When most people think of poetry, they think of rhymes.How many poems, which includes songs and nursery rhymes, can you recite from memory? How many of them rhyme?
But the earliest poetry in English was not structured around rhyme but alliteration: multiple syllables in a metrical line that share the same initial sound. This early verse, which includes examples like Beowulf, has an earthier, driven feel when compared to the later bouncing meters of rhymed poetry that came with the French during the Norman Invasion. Alliterative verse also tends to handle heftier topics and is darker in tone: the Northern feel that Tolkien sought to capture in The Silmarillion. Tolkien himself was an avid practitioner of alliterative poetry, translating key examples of the craft (Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl) and writing his own original verses, some set in the legendarium.
At Mereth Aderthad 2025, Paul D. Deane will be presenting a paper on alliterative verse and Tolkien, titled "Love, Grief, and Alliterative Verse in Tolkien’s Legendarium." Paul is also an avid practitioner of alliterative verse and edits the quarterly journal of alliterative poetry, Forgotten Ground Regained. Himring spoke with Paul about his upcoming Mereth Aderthad presentation, which considers how both Tolkien and fans use alliterative verse to explore the key themes of love and grief in the legendarium.
Paul's work on alliterative poetry entwines with involvement in the Tolkien fandom, roleplaying an Avarin poet named Rhunedhel who, like Tollkien's own historian-poets, witnessed and recorded many events of the legendarium. Paul describes alliterative verse as having a "raw power" strong enough to be magical in the legendarium—the perfect form for the early legendarium, where magic and downfall are deeply entwined. His work exemplifies significant research and skill that many fanworks creators use to build the legendarium beyond what Tolkien gave us.
You can read Himring's interview with Paul here.
Some additional news: Keep scrolling for a first look at the full program for Mereth Aderthad! Also, next weekend, Anna (IdleLeaves) hosts our monthly instadrabbling session on the Discord server. If you're not a member of our Discord server, you can join us here.
SWG News
New Challenge: Allusive
Literature and art constantly refer back to each other using allusions, and this month's prompts are inspired by allusions to literature, myth, art, and history.
Cultus Dispatches: "The Rings of Power" Is a Ripple (So Far)
Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data for 2025 shows that "The Rings of Power" TV series has not had the same impact on the fandom as the film trilogies did ... so far.
New Challenge: Building Middle-earth
Let global architecture be your inspiration in this challenge, where you will work with a prompts that are architectural styles, locations in Arda, or both.
Instadrabbling Sessions for July, August, and September
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.

Mereth Aderthad Program
9:00-9:15 Welcome!
9:15-9:45
- "Cherished antagonist, despised protagonist - a defence of Elu Thingol" by Stella Getreuer-Kostrouch
- "Elu's decision" by Idrils Scribe
- "Of Thingol and the Silmaril" by Helen Waterspring
- Featured art Grey by fish
9:45-10:15
- "The Aromantic in Tolkien" by Shadow
- "Unexpected Commonalities" by chrissystriped
- Featured art A Spectrum by Silmalope
10:15-10:45
- "The Design of Dragons and Doom of the Dwarves" by cloudyhymns
- Written fanwork by bunn
- Featured art The Dragons, the Earth and the Dwarves by Varda delle Stelle
10:45-11:15
- "Gil-galad was an Elven King: Kingship and Personhood in the last High King of the Noldor" by Maglor
- "Arisen" by Shadow
- Featured art Banner of Stars by Kai
11:15-11:45
- "Exile, Ruin and Resistance: Beleriand as Postcolonial Palimpsest" by Dr. Zara Ashkenazi-Khan
- Story by cloudyhymns
11:45-12:15
- "By Guile Committed: Comparing Tolkien’s Thieves to Beowulf" by Savannah Horrell
- "Noble Thieves" by Dawn Felagund
- Featured art by bunn
1:00-1:30
- "Mythmakers vs. the made myths: Exploring a reader’s levels of religious alienation and connection in works about and by J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis" by Acha Rezak (Quente)
- "Great Stories" by Janeways
- Song by Zdenka
1:30-2:00
- "Love, Grief, and Alliterative Verse in Tolkien’s Legendarium" by Paul D. Deane
- Poem by Zdenka
2:00-2:30
- "Tolkien, Lunatic Physicists, and Abnegation" by Cynthia (Cindy) Gates a.k.a. pandemonium_213
- "Lightborn" by Azh, Admirable Monster
- Featured art by Grundy
2:30-3:00
- "Twilight, Child Of: Comparisons Between Tinúviel, Lómion, and Undómiel" by JazTheBard
- Story" by Maglor
- Featured art Three twilight children for the elven-kings under the sky by sesame
3:00-3:30
- "How To Make a Star From a Tree: The Science of Telperion and Laurelin" by Zhie
- "Light of the World" by Shadow
- Featured art Light of the Two Trees by Anérea
3:30-4:00
- "'Kidnap Fam' and the Living Legendarium" by polutropos
- "Lost Stars" by reese
All times are in US Eastern Time.
Note that the program will continue to evolve and is subject to change. You can always find the most up-to-date program available on the Mereth Aderthad webpage.

Featured Article
Interview with Paul D. Deane by Himring
Before the Norman Invasion brought rhymed poetry with it, English poetry was alliterative, and this early poetic form held deep appeal for Tolkien. Himring spoke to Paul D. Deane about his upcoming Mereth Aderthad paper "Love, Grief, and Alliterative Verse in Tolkien’s Legendarium" and his work with alliterative verse, Tolkien, and alliterative verse about Tolkien.
Art Credit: Daeron: An Experiment in Mark-Making by LeucisticPuffin [Tumblr]
New Fanworks
Explain This by Elrond's Library [Writing]
Melkor demands an account of Mairon’s failures.
Read more ...Message in a Bottle by StarSpray [Writing]
Over the course of his very long life he had found a handful of messages in bottles, but it had been a very long time. So when he found the glass bottle on his little stretch of pebbly beach, he picked it up with the intention of tossing it into his recycling. But it wasn’t, he found, just another beer bottle.
Read more ...Nerdanel/Nienna moodboard by Independence1776 [Artwork]
A Nerdanel/Nienna moodboard.
Read more ...Updated Fanworks
The Stars of Home by Idrils Scribe [Writing]
Elrohir has been found after his long abduction by the Black Númenóreans of Umbar. He comes home to Rivendell, but all is not well: the Elf-child that was taken is now a Man grown. War and darkness have left Elrohir deeply scarred, and even at home there is danger...
An alternate universe for the Under Strange Stars series, in which Elrohir goes with Glorfindel instead of running away from him after the events of Under Strange Stars. This story can be enjoyed without having read the original.
Many thanks to Grundy and Marchwriter for their excellent beta-reading and brainstorming.
Read more ...A Thousand Winds that Blow by StarSpray [Writing]
When uneasy dreams bring him back into Beleriand, Daeron finds a pair of twins who have lost their home, and an enemy who has lost himself. The Shadow's reach is growing ever longer, and if they are to survive, they must do it together.
Read more ...From That Rubble by StarSpray [Writing]
Fëanor shrugged, studying the contents of his wine glass. “Something must be done about that house. It will fall down eventually.”
“It does not follow that it must be you that tears it down single-handedly. Are you sure you do not want help?”
“It’s not as though I have much else to do. I need to build something new there,” he said after a few moments. “To do that, I must first clear away the old and broken things.”
Decades out of Mandos, too many things in Fëanor's life remain broken. He can't do anything except wait for his sons to come to him, but he can do something about the old and crumbling house where they once lived.
Read more ...Eä's Redemption by AaronAzrael [Writing]
This is my new poetical attempt to add my own interpretation to Tolkien's Cosmology as to Eru's Creation and the Valar's minds and behind-the-scene providence reasons and mechanisms.. I often review Eä as part of our own world, just in another dimension, this is why I have always seriously thought on the matter who the Ainur are, who Eru is, how he matches our own religious pantheon, and this has been conducted after serious research of many esoteric teachings of our own planet's heritage.
Read more ...Around the World and Web
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Innumerable Stars 2026
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Tolkien Sapphic September
Tolkien Sapphic September is a month long event focusing on Sapphic relationships and characters in Tolkien and adjacent materials.