| Poems by J.R.R. Tolkien | |
| The Grey Bridge of Tavrobel | |
|---|---|
| Poem Information | |
| Written | August or September of 1917 |
| Revised | Early 1927 |
| Published | Inter-University Magazine, Tolkien and the Great War, The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien |
| Subject(s) | Tram Nybol |
The Grey Bridge of Tavrobel is "a six-stanza ballad" written by J.R.R. Tolkien echoing his "reunion with his wife after months of separation"[1] and "his return to Great Haywood".[2]
First stanza
There's an old grey bridge in Tavrobel,
And two rivers running fleetly,
And there I saw a damozelle,
And she was smiling sweetly.[3]
Background
Between August and September of 1917,[4] Tolkien wrote a short "emotionally charged" poem set on Tram Nybol[5], the bridge of Tavrobel.[2]
Tolkien would later inscribe "Brooklands Red +[3] [Cross] hosp[ital] Cottingham Road, Hull Sept[ember][3] or Aug[ust][3] 1917?"[4] on the manuscript of the poem.[4] Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull explain that this inscription suggests that Tolkien wrote the poem during the "six weeks"[6] in which he was admitted to a hospital for officers on Cottingham Road.[1]
Tolkien later revised the poem and made two identical typescripts in probably early 1927.[3] The poem was published on page 82 in the Inter-University Magazine[7] sometime between ?1925 and ?1927.[8][9]
The Tolkien scholar John Garth considered the poem to be "sight yet haunting" and "a dialogue of love and longing" with the last stanza lamenting lost sunlit days.[2]
In 2024, the poem was reprinted along with an earlier version in September as entry 56 in The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond, “II. Reader's Guide,” in The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (2006), p. 353
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 John Garth, Tolkien and the Great War, Part Three: The Lonely Isle, 11: "Castles in the air", The Grey Bridge of Tavrobel, pp. 207-8
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull, Wayne G. Hammond (eds.), “56. The Grey Bridge of Tavrobel (1917-?27),” in The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien (HarperCollins, 2024)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond, “chapter=I. Chronology,” in The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (2006), p. 101 (entry "?Mid- to late August or ?September 1917")
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Alphabet of Rúmil & Early Noldorin Fragments", in Parma Eldalamberon XIII (edited by Carl F. Hostetter, Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, Patrick H. Wynne, and Bill Welden), "Heraldic Devices of Tol Erethrin", p. 94
- ↑ Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond, “chapter=I. Chronology,” in The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (2006), p. 101 (entry "Mid-August 1917")
- ↑ Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond, “chapter=I. Chronology,” in The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (2006), p. 120 (entry "?1923-1926")
- ↑ . "Inter-University Magazine". Too Many Books and Never Enough. Retrieved 21 June 2012
- ↑ . "Addenda and Corrigenda to The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (2006) Vol. 1: Chronology". Hammond&Scull.com. Retrieved 21 June 2012