Tolkien and Poetry

[pegkerr]

Does anyone (locally, preferably) have a copy of The Monsters and the Critics or better yet the longer version Beowulf and the Critics that they wouldn't mind lending to me for a month? I am going to be doing a panel on Tolkien and Poetry at Minicon, and it would be helpful to read this beforehand. I’m in the middle of reading The Lays of Beleriand (right now "The Children of Hûrin" and next will be "The Lay of Leithian") and am finding his Anglo-Saxon-like poetry a nice change of pace. I know that Tolkien’s essay on Beowulf is the definitive study, and always meant to get around to it. This seems as good an excuse as any.

Any other suggestions of what to read to prepare? I'll be looking at the poems in the LOTR and The Hobbit, of course, and the minor works that I own ("Errantry," etc.) and probably re-read his introduction to The Pearl. Any works to point me to re: the use of riddles in Anglo Saxon poetry? I know that they were much on his mind when he wrote "Riddles in the Dark."

Comments

[olafkeith.livejournal.com]

*delurking*

Maybe the Beowulf study by Michael C. Drout would be of help too?
http://acunix.wheatonma.edu/mdrout/BandC/BandC.html

I am not local, so I can´t be of much help in that respect!

[olafkeith.livejournal.com]

Sorry....stupid me...I haven´t read your message carefully enough. You already know about the Drout book.*goes away embarrased*

riddle me this

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

T. A. Shippey's book on Tolkien (Author of the Century) has a nice section about the riddles, including a compare/contrast of some of the original A-S riddles Tolkien was adapting for The Hobbit. (And it's an excellent read, too, and available at Your Local Bookstores, more than likely. You have excellent local bookstores.)

Re: riddle me this

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and I own it and have read it, too (and loved it), although kijjohnson has it at the moment. I'll ask her for it back.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Lays of Beleriand and The Adventures of Tom Bombadill have most of the poetry that isn't in the novels.

[ajodasso.livejournal.com]

I can send you "The Monsters and the Critics" as a PDF, if no one has yet handed you a book.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Could I take you up on that offer? Please send it to my e-mail address listed on my user page. Thanks!

Preparing for Minicon panel

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Omigod, I am so impressed: doing homework to prepare for your Minicon panel! You get 10 gold stars from the Programming Head!

And no, I don't have any additional source materials to suggest, but you seem to be doing just fine on your own.

[ex-greythist387.livejournal.com]

If you're interested in what scholars say now about the riddles, Craig Williamson's The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book is the standard scholarly edition, and it has quite a lot of skimmable introduction/commentary. (Most surviving OE riddles are in the Exeter Book, a manuscript written c.975-1000.)

[pameladean]

I've got a copy, but I have to reread it first; I'm on the panel too. If you haven't dug up another one in about a week, drop me a note and you can have mine.

Pamela