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

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 2nd 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.