Tolkien and the sea-yearning - the meaning of Earendil

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I was always puzzled by Tolkien's emphasis on the sea as an ultimate yearning.

In the Notion Club Papers there are the examples of Lowtham (and, especially, his father), and of the Numenoreans (the greatest mariners among all Men, perhaps even greater than the greatest elves), and of the Imram poem.

In Lord of the Rings all elves (even those whose ancestors have always dwelt inland, among the woods) are said to harbour a sea-yearning; indeed most of the most admirable and heroic characters (Aragorn being an exception) have this longing.

And Tolkien's original legendarium hero- Earendil - was of course a mariner. Also the very early Aelfwine character, who visited fairyland and linked it to England.

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This has always struck me as strange - since Tolkien did not write very much detail about the sea in the way that he wrote about trees and mountains.

It seems to me that Tolkien's own sea longing was deeply buried, and that - unlike his heroes - in his actual behaviour Tolkien seems not to have had a need to get into boats and launch out onto the waves.

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But Earendil may be the clue.

In essence, this complex and changing character was an 'angel'; a messenger, and specifically a messenger from earth to heaven.

Earendil also became an actual angel, apparently; being transformed from a human (elf or man) to a spiritual and semi-divine form. 

And (perhaps) Aelfwine was 'merely' a diluted and more materialistically-plausible version of Earendil the messenger; bringing back knowledge of the elves to Middle earth.

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I think Tolkien regarded the sea longing as an aspect or representation of saintliness, where sainthood is conceptualized as being a link between the earthly and heavenly realms, the saint as intercessor for humankind with God.

And that Tolkien saw this - on the one had - as the highest conceivable human calling; yet on the other hand - not his personal calling.

So Tolkien wrote-about the sea-longing as representing sainthood - the highest aspiration; but did not himself share this longing to a significant extent, and did not regard himself as a saint nor called to strive for sainthood.

He was, pretty much, happy enough with trees. 

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More specifically still, I would say that the sea-longing stands for ascetic sainthood - the launch into the unknown and placing oneself (ultimately, whatever strivings are needed for navigation) at God's mercy.

The single-minded pursuit of holiness.

The obvious link here is Tolkien's Imram versions of the St Brendan legend, which appears in the NCPs.

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Spiritual striving towards sanctity is, at some level, what Tolkien's mariner heroes are doing - when their sea-desire is not corrupted into power-seeking and conquest (as happened to the Numenoreans).

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In real life, Tolkien achieved the lower (although still highly admirable) aim of communion with nature in the forms of a well-tilled landscape, of woodland and forest especially, and with yearning glances in the direction of distant mountain peaks.

But although the even-higher yearning towards the sea fascinated Tolkien, it was probably somewhat alien to his nature.

He repeatedly, compulsively, with fascination and admiration, wrote about those individuals (and races) who were subject to this sea-yearning, and seemed to accord them the highest esteem - yet I would guess Tolkien himself did not directly share this yearning, which is why he wrote comparatively little about the sea itself, and even less about the experience of sea-going.

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