 | |
| Poems by J.R.R. Tolkien | |
| The Hoard | |
|---|---|
| Poem Information | |
| Other names | Iúmonna Gold Galdre Bewunden |
| Written | 1923 |
| Revised | 1961 or 1962 |
The Hoard is a poem written by J.R.R. Tolkien and first published within The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book in 1962. It makes use of caesura in the manner of Anglo-Saxon poetry.[1]
The tone of the poem is greed — an old elven hoard is taken by a dwarf, a dragon and a man. Each is consumed by the greed of owning the hoard until each in turn is killed and the next owner also becomes consumed by greed until he is killed in turn.[2] It is said to echo events of the First Age, specifically the Elven/Númenorean tradition of Túrin, Glaurung and Mîm in Nargothrond, possibly derived from Rivendell.[3]
Tolkien mentions the poem in a letter to Pauline Baynes in 1961, commenting that: "I suppose one would also have to except 'The Hoard' from being 'light-hearted', though the woes of the successive (nameless) inheritors are seen merely as pictures in a tapestry of antiquity and do not deeply engage individual pity. I was most interested by your choice of this as your favourite."[4]
In 1967, Tolkien recorded the poem for Poems and Songs of Middle Earth.
Tolkien didn't agree with Baynes's original illustration for the poem, specifically the depiction of the man, and the sleeping dragon facing away from the entrance; he chose it to be omitted, as only five illustrations were to be printed, but eventually all six passed for publication. Baynes however revised the picture for the poem's reprint in Poems and Stories.[5]
Other versions of the legendarium
The original version of the poem was called Iúmonna Gold Galdre Bewunden.[6] The Old English title of the poem is taken from a line of verse contained within Beowulf, which in modern English reads: "the gold of men of long ago enmeshed in enchantment" (l. 3052).[7]
Iúmonna Gold Galdre Bewunden was originally published by Tolkien in three different versions. The first version was published in January 1923 within The Gryphon (n.s.4, no.4). A heavily revised version was then published in the Oxford Magazine 55, no.15 (4 March 1937). The third version, differing little from the second but bearing the title The Hoard, was published in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book in 1962.
The original 1923 version was reprinted in Douglas A. Anderson's The Annotated Hobbit. Both the 1923 and 1937 versions were reprinted in Beowulf and the Critics in 2002 along with one intermediate version.[8]
See also
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull & Wayne G. Hammond (eds), The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, "Commentary"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, "The Hoard"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, "Preface"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 235, (dated 6 December 1961)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Christina Scull & Wayne G. Hammond (eds), The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, "Introduction"
- ↑ Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (2006), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: II. Reader's Guide, p. 383
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 235, (dated 6 December 1961)
- ↑ Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (2006), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: II. Reader's Guide, p. 383