| Poems by J.R.R. Tolkien | |
| The Last of the Old Gods | |
|---|---|
| Poem Information | |
| Other names | The Last of the Gods, Last of the [Old] Gods |
| Written | Around 1931 |
| Published | The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien |
| Subject(s) | Gods |
The Last of the Old Gods is a melancholic[1] poem that was written by J.R.R. Tolkien around 1931.[2]
Poem excerpt
Twixt Earth and Heaven towers tall
are mounted above wall on wall,
their windy peaks are fierce and free,
their feet are founded in the sea;
and to those towers of light and snow
faint comes the murmur far below
of the green waves and the white seas
and little tempests like a breeze.[2]
Background
Around 1931, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a melancholic[1] poem on "a fair copy typescript" that he initially titled The Last of the Gods before changing the name to The Last of the Old Gods.[2] After the end of line 36, Tolkien wrote "end?" in addition to briefly pondering whether to delete "the final two stanzas" before deciding to possibly only delete lines 73 to the end.[2] In the third section of a list of poems headed "Kortirion among the Trees" that may have began as a revision of a 1926/27 list labeled "Contents", Tolkien added The Last of the Old Gods as Last of the [Old] Gods.[3] After making the "Kortirion among the Trees" list, Tolkien assigned "a rough programme" to each section, with the third one (the one The Last of the Old Gods was in) being labeled as "The Silmarillion".[4] In the third section of another, subsequent, list, Tolkien also included The Last of the Old Gods among poems relating to the legendarium.[5]
In September of 2024, the poem was published for the first time as entry 126 in The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien.[2] In their commentary, Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull suggest that while The Last of the Old Gods "does not have any overt connection with Tolkien’s mythology", Tolkien did include The Last of the Old Gods in a list alongside poems that "are explicitly related to the 'Silmarillion' mythology".[2] They note further that "it is possible to find…elements in common", comparing "the notion of 'a timeless time when musics grew" to "the Ainulindalë…in 'The Silmarillion'" and "the titular old god…watching for 'a light upon the margins…of this deep world beneath the sun'" to "the Valar" waiting "for the coming of Elves and Men".[2] Despite this, they point out that:[2]
it is also easy to read this poem as a comment on the state of the world in the early 1930s, when trouble was again stirring on the Continent and fears of another war loomed. Most of the work is told from the point of view of the 'old god', who sees 'dead cold ruin' and the (metaphorical) crumbling of dykes which have held back 'the outer seas'; but towards its end the emphasis shifts to Men, who no longer look to the old gods, who 'shrug and turn', yet retain a spark of defiance. Are they to be considered 'new gods' in contrast to the 'old'? The poet expresses a hope that beacons and ramparts can be erected again against the dark, though it is a weak, indeed fatalist view: a wall or dyke will only delay 'what must be' – the 'end of things'.[2]
Hammond and Scull note that the slightly later Latin poem, Quare Fremunt Omnes Gentes, in 1932[6] may have "a similar outlook"[2] to The Last of the Old Gods.[2] In a review of The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien in the Journal of Tolkien Research, John R. Holmes notes that The Last of the Old Gods "presents a melancholy Götterdämmerung" like what Tolkien called the "long defeat".[1] Holmes suggests that this concept was not unique to "the northern myths", but that the theme was explored in Swinburne's "Hymn to Proserpine" in 1866 that deals with "the classical Roman gods".[1] In addition to suggesting that The Last of the Old Gods "is generalized enough…to apply to the…receding of the elves in Tolkien’s Middle-earth", Holmes notes that, "as Scull and Hammond point out, however, the twilight mood also fits Tolkien's World War I generation in 1931".[1] On 29 September of 2025, Sean Johnson noted on "The Daily Poem Podcast" that The Last of the Old Gods shows that many of the eucatastrophe themes of The Lord of the Rings were "already well-formed" long before.[7]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 John R. Holmes, "The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien (2024), edited by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond." 2024, ValpoScholar - Valparaiso University, accessed 2 January 2026 , Journal of Tolkien Research: Volume 20, Issue 1, Article 8
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond (eds.), The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, "126. The Last of the Old Gods (?1931)", pp. 881-4
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond (eds.), The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, "Appendix III. Poem Lists", p. 1385 (list "G")
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond (eds.), The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, "Appendix III. Poem Lists", p. 1386 (list "G")
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond (eds.), The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, "Appendix III. Poem Lists", p. 1388 (list "H")
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond (eds.), The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, "135. Quare Fremunt Omnes Gentes (?1932 or ?33-?35)", p. 1035
- ↑ Sean Johnson, "J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Last of the Old Gods"" 29 September 2025, The Daily Poem Podcast - Substack, accessed 2 January 2026