Poetry and Song in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien

Poetry and Song in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien: proceedings of the Tolkien Society Seminar 2017.

J.R.R. Tolkien regarded himself ‘chiefly as a poet’ (Carpenter, The Inklings, p. 29) and the importance of poetic diction and its most potent form, song, provides a powerful leitmotif to his mythological universe. Following the publication of Tolkien’s two verse works: The Lay of Atrou and Itroun (2016) and Beren and Luthien (2017), the Tolkien Society called for papers re-examining the importance of poetry and song in Tolkien’s writing. A series of presentations both on the author’s poems and on verse incorporated into his worldbuilding were given in Leeds on the 2^nd of July 2017. Published under the auspices of the Society’s Peter Roe Memorial Fund, this book features a collection of four papers delivered on the day by aspiring and established Tolkien scholars alike.