The date that "Homecoming" was written is not quite certain. Tolkien's biographer
Humphrey Carpenter writes that the work "was in existence by 1945." In a 1952 letter to his publisher, Tolkien mentioned that his heavy workload included "producing a contribution to
Essays and Studies". Literary critics generally agree that "Homecoming" is Tolkien's biting critique of the northern heroic ethos. For example, using Tolkien's original drafts of "Homecoming",
Thomas Honegger makes the case that Tolkien was especially concerned with casting Beorhtnoth's pride in a wholly negative light. George Clark states that Tolkien's reworking of
The Battle of Maldon specifically "chastises" Beorhtnoth for his pride and generally criticizes the Anglo-Saxon heroic ideals of pursuing fame and material wealth (41). Taking a similar position,
Tom Shippey argues that Tolkien's condemnation of Beorhtnoth in "Homecoming" is "an act of parricide" against his Old English literary forebears, in which "[h]e had...to take 'the northern heroic spirit' and sacrifice it" (337). Taking a more nuanced approach, Mary R. Bowman claims that Tolkien "rehabilitated" the northern heroic spirit, instead of simply "rejecting" it (92). She recalls Tolkien's own metaphor of the northern heroic spirit as an impure "alloy", composed of a combination of a self-sacrificing bravery for the good of others (the gold) and a selfish, reckless pursuit for wealth and fame (the base metal). Bowman's point, then, is that Tolkien was concerned with "refining" the heroic code—with separating and burning away the selfish, destructive slag of "overmastering" and excessive pride, while retaining the gold of courage. More positively,
Anna Smol and Rebecca Foster call the work "an alliterative tour de force". Scholars have discussed the influence of "Homecoming" on Tolkien's fictional world of
Middle-earth. George Clark argues that Tolkien's ideas about the northern heroic spirit are manifested in
The Lord of the Rings through the character
Sam; in his steadfast, self-less devotion to
Frodo, Sam serves as the "true hero", a kind of anti-Beorhtnoth. and Lynn Forest-Hill sees Beorhtnoth coming through in
Boromir. == References ==