The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien
Cover of Volume I | |
| Editors | Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond |
|---|---|
| Authors | J. R. R. Tolkien |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | HarperCollins, William Morrow |
Publication date | 12 September 2024 (UK) 17 September 2024 (US) |
| Pages | 1620 |
| ISBN | 978-0063422711 |
The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien is a 2024 book of poetry written by the English philologist, poet, and author J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by the Tolkien scholars, wife and husband Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond. Its three volumes contain some 900 versions of 195 poems, among them around 70 previously unpublished.
Reviewers have echoed the editors' remark that readers too easily skip over the poems interspersed with the prose of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, finding them a distraction, when actually the poems contribute substantially and in multiple ways to the reader's understanding of character and mood. Holly Ordway finds the poems valuable, delightful, and moving. John R. Holmes, while enjoying many philological details, objects to the substantial amount of repetition in the book with overlapping drafts and lengthy scholarly presentation. Christian Kriticos further notes the habit of the Tolkien Estate to release snippets of new material alongside substantial amounts that had already been published.