Selected Poetry of J R R Tolkien

Tolkien was not just a great author but a brilliant poet as well. His works are littered with poetry, and some shoerter stories are written completely in verse such as The Adventures of Tom Bombadill. Here is a selection of my favourite poetry written by Tolkien:

 

Three Rings for the Elven Kings under the sky,

Seven for the Dwarf Lords, in their halls of stone,

Nine for Mortal Man, doomed to die,

One for the Dark Lord, on his dark throne,

In the Land of Mordor, where the shadows lie,

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to bind them,

One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkenss bind them,

In the Land of Mordor, where the Shadows Lie.

This is the poem at the beginning of the Lord of the Rings, used by Tolkien to set the story in an unovious way. A brilliant piece of poetry in that it only tells you just enough and leaves the rest to the imagination.

Tolkien was particularly talented in Language and loved playing with his own languages. In the Lord of the Rings, he found an output for this love, by creating the many languages of Middle Earth, but enjoyed particularly the language made for the Elves, some of which is used in the next poem:

A! Elbereth Githoniel!
Silvren penna miriel
o menel aglar elenath
Githoniel, A! Elbereth
We still remember, we who dwell
In this far land beneath the trees
The starlight on the Western Seas

Yet he could also write little ditties, which were more simple and in some ways far more pleasing:

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.

This poem was called the walking song by Tolkien, and a number of variations are found throughout The Lord of the Rings.

Most of Tolkien's poetry in The Lord of the Rings is there to serve a purpose, not just to serve the author's fancy. Two that have important meaning to the book reappear repeatedly, and reveal the underlying theme of the book when both are first spoken at the council of Elrond:

Seek for the sword that was broken:
In Imladris it dwells;
There shall be counsels taken
Stronger than Morgul-spells.
There shall be shown a token
That dome is near at hand,
 For Isildur's Bane shall waken,
And the Halfling forth shall stand.  

 

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not touched by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken:
The crownless again shall be king.

Yet, sometimes they were there to make the world of Tolkien as real as possible. The following was inscribed on a stone above where the body of Theoden's horse, Snowmane,  was laid:

Faithful Servant, yet masters bane
Lightfoot's foal, swift Snowmane.

They were also written to excite the reader in places completely fantastical:

Mourn not overmuch! Mighty was the fallen,
meet was his ending. When his mound is raised,
Women then shall weep. War now calls us!
 

Out of doubt, out of dark to the day's rising
I came singing in the sun, sord unsheathing.
To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking;
Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall

Tolkien was a master at the craft of writing books, something never disputed by even tha harshest critic, but what is less appreciated is the elgeance and the greatness of the poetry hidden within his greatest of works. I hope by reading this you will have appreciated just what a brilliant poet the man was, and that the next time you read the Lord of the Rings, you will notice and appreciate the poetry found within.