Welcome to The Great Hall of Poets, our poetry feature showcasing the talent of Middle-earth fans. So come and join us by the hearth, and enjoy!
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
The Beautiful Queen of Stars
by: Peter Kenny
Bright stars gleaming in the night, Diamonds in the sky, Gifts from the lady ever white; Radiating with light, Too beautiful for words, She is queen of the stars shining bright.
We call on her in dark times, Moments of despair; Praying to her for brighter times; Prayers she hears sent by us, Our songs raised in praise, She listens to our voices with love.
Night- time skies filled with gleaming stars, Blossoms in a field of dark, Dewdrop diamonds from a silver tree. Down here on earth in starry light, We now see in that sparkling sky, Visions of her shining face; The Beautiful Queen of Stars.
Lady dressed in shining white, Radiant snow white, Queen revered by one and all; We rejoice in the light, Of her gleaming stars, She is queen of the stars shining bright.
~~ * ~~
“Utulie’n Aure”
by: Caroline Flynn
“Tears unnumbered ye shall shed.” So was spoken the prophecy of dread. Upon the Anfauglith such a battle was fought That unnumbered tears and devastation were indeed wrought.
As the battle waxed thick and strong, And the hopeless end seemed not long There arose a cry, so strong and clear That, for a time, was dispersed all darkness and fear.
“Utulie’n Aure!” In a loud voice Fingon cried, And over the field the din of battle died. For lo! Turgon his brother was come from Gondolin, And glad was the meeting of the sons of Fingolfin.
Never so welcome was hope unlooked-for. “Utulie’n Aure!” Never was the cry heard stronger before! In the brothers’ hearts hope was glad and high – Alas! That it should so soon die!
For Turgon was driven back and forced to retreat, Though Huor urged him that he went not in total defeat: “While yet you stand, Morgoth shall not be our demise, And from you and me, a New Star shall arise.”
But did this comfort Turgon when he heard of Fingon’s fall? Or did he regret having retreated behind his walls? Hope one moment, then black despair – Why did all have to perish that was good and fair?
“Farewell my brother, so valiant, so brave,” Turgon murmured. “Alas, that you could not rest beside Father’s grave. But wherever you sleep, may you be in peace, From Mandos’ Halls may you find a speedy release.”
For a time he stood, sad and silent: But then a light came to his eyes, steady and defiant. Huor’s words echoed again in his mind, A hope and a promise they would bind.
“Utulie’n Aure!” He cried his brother’s cry, And he raised his fist against the sky. “But even if day shall fail and night fall, A New Star shall arise that will Evil forestall!”
~~ * ~~
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
Welcome to The Great Hall of Poets, our poetry feature showcasing the talent of Middle-earth fans. So come and join us by the hearth, and enjoy!
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
The Steward and the White Lady
by: Cassie Hughes
She lay bereft of all she loved and wished her life was done, That King had never called her back from limbo’s darkened home, Within these hallowed healing halls her heart felt caged anew, What now for maid without a shield? No cause to cleave unto?
In waking dreams she wandered there a ghost in living form, Her hopes and dreams dispersed as dust, her mind encased in storm, ‘Twas thus he first did spy her there caught up in moonlights glow And from that moment lost his heart to Rohan’s greatest jewel.
Fair Eowyn he then pursued though she desired naught But finding honour within death, this goal, her only thought, With inner strength he persevered and piece by piece did steal Away despair and hopelessness, her zest for life reveal.
At last the scales fell from her eyes, she finally perceived, The wise and steadfast prince of men to whom her heart had cleaved, The Steward and the Lady found at last their just reward, A strong, enduring love in which to live in light restored.
~~ * ~~
I’ve included this following poem to commemorate Remembrance Day. It’s one I wrote as part of my Literature degree in memory of my Grandfather. Lest We Forget
Grandad Speaks
by: Kelvarhin
They called me Jack, Though my mates Called me Snowy.
A hazel-eyed beauty, From London’s east-end, Became my life’s love. Two adored daughters, Completed our home.
War intervened, To the R.A.F. I soared. Not to drop bombs, Or dogfight in the sky, Dinghy Drop rescues Were my choice to fly.
The fates made their call, Rescuers missing, Lost over North Sea. Three simple words, All that were shared.
Missing in action.
No body to mourn, No grave to cry on. A telegraphed epitaph, My Loves only memorial.
~~ * ~~
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
Welcome to The Great Hall of Poets, our poetry feature showcasing the talent of Middle-earth fans. So come and join us by the hearth, and enjoy!
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
“The Sea Calls us Home”
By: Caroline Flynn
The wind is cold: soon the last leaf shall fall And all shall be covered by winter’s pall. In the restless breeze I hear a call. The Sea calls us home.
Upon this Middle-earth we have endured storm and gale, But now our long years begin to fade and fail, Upon the grey ships we must set sail. For the Sea calls us home.
O land we have loved through the lengthening years, Enriched by our labor, watered by our tears, Why now are you grown so cold and drear? Why does the Sea call us home?
This sorrow of our hearts is not feigned For in this land we have lived and reigned And with our blood is this land stained. But the Sea calls us home.
The Sea! Whose waters contain the memory of old, The eternal Music it most closely holds Our griefs and triumphs its voice enfolds. Thus the Sea calls us home.
To the straight road of the West we now turn, To the undying West for which our hearts now yearn Where the Evening Star begins to burn. For the Sea calls us home.
~~ * ~~
Numenor’s Lament
By: L. May
Life’s many treasures
Drowned in sea spray.
Waves cover memories,
Flooding, razing,
All that was great.
Floating bodies swirl,
Like wave-kissed pebbles,
Tumbling and spinning.
Water foams over,
In unending motion,
Advancing and retreating,
With relentless ruin,
Till flotsam drifts,
Upon restless waves.
Memory fades,
Born out to sea,
Drawn down into
Ulmo’s cold, dark realm.
~~ * ~~
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
Publisher HarperCollins is set to release a new Tolkien book, The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, this September. The three-volume book will gather together much of J.R.R. Tolkien’s published verse, as well as somewhere in the vicinity of 77 (see below for the editors’ explanation about the inherent difficulties of being precise) previously unreleased poems from his archives.
Editors Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond note that it’s a Collected Poems work, not a Complete Poems work, due to “economies of production”. However, the book will still include “most of the verses Tolkien is known to have written, and for most of these, multiple versions which show their evolution.”
There are at least 240 discrete poems, depending on how one distinguishes titles and versions, presented in 195 entries and five appendices.
When possible, we have used manuscripts and typescripts in the Bodleian Library, at Marquette University, and at the University of Leeds.
We have chosen not to include all of the one hundred or so poems contained in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but have made a representative selection – surely, no one who reads the Collected Poems will not already have at least one copy of Tolkien’s two most popular works.
They further explain that “discrete poems” depends on one’s definition.
Some of the poems morph in their evolution so much that one could either count a work as a single entity in a variety of forms, or as a variety of separate poems that are closely related. Hence our vagueness about the number: we didn’t want to overhype it.
There’s a similar issue with counting which poems have been published and which haven’t. The best we can say is that among the poems we include, 77 have not been published before in any form, or only a few lines from them have appeared, e.g. in Carpenter’s biography.
The HarperCollins press release notes that poetry was the first way in which Tolkien expressed himself creatively and through it the seeds of his literary ambition would be sown. The character Eärendil emerged from one of his earliest poems The Voyage of Éarendel the Evening Star in 1914. And from Eärendil we have world of The Silmarillion, and subsequently The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, each which is enriched with many poems.
Charged, at first, by Christopher Tolkien to review only his early poems, Hammond and Scull soon saw the benefits of examining his entire poetic opus across six decades and showing its evolution with comments in the manner of Christopher’s magisterial History of Middle-earth series.
Collected Poems will provide the stories behind, and analysis of, each poem, as well as revealing the extraordinary amount of work that Tolkien invested in them.
Not long before his death, Hammond and Scull were able to send Christopher Tolkien a portion of the book, which he praised as “remarkable and immensely desirable”.
They state that the 1,500-plus-page book (the numbers listed on Amazon’s description are apparently outdated and not correct) will also include “a long introduction to Tolkien as a poet, a brief chronology of his poetry, and a glossary of archaic, unusual, or unfamiliar words he used in his verse.”
According to Hammond and Scull, there are currently no plans for a deluxe edition; the aim is for an elegant trade release (hardcover). As yet there is no announcement of a U.S. edition. It looks as though like Amazon will carry a (Kindle) e-book as well.
The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien will be released on September 12.
Welcome to The Great Hall of Poets, our regular feature showcasing the talent of Middle-earth fans. Each month we will feature a small selection of the poems submitted, but we hope you will read all of the poems that we have received here in our Great Hall of Poets.
So come and join us by the hearth, and enjoy!
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
Memories of the Second Age
By H. Wiggins
We look to old days, and hold to them fast.
When woodlands were green, and Arda still young,
From Autumn to Spring, and days now long passed.
Of rings and their lords, and sonnets once sung.
Before Elves crossed the west in ships of grey,
And Fellowships were formed to follow their road.
When Dwarves delved deeper into the fray,
And men’s lives were long, the seas their abode.
The shadows linger, though chained they were thought,
And the light of two trees fades into night.
Peace will not last, though for long it was fought.
Alliances form to carry the light.
Free folk will stand true and Sauron will rage
For these are the days of the Second Age.
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
Welcome to The Great Hall of Poets, our regular feature showcasing the talent of Middle-earth fans. Each month we will feature a small selection of the poems submitted, but we hope you will read all of the poems that we have received here in our Great Hall of Poets.
So come and join us by the hearth, and enjoy!
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
Winter Kings
In the heart of lonely winter, beneath branches bare, wearing thorny crowns, they dash through frosty air. Kings of the woodlands, royal with noble grace, among dark trees they run, finding sport in the chase. Over tall hills they travel, winding through misty glens, these wild stags of the forest, racing in the winter winds.
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.