The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien

Reviewing the poetical biography of the great fantasy writer.

Introduction

What should you expect from this post? Today, Better Books presents a rave review of “The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien,” a collection published in 2024 and one that was added to the Better Books bookshelves last Christmas. This was undoubtedly the best bookish gift that we received last year.

However, I begin this post with an imploration — Read Tolkien’s verse!

Many who enjoy Tolkien’s prose fiction (e.g., “The Hobbit” or “The Lord of the Rings”) admit to quickly skimming over the poems sprinkled within, or worse, skipping the poetry altogether. What a tremendous loss this is!

At minimum, these readers miss the simple pleasure of reading verse. However, they actually miss more than that. Tolkien’s poetry contributes to character, setting, and plot in tremendous ways. His stories are incompletely rendered in the minds of readers that simply skip over the poems. Read them, chant them, sing them, memorize them… they add so much richness to the experience of reading Tolki…