back the differences become clear. Tolkien references many current events "Golf", "Modern Weapons of War" (having been invented by goblins), ridiculous songs (In LOTR, the songs are pretty much somber and lore-ish in nature, in The Hobbit they are like nursery rhymes), and constantly breaks out of narration to "tell a story" to kids. LOTR does none of this.

The audience is quite different between the books, as is the writing style.