| Poems by J.R.R. Tolkien | |
| The Little House of Lost Play: Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva | |
|---|---|
| Poem Information | |
| Other names | You and Me / and the Cottage of Lost Play, Pæt húsincel ǽrran gamenes, The Cottage of Lost Play: Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva, The House of Lost Play; Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva, Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva, The Cottage of Lost Play |
| Written | 27 April and 28 April of 1915 |
| Revised | Late 1961 or early 1962 |
| Published | The Book of Lost Tales Part One, The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien |
| Subject(s) | Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva |
The Little House of Lost Play: Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva is the name of a poem written by J.R.R. Tolkien about the Cottage of Lost Play.[1]
First stanza
We knew that land once, You and I,
and once we wandered there
in the long days now long gone by,
a dark child and a fair.
Was it on the paths of firelight thought
in winter cold and white,
or in the blue-spun twilit hours
of little early tucked-up beds
in drowsy summer night,
that you and I in Sleep went down
to meet each other there,
your dark hair on your white nightgown
and mine was tangled fair?[1]:30-31
Background
On 27 April and 28 April of 1915, Tolkien wrote the first version of the poem in his undergraduate lodgings at the University of Oxford. It was originally named You and Me / and the Cottage of Lost Play with an alternative name, Pæt húsincel ǽrran gamenes or Þæt Húsincel Ǽrran Ȝamenes[2], meaning "The Small House of Former Play"[2] in Old English.[1]
On 1 May, Tolkien wrote a letter to Edith Bratt that mentioned a previous version of the poem which did not survive "because it was too intimate for anyone but" her to read. Tolkien's statement in the letter implies that "the ‘You’ of the poem" is Edith.[2]
Tolkien eventually changed the name of the poem to Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva, The Cottage of Lost Play in a subsequent revision. Around late 1961 or early 1962,[2] Tolkien made a final revision of the poem, in which he changed the name to The Little House of Lost Play: Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva.[1]
The first and last of the several versions were published for the first time in The Book of Lost Tales Part One.[1]
While Christopher Tolkien stated that the idea about children travelling to a garden in Valinor in their sleep was abandoned,[1] Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull pointed out in The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide that the idea within the poem is similar to "the garden of the Man-in-the-Moon" in the novella Roverandom, which Tolkien began to write in 1925 and 1927[2].[3]
External links
- Colin Rudd, "colin rudd - cottage of lost play" 8 May 2007, YouTube
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "I. The Cottage of Lost Play": "Notes and Commentary", pp. 27-32
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond (eds.), The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, "28. You and Me and the Cottage of Lost Play · The Little House of Lost Play: Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva (1915-?61 or ?62)"
- ↑ Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (2017), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (Second Edition), entry "The Little House of Lost Play: Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva"