What is the meaning of line 4 in stanza 1 - "his boyhood was naught but a blot?

Is this personification? "i have played the fox,now i must play the cat of the fable"

[he] let his gaze wander to the swirling water of the stream racing madly beneath his feet. a piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current. how slowly it appeared to move! what a sluggish stream! what contrasting words are used to describe the stream in this passage?

The book the lord of the rings by j r r tolkien, in which the main character must go on a journey to destroys magic ring, is an expample of which plot archetype