 | |
| Author | J. R. R. Tolkien |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Pauline Baynes |
| Cover artist | Pauline Baynes |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Fantasy |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Publisher | George Allen & Unwin |
Publication date | 1962[1] |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
| Pages | 304 (paperback) |
| ISBN | 978-0007557271 |
| Preceded by | The Lord of the Rings |
| Followed by | Tree and Leaf |
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is a 1962 collection of poetry byJ. R. R. Tolkien. The book contains 16 poems, two of which featureTom Bombadil, a character encountered byFrodo Baggins inThe Lord of the Rings. The rest of the poems are an assortment ofbestiary verse andfairy tale rhyme. Three of the poems appear inThe Lord of the Rings as well. The book is part of Tolkien's Middle-earthlegendarium.[2]
The volume includesThe Sea-Bell, subtitledFrodos Dreme, whichW. H. Auden considered Tolkien's best poem. It is a piece of metrical and rhythmical complexity that recounts a journey to a strange land beyond the sea. Drawing on medieval 'dream vision' poetry and Irishimmram poems, the piece is markedly melancholic and the final note is one of alienation and disillusion.[3]
The book was originally illustrated byPauline Baynes and later by Roger Garland. The book, like the first edition ofThe Fellowship of the Ring, is presentedas if it is an actual translation from theRed Book of Westmarch, and contains some background information on the world ofMiddle-earth that is not found elsewhere: e.g. the name of the tower atDol Amroth and the names of the Seven Rivers ofGondor. There is some fictional background information about those poems, linking them toHobbit folklore and literature and to their supposed writers, in some casesSam Gamgee.
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil was first published as a stand-alone book in 1962. Some editions, such as the Unwin Paperbacks edition (1975) andPoems and Stories, erroneously state that it was first published in 1961.Tolkien's letters confirm that 1962 is the correct year.[4] Beginning withThe Tolkien Reader in 1966, it was included in anthologies of Tolkien's shorter works. This trend continued after his death withPoems and Stories (1980) andTales from the Perilous Realm (1997).In 2014Christina Scull andWayne G. Hammond edited a new stand-alone edition, which includes for each poem detailed commentary, original versions and their sources.
Only one of the poems, "Bombadil Goes Boating", was written specially for the book.[5]
Seven of the works in the book are included on the 1967 album of Tolkien's songs and poems,Poems and Songs of Middle Earth. Six are read by Tolkien; the seventh, "Errantry", is set to music byDonald Swann.[6]
The poems are all supposedly works thatHobbits enjoyed; all are in English. Several are attributed in a mock-scholarly preface to Hobbit authors or traditions. Three are also among the manypoems inThe Lord of the Rings.[7][8]
| Group[7] | No. | Title | Date | Hobbit "Author" | The Lord of the Rings ch. | Original title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Bombadil | 1 | "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" | 1934 | Buckland tradition | The character was named for aDutch doll owned by Tolkien's children.[9] | ||
| Tom Bombadil | 2 | "Bombadil Goes Boating" | 1962 | Buckland tradition | written for the book | ||
| Fairies | 3 | "Errantry" | 1933 | Bilbo Baggins | Shares rhyming scheme, metre and some lines with "Song of Eärendil" | ||
| Fairies | 4 | "Princess Mee" | 1924 | "The Princess Ni" | |||
| Man in the Moon | 5 | "The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late" | 1923 | Bilbo Baggins | I.9 "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony" | Sung byFrodo inBree expanded from "Hey Diddle Diddle (the Cat and the Fiddle)" | |
| Man in the Moon | 6 | "The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon" | 1915 (MS) | "ultimately fromGondor" | MentionsBay of Belfalas | ||
| Trolls | 7 | "The Stone Troll" | 1954 | Sam Gamgee | I.12 "Flight to the Ford" | Recited by Sam in theTrollshaws | |
| Trolls | 8 | "Perry-the-Winkle" | Sam Gamgee | ||||
| An odd one out | 9 | "The Mewlips" | 1937 | "Knocking at the Door" | It concerns the Mewlips, an imaginary race of evil creatures that feed on passers by, collecting their bones in a sack. The poem describes the long and lonely road needed to reach the Mewlips, travelling beyond the Merlock Mountains, and through the marsh of Tode and the wood of "hanging trees and gallows-weed". None of these names appear on maps of Middle-earth. "Gorcrow" is an old name for thecarrion crow. | ||
| Bestiary | 10 | "Oliphaunt" | 1954 | Sam Gamgee | IV.3 "The Black Gate is Closed" | recited inIthilien | |
| Bestiary | 11 | "Fastitocalon" | 1962 | "Adventures in Unnatural History and Medieval Metres, being the Freaks ofFisiologus" | |||
| Bestiary | 12 | "Cat" | Sam Gamgee | ||||
| Atmosphere and emotion | 13 | "Shadow-Bride" | 1936 | "The Shadow Man" | |||
| Atmosphere and emotion | 14 | "The Hoard" | 1923 | "Iúmonna Gold Galdre Bewunden" | |||
| Atmosphere and emotion | 15 | "The Sea-Bell" or "Frodos Dreme" | 1934 | Associated withFrodo Baggins | "Looney" | ||
| Atmosphere and emotion | 16 | "The Last Ship" | 1934 | "ultimately fromGondor" | Originally called "Firiel" |
A 1963,Kirkus Reviews described the book's verses as "roll[ing] along in strange meters and weird words". It called the poems "difficult fun to read aloud", but suggested that the Stone Troll and Bombadil himself, though "memorable acquaintances", might be enjoyed more by adults than by children.[10]
Richard C. West wrote that the book was the idea of Tolkien's aunt, Jane Neave, who wanted something about Tom Bombadil, resembling one ofBeatrix Potter'sLittle Books; but that his publishers wanted a larger volume. Accordingly, he assembled what he had, on the theme of poems that Hobbits might enjoy, grouping them as the editors Scull and Hammond (in the 2015 edition) say "like with like as far as possible", complete with "mock-scholarly preface".[7]
Tolkien's inspiration for this character was a brightly-dressed, peg-wood, Dutch doll (with a feather in his hat!) that belonged to his second son, Michael.
