Lost Poems by JRR Tolkien Set for Publication

One of the world’s most celebrated novelists, JRR Tolkien, known for selling over 150 million copies of his fantasy novels, aspired to achieve fame as a poet.

While he struggled to publish his poetry collections, he managed to include almost 100 poems in his renowned works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Now, half a century after his passing, 70 previously unpublished poems will soon be accessible in a groundbreaking publication.

The Collected Poems of JRR Tolkien, releasing next month, is set to showcase over 195 of his poems. This effort was driven by his son, Christopher Tolkien, who wanted his father’s poetic talent to gain recognition. Before his own death in 2020, Christopher collaborated with Tolkien experts Christina Scull and Wayne Hammond on this project.

Hammond expressed that there are “remarkably good” poems in the collection, highlighting Tolkien’s passion for language and words. Scull added that the collection will enhance the perception of Tolkien as a creative writer.

The project involved sifting through an extensive collection of manuscripts and typescripts, ranging from beautiful calligraphy to barely legible scrawl, from various sources including Christopher’s possessions and the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

Tolkien’s experience as a signals officer with the Lancashire Fusiliers during the First World War, where he was posted to France and saw action on the Somme, is reflected in some of the poems. After becoming ill with trench fever, he was sent home, a situation that likely saved his life as his battalion was almost entirely wiped out.

The unpublished poems include metaphorical works focused on themes like life, loss, faith, and friendship. One particularly moving piece, The Empty Chapel, captures the haunting experience of a lone soldier hearing marching feet and drumming. Scull found it especially touching.

In numerous fragments of the drafts for The Empty Chapel, Tolkien wrote: “I knelt in a silent empty chapel/ And a great wood lay around/ And a forest filled with a tramping noise/ And a mighty drumming sound/…

“O ye warriors of England that are marching dark/

“Can ye see no light before you but the courage in your heart.”

A different aspect of Tolkien emerges in the poem Monday Morning, where he humorously narrates a string of mishaps from slipping on soap to falling down stairs. The poem begins: “On Monday morning all agree/ that most annoying things can be./ Now I will tell you in this song/ of one when everything went wrong./ The sun was early shining bright,/ but not, of course, for my delight:/ it woke the birds who woke mama,/ who woke the boys, who woke papa;/ it came and hit me in the eye,/ though still I wished in bed to lie …”

Scull and Hammond also faced challenges deciphering a poem titled Bealuwérig, written in Old English. The poem, featuring the name Bealuwearge (meaning “malicious outlaw”), evoked Tolkien’s creations such as the Balrog in The Lord of the Rings and the wolf-like Wargs in The Hobbit. After struggling to find certain words in Old English dictionaries, they realized that Tolkien was translating Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky into Old English, creating new words to match Carroll’s playful language.

Hammond remarked, “Well, no wonder I couldn’t find the words in dictionaries.”

Each poem in the collection includes entries showing its development through various drafts, sometimes spanning decades. The editors noted that although Tolkien’s novels like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings contain nearly 100 poems, his poetic skill remains underappreciated.

They emphasized that readers often miss out on elements integral to the narratives by skimming over the poems. The poems are not mere additions but crucial components that enhance the plot and contribute to character development and mood.