The Lonely Isle is a poem written by J.R.R. Tolkien as he crossed the English channel with troops in June 1916. It was published in 1924 within Leeds University Verse 1914-24. It was then republished in Tolkien and the Great War in 2003.
Poem excerpt
O glimmering island set sea-girdled and alone—
A gleam of white rock through a sunny haze;
O all ye hoary caverns ringing with the moan
Of long green waters in the southern bays;
Ye murmurous never-ceasing voices of the tide;
Ye plumèd foams wherein the shoreland spirits ride;
Ye white birds flying from the whispering coast
And wailing conclaves of the silver shore,
Sea-voiced, sea-wingèd, lamentable host
Who cry about unharboured beaches evermore,
Who sadly whistling skim these waters grey
And wheel about my lonely outward way -
See also
References