The Collected Poems of J. R. R. Tolkien

I finally got my hands on the The Collected Poems of J. R. R. Tolkien, the books set arrived in perfect condition with a shipping box from the publisher which is really appreciated

Love it, was worth the price 👌A fabulous addition to my collection 😍

J. R. R. Tolkien's ambition to be a poet was never as consuming as his friend C. S. Lewis's, but versification played a significant part in his writing from his early manhood to his old age. Hundreds of his poems are already well known to his fans from their appearance in "The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings", "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" and the numerous JRRT titles that were put together by Christopher Tolkien and others after his death, including "The Lays of Beleriand", "The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún", "The Fall of Arthur" and "The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun". This new anthology reprints some of the finest of these familiar pieces and supplements them with many now made available to hobbitomanes for the very first time.Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull warn us that substantial though their collection is, they haven't included every unpublished poem of JRRT's that their researches have unearthed. In particular, they've omitted many that JRRT wrote in languages other than modern English. Their main objective seems to have been to treat those poems that they have chosen to include as thoroughly as possible, so they give us numerous variant readings and provide a generous helping of explanatory notes that reflect the great breadth and depth of their Tolkien expertise. (Their three volume JRRT companion is a feat of scholarship scarcely less astonishing than Christopher Tolkien's "History of Middle-earth".)As usual, HarperCollins's production department have done JRRT proud: these books are beautifully designed and printed. Interior illustrations are limited to seven photographs (six of them in colour) reproducing a miscellany of JRRT's manuscripts, but some of JRRT's exquisite botanical art is used to decorate the books' covers. Bibliophiles will appreciate the books' signature binding, their head and tail bands and their elegant blue silk ribbon markers. A sturdy slipcover (from which the books can be extracted without difficulty) is a nice, Folio-like finishing touch..In their excellent introduction, Hammond and Scull write that "there is much in [Tolkien's] poetry that is good, occasionally superb, and the whole is consistently interesting, if sometimes puzzling." Certainly any true fan of Tolkien's will find his poems endlessly rewarding. This set would have been even better, I think, if it had sacrificed some of its editorial apparatus in order to make room for a few of the pieces that it has left out. But it represents a major addition to the Tolkien bibliography, especially in bringing us many poems that illuminate not just JRRT's legendarium but his personal life as well.

Interesting, beautifully presented, and a lot of work has gone into this, but it's not exactly what I was expecting. I would have preferred more poems - all his poems - by Tolkien and less editorial comment. Also books about Tolkien and his work suffer slightly when the writers are from north America due to a difference in understanding of language; eg Tolkien's (European) hemlocks are tall, white, umbelliferous wild flowers, in America hemlocks are trees; Tolkien's plum blossom would be cultivated plums not cherry plums; greenfly are aphids not the green-bottle fly (Lucilia sericata); nut is hazelnut; thorn is hawthorn, and corn is grain such as wheat or oats not maize. Gladdon-sword and flag of gold would be the wild yellow water iris = Iris pseudocorus, rather than Iris foetidissima, but certainly not the gladiolus which is a totally different garden plant.

Livres de très grande qualité.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is well known as a consummate master of fantasy fiction, but most of his readers are less familiar with the broad range of his poetry. That's unfortunate, because Tolkien wrote poetry throughout his life. The poetry for which he is best known is that which is included in his best known prose works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but that is only a sampling of his work. Now the eminent Tolkien scholars Christina Scull and Wayne Hammond have produced a masterpiece of their own, a three volume collection of Tolkien's poems, arranged chronologically from 1910 to 1967. Many of the poems have never been published before.Each poem is provided with an explanatory introduction, a detailed analysis, and when possible with drafts and abandoned versions. There is a thorough Introduction and Chronology in the first volume, and for convenience's sake the full Table of Contents is included with each volume. The books themselves are things of beauty, carefully bound with artwork by Tolkien on the front of each volume with ribbon bookmarkers and a slipcase which is also handsomely decorated with Tolkien's art.I anticipate spending many happy hours reading and studying Tolkien's poetry, from his first youthful efforts through his wartime reveries and then on into his mature work, as he began to develop what became his lifetime work, the so-called Matter of Middle-earth. The Collected Poems of JRR Tolkien is a masterpiece by a master artist, diligently annotated by two of his most scholarly readers, in a format as beautiful as Middle-earth itself.

Tolkien may not, all in all, have been a great poet, but he certainly wrote some interesting poems - and a few genuinely great ones (in various languages!). This new collected poems isn't cheap, but it's an invaluable addition to any Tolkenian's library.(A little warning for those who are bothered by such things: As some other reviewers have noticed, the books are well designed, but the quality of the paper and printing leave something to be desired.)

Hammond & Scull’s work is always wonderful, but I think that this time they went even further: this anthology is the most complete, meticulous and passionate that I’ve ever seen. I’m especially enthusiast for the poems that were unpublished, till now, like the Lay of the Fall of Gondolin and the rhymed couplets of the Children of Húrin. Above all, I’m happy that somebody is assuming the task to continue the work of Christopher Tolkien, since his son seems too busy in other diversions.

Purchased as a gift for a big Tolkien fan. It was packaged well and arrived in a timely manner. It was an instant hit.