Tolkien and Poetry

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."

Thanks to all

who gave me buck-up messages in response to my post the other day. Rob bought a pot of bright yellow mums to help cheer me, and they look like spots of sunlight on my dining room table.

You are all very good to me.

Query re: another book

Has anyone read this one, Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World, by Verlyn Flieger? Is it worth the money?

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