Friday, January 3, 2020

Tolkien's Birthday

So, today is J. R. R. Tolkien's hundred and twenty-eighth birthday.

A good time to dig out and reread a favorite from among his many works.  For me, this year it's THE DRAGON'S VISIT, a little gem that exists in two versions --both good, but I much prefer the earlier variant, the one which ends

     The moon shone through his green wings
        the night air beating,
     And he flew back over the dappled sea
        to a green dragon's meeting.

--John R.
--current reading THE PENGUIN HISTORICAL ATLAS OF ANCIENT EGYPT by Bill Manley (1996)
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2 comments:

  1. grodogJanuary 4, 2020 at 8:16 AM

    What more can you tell us about The Dragon's Gem, John? I'm not familiar with that piece.

    Also: other than Volume 4 of HoME, has anyone compiled JRRT's poetry?

    Allan.

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  2. John D. RateliffJanuary 5, 2020 at 3:10 PM

    Dear G.

    The easiest place to find the original (1937) version is in Doug Anderson's THE ANNOTATED HOBBIT, second edition pages 309-311. Doug immediately follows this with the revised ending of circa 1962 (ibid 312).

    I still wish this poem had made it into THE ADVENTURES OF TOM BOMBADIL.

    --John R.

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