Promo Posts by Himring  

The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien Promo Post

Summary:

The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien is an edition by Tolkien experts Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond. It covers all the poetry Tolkien wrote in his lifetime, published and unpublished, poetry belonging to the Legendarium, early lyrics, humorous poetry for personal occasions, poetry translations, and all manner of verse in between, in several languages. That said, this edition does not include all the verse from Tolkien’s Legendarium. In fact, the most well-known longer poetic Legendarium texts and texts of the translations and adaptations are discussed here but published only in extract, as their full text was felt to be sufficiently available elsewhere. On the other hand, there are about seventy poems in this edition that were previously unpublished and about half a dozen that had not been fully published yet (counts vary here depending on criteria). In fandom, a particularly well-known example of a previously unavailable text is the English original of “The Complaint of Mîm the Dwarf”.  Due to the earlier editing efforts of Christopher Tolkien, most of the new poems are not directly set within the Legendarium. However, there is previously unseen material on Doriath, the Children of Hurin, Gondolin and Scatha the Worm. There are also many poems that are adjacent to previously known work of Tolkien’s in different ways. All these poems are carefully edited, very often in multiple versions, with extensive commentary, throwing a great deal of light on Tolkien’s writing process and creative life.

Why should I check out this canon:

The Collected Poems are of interest from different angles, depending on your interests.

First, there are the previously unpublished poems or those that were previously published but difficult to find. These are a mixed bag and invite different approaches. You may wish to home in on the Legendarium poems and the details they add to the Legendarium and its development. You may wish to look at other new material and draw out connections with the Legendarium, of which there are plenty. Or you may prefer to look at some of these new poems simply in their own right. Some of them are funny, some invoke beautiful imagery, and some reflect movingly on their author. If you want to nominate any of these for Innumerable Stars, either by themselves or for crossovers, more detailed information and instructions are scheduled to follow tomorrow.

But also, beyond that, the volume has plenty to appeal to readers interested in Tolkien’s poetry. The history of many beloved poems is documented here in detail not seen before. Some information was already available in The History of Middle-earth (or in editorial prefaces) but Christopher Tolkien was mainly concerned with tracing the development of the Legendarium; here the poems’ history can be studied in their own right. You may find the different versions of such poems inspiring for Innumerable Stars, even if you will need to nominate the poem in question for a different canon than The Collected Poems.

Chapter End Notes

Link to the full promo post as posted to Tumblr on 29 July 2015, with beautiful art created by Anérea (for full view: separate link to art)