I've grown, Middle Earth has remained a wonderful and mystical place for me to let my thoughts and imagination linger.

The phrase "the world ahead" is from one of the many songs and poems Tolkien wrote to appear in the trilogy. The first time we hear the song is when Frodo, Pippin and Sam sing it along a wooded road of the Shire, not long after they've set out from Hobbiton. Tolkien writes, "Bilbo Baggins had made the words, to a tune that was as old as the hills, and taught it to Frodo as they walked in the lanes of the Water-valley and talked about Adventure" (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 1, Chapter 3). Here it is:

Upon the hearth the fire is red,
Beneath the roof there is a bed,
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet:
A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone.
Tree and flower and leaf and grass,
Let them pass! Let them pass!
Hill and water under sky,
Pass them by! Pass them by!

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate
And though we pass them by today
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.
Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe,
Let them go! Let them go!
Sand and stone and pool and dell,
Fare you well! Fare you well!

Home is behind, the world ahead
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead
We'll wander back to home and bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,
And then to bed! And then to bed!

The song is all about finding Adventure – with a capital A, as Tolkien writes it. Life is about finding our own adventure, about setting out from home and exploring the world ahead of us. I identify so much with the ideas presented here – about finding a secret tree, or gate, about finding excitement in the little aspects of life.

But Tolkien also recognizes the great value and draw of home on a traveler, particularly after adventure is complete. The song turns at the end, and suddenly the traveler grows weary of the road – and the comforts and draw of home are ever-more appealing. This is true in the immediate sense of completing an adventure, but also in the grander metaphorical sense of living our lives. At some point, we have to go home – in the meantime, all the world is there for our Adventure.

A few years after Frodo and Sam return to the Shire in The Return of the King, while Frodo and Sam are traveling to the Grey Havens, Frodo recalls the song, and sings it with slightly changed words. After all, Frodo is different than when he set out upon his adventure – the things he's experienced have left him changed, different, and not altogether complete. Frodo knows that he'll never be completely whole as long as he remains in Middle Earth. As Frodo approaches the havens, he sings these words:

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.

Frodo sings of traveling the hidden path that will take him west of the moon and east of the sun, a traditional reference in fairy tales of traveling to a place that is impossibly far away. Frodo speaks of traveling on the Straight Road across the ocean Belegaer to Tolkien's Aman, the great Western continent where the Valar reside. Without getting into too much nerdy detail – this "traveling West" for Frodo is, for him, finally going home – Tolkien's Aman is the metaphorical heaven, where we can all go home to at the end of our Adventure, if we choose.

But for me, the road ahead is just beginning, and while going home sounds like the most wonderful thing I can imagine, it's the world that is ahead of me, and I'm ready for my Adventure.