Notes on Tom and Goldberry

Tom Bombadil and Goldberry have what might be the most perfect marriage.  In his letters, Tolkien expresses the importance of the "homely love" of Sam and Rosie, without explaining what "homely love" refers to.  I imagine the Maggots having a similar kind of homely love, although theirs is a "hard pastoral" to the "soft pastoral" of Sam and Rosie--the Maggots labor on the farm, while Sam's family is relatively leisured.

Tom and Goldberry fit, somehow, into the same category, but idealized. Their house is the center of their world, and they tend the land around, and their home is a place where hospitality is freely offered.  It is one of the "safe spaces" of Middle-earth--a locus amoenus, as I've mentioned before. It differs from the hobbits sharply, however (and even from the Elves) in that it is childless.  This might indicate something about the nature of Tom (and Goldberry, though we already know that she is the daughter of the River). None of the Valar procreate. Maiar can marry and have children, as in the case of Melian, who weds Thingol,  though marriage to an Elf, as Elves are inherently corporeal, might provide the difference, and the marriage of two spiritual beings, however, clothed, might simply not produce offspring.  This is speculation, as Tolkien did not provide a clear indication of why he decided and one point that the Valar would not have children.  Certainly, the absence of children from their unions is conspicuous, and might direct us to consider their other creative activities in that light (looking at you, Aulë and Yavanna).

So Tom Bombadil, who is "oldest and fatherless," is, however, not a father.

What else do we know about Tom and Goldberry?

***
I always hit somewhat of a mental block when I try to write about Tom and Goldberry.  I think it's because there's so much to say, and yet so much of it seems obvious! So I say to myself, "I won't move on in the book until I've discussed Tom and Goldberry," and 6 months later I realize that I have abandoned the project.  Thankfully, it hasn't even been 6 weeks, so let's see if perhaps I can jot down a few notes...

What is immediately conspicuous when taking a closer look at the marriage of Tom Bombadil and Goldberry is that, when the hobbits first encounter Tom, he is returning from an errand that is specifically focused on Goldberry.  He tells the hobbits after their first dinner in his house:

I had an errand there: gathering water-lillies, 

green leaves and lilies white to please my pretty lady, 

the last ere the year's end to keep them from the winter, 

to flower by her pretty feet till the snows are melted. 

Each year at summer's end I go to find them for her, 

in a wide pool, deep and clear, far down Withywindle; 

there they open first in spring and there they linger latest. (I.VII.124)

 He carries out his errand with very conspicuous care--first, he seems to "freeze" Sam and Frodo, or certainly stop them in their tracks, in order to avoid having his lilies crushed:

'Whoa! Whoa! steady there' cried the old man, holding up one hand, and they stopped short, as if they had been struck stiff.  'Now, my little fellows, where be you a-going to, puffing like a bellows? What's the matter here then? Do you know who I am? I'm Tom Bombadil. Tell me what's your trouble! Tom's in a hurry now. Don't you crush my lilies!' (I.VI.117)

Before he deals with Old Man Willow, the reader sees Tom "setting down his lilies carefully on the grass" (I.VI.117).  After dealing with the Willow-Man, he picks up his lilies again and heads home, hobbits following. When the reader first has a vision of Goldberry, the purpose of Tom's gift becomes apparent:

In a chair, at the far side of the room facing the outer door, sat a woman. Her long yellow hair rippled down her shoulders; her gown was green, green as young reeds, shot with silver like beads of dew; and her belt was of gold, shaped like a chain of flag-lilies set with the pale-blue eyes of forget-me-nots. About her feet in wide vessels of green and brown earthenware, white water-lilies were floating, so that she seemed to be enthroned in the midst of a pool. (I.VII.121)

***
Goldberry speaks to the hobbits--the first woman to do so, and the last until Galadriel. They have the opportunity to ask her questions, mostly about Tom, which reveal, in a way, the intimacy that the two share--an understanding that presupposes knowledge in others, and prevents real communication.

  'Fair lady!' said Frodo again after a while. 'Tell me, if my asking does not seem foolish, who is Tom Bombadil?'

  'He is,' said Goldberry, staying her swift movements and smiling.

  Frodo looked at her questioningly. 'He is, as you have seen him,' she said in answer to his look. 'He is the Master of wood, water, and hill.'

Her answer seems cryptic, perplexing, unless understood to be spoken in a tone of voice that suggests that Goldberry might slightly misunderstand the nature of the question:  he is, rather than he is.  The difference is the distinction between asking "Who is the lord of Rivendell?" and being told, with a nod at Elrond, "he is," and asking "Who is Elrond Half-elven?" and expecting that the answer will provide the lineage, background, and lordship of Elrond along with any personal details the hearer might be willing to share. Frodo asks the latter; Goldberry's brief answer seems to answer the former. The answer, to her, is so simple--Tom himself so plainly known--that another understanding does not seem possible. Eventually she reveals a bit more, but in some ways not more than Tom himself reveals:

"Tom Bombadil is the Master. No one has ever caught old Tom walking in the forest, wading in the water, leaping on the hill-tops under light and shadow. He has no fear. Tom Bombadil is the master." 

She knows, too, Tom's perspective on the hobbits' assumptions, when Frodo asks, for example, whether "all this strange land belongs to him":

"No indeed!' she answered, and her smile faded. 'That would indeed be a burden,' she added in a low voice to herself. (I.VII.122)

While not superior to her husband in the way Galadriel may seem to be in the volume of Lord of the Rings, or even, perhaps, equal, as Tom's care for her seems almost to possess the care of chivalry, which elevates the position of the woman while causing her to seem frail, Goldberry seems to anticipate Galadriel in a more homely, less distant way.  She has some power, though it does not seem like "magic"; rather, she seems to orchestrate, to move or move with, the natural world around her. When the hobbits awake, we/they have a vision of Goldberry:

As they looked out of the window there came falling gently as if it was flowing down the rain out of the sky, the clear voice of Goldberry singing up above them. They could hear few words, but it seemed plain to them that the song was a rain-song, as sweet as showers on dry hills, that told the tale of a river from the spring in the highlands to the Sea far below. (I.VII.127)

We learn from Tom that "This is Goldberry's washing day," which sounds as if she is washing their corner of the world.

***
In the house of Tom Bombadil, Tom and Goldberry dwell in harmony.  They sing together--forming a literal harmony, which is an important symbol for Tolkien. They also move in complementary ways. The first night the hobbits dine in their house, they clear the table together while the guests sit quiet (I.VII.123). The next meal they have with Tom and Goldberry is set by both together:

Quickly he returned, bearing a large and laden tray. Then Tom and Goldberry set the table; and the hobbits sat half in wonder and half in laughter: so fair was the grace of Goldberry and so merry and odd the caperings of Tom. Yet in some fashion they seemed to weave a single dance, neither hindering the other, in and out of the room, and round about the table; and with great speed food and vessels and lights were set in order. The boards blazed with candles, white and yellow. Tom bowed to his guests. "Supper is ready," said Goldberry; and now the hobbits saw that she was clothed all in silver with a white girdle, and her shoes were like fishes' mail. But Tom was all in clean blue, blue as rain-washed forget-me-nots, and he had green stockings. (I.VII.129)

In a way that is similar to the Maggots, Tom and Goldberry model hospitality and spousal concern for one another. Goldberry is the agent of Tom's (and the household's) hospitality, as is Mrs. Maggot:

"Fear Nothing! For tonight you are under the roof of Tom Bombadil!" (I.VII.121)

She is, however, a gracious hostess surpassing Mrs. Maggot, by virtue of her own supernatural nature:

The hobbits sat down gladly in low rush-seated chairs, while Goldberry busied herself about the table; and their eyes followed her, for the slender grace of her movement filled them with quiet delight. (I.VII.122)

Goldberry gently reminds Tom when he neglects his responsibility to his guests:

   "Here's my pretty lady!" he said, bowing to the hobbits. "Here's my Goldberry clothed all in silver-green with flowers in her girdle! Is the table laden? I see yellow cream and honeycomb, and white bread, and butter; milk cheese, and green herbs and ripe berries gathered. Is that enough for us? Is the supper ready?"

   "It is," said Goldberry; "but the guests perhaps are not?"

   Tom clapped his hands and cried: "Tom, Tom! Your guests are tired, and you had near forgotten! Come now, my merry friends, and Tom will refresh you! You shall clean grimy hands, and wash your weary faces; cast off your muddy cloaks, and comb out your tangles!"  

Their intimacy--or his nature--is such that she can recognize and address a (perhaps typical) forgetfulness, and Tom responds with slightly self-effacing good humor.

In recounting Goldberry's role in welcoming the guests, I am reminded of Humphrey Carpenter's critique in J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography of Edith Tolkien, that she was not the kind of hostess that would have advanced her husband's career:

Edith might have been able to make a positive contribution to his life in the University. A number of Oxford dons' wives managed to do this. A few lucky ones such as Joseph Wright's wife Lizzie were themselves expert in their husband's subjects, and could assist in their work. But a number of other wives who, like Edith, did not have university degrees could by their expert management of the household make their home into something of a social centre for their husbands' friends, and so participate in much of their lives. (157)

Carpenter goes on to explain how Edith was singularly unsuited for that role, being shy and having had a "very limited social life in childhood and adolescence" (157). This aside is just that--it does not prove that Carpenter's observation was a fair one, and it does not reveal any kind of hidden critique leveled at Edith by Tolkien; those are not things that a fictional scene of hospitality can reveal about the author, though some might be tempted to do so.  The Tolkiens did, in fact, entertain friends, though the kind of professional entertaining may have been beyond her. (I certainly would feel uncomfortable in a similar role, and couldn't blame her.)

Again like the Maggots, Tom is anxious to return to Goldberry when escorting the hobbits to the next stage of their journey.  After rescuing them from the wight, tells them that he will "not feel happy till he had seen them safe over the borders of his land," but always his thoughts return home:

"I've got things to do," he said: "my making and my singing, my talking and my walking, and my watching of the country. Tom can't be always near to open doors and willow-cracks. Tom has his house to mind, and Goldberry is waiting." (I.VIII.142)

He keeps a treasure from the wight's barrow for Goldberry, a tantalizing glimpse into a distant past that Tom, and presumably Goldberry with him, still remember:

He chose for himself from the pile a brooch set with blue stones, many-shaded like flax-flowers or the wings of blue butterflies. He looked long at it, as it stirred by some memory, shaking his head, and saying at last:

   "Here is a pretty toy for Tom and for his lady! Fair was she who long ago wore it on her shoulder. Goldberry shall wear it now, and we will not forget her!" (142) 

Tom's last words to the hobbits again stress that his land and his home are complete only with his wife:

Tom's country ends here: he will not pass the borders.

Tom has his house to mind, and Goldberry is waiting! (I.VIII.144)