| Poems by J.R.R. Tolkien | |
| Meremenna Symbel | |
|---|---|
| Poem Information | |
| Other names | The Sirens, Sirens, The Sirens Feast |
| Written | July of 1910 |
| Revised | Possibly May of 1914 |
| Published | The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien |
| Subject(s) | Sirens |
Meremenna Symbel,[1] also referred to as The Sirens,[2] is a poem written by J.R.R. Tolkien in July of 1910.[3]
Poem excerpt
Clawed by the frothy fingers of the hungry deep
That moaned in restless agony around
Stood darkly once, its cruel and unrelenting steep
Towered high, an isle by no man living found.[1]
Background
Sometime in July of 1910,[3] J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the poem The Sirens Feast[1] on the same manuscript that he wrote Wood-sunshine[4] on.[1] At some later date,[3] Tolkien inscribed "July 1910"[3] on the manuscript and wrote the title in the margins.[1] A few years later, possibly in May of 1914, Tolkien revised the poem,[5] giving it The Sirens as a shortened name, but also naming it Meremenna Symbel ("The Sirens Feast") in Old English.[1] On the manuscript for the second version, Tolkien also wrote the date of its initial composition in addition to inscribing "(pract[ically] unaltered)" and "Before untitled" on it.[1]
In a list of poems marked "Attempts at Verse", Tolkien included the poem with the spelling Meremenna symbel ("The Sirens").[6] Sometime after 14 July of 1915, Tolkien included the poem, labeled as meremennena symbel ("The Sirens Feast"), in another list of poems.[7] Near "the end of 1915 or the start of 1916", Tolkien included The Sirens Feast[1] under the name Sirens as part of a list of poems he compiled,[8] only to strike it through.[9]
In September of 2024, the poem was published for the first time as entry 5 in The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien along with the earliest version.[1] In their commentary, Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull described the Sirens in the poem as deriving from Greek mythology and being "generally depicted as women combined with birds", unlike mermaids.[1] In a note to line 13 in the first version of the poem, Hammond and Scull explain that "Gan is an obsolete form of gone".[10] In a note on their "Addenda and Corrigenda to The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien", Hammond and Scull corrected their note to line 13 to "a dialectal English form of the verb go".[11] Their notion was disputed by "some readers", who "suggested that gan is to be related not to Old English ‘go’ but to OE ginnan ‘begin’, thus ‘gan’ = ‘began’, or else should be understood to mean ‘did’, as Middle English gan is sometimes translated".[11]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond (eds.), The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, "5. The Sirens Feast · The Sirens (1910-?14)", pp. 17-8
- ↑ Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (2006), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: I. Chronology, "Poetry by J.R.R. Tolkien", "By Title", p. 855 (entry "The Sirens. Unpublished.")
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (2006), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: I. Chronology, p. 19 (entry "July 1910")
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond (eds.), The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, "4. Wood-Sunshine (1910-14)", p. 14
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond (eds.), The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, "Introduction", p. xv
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond (eds.), The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, "Appendix III. Poem Lists", p. 1377 (list "A")
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond (eds.), The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, "Appendix III. Poem Lists", p. 1379 (list "C")
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond (eds.), The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, "Appendix III. Poem Lists", p. 1381 (list "D")
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond (eds.), The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, "Introduction", p. xxiii
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond (eds.), The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, "5. The Sirens Feast · The Sirens (1910-?14)", p. 18 (note "A13:")
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond, "Addenda and Corrigenda to The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien (2024) Arranged by Date" 24 December 2024, Hammond&Scull.com, accessed 30 December 2025 , "Prior to 24 December 2024"