Poetry

Writing poetry was a central interest of Tolkien's early writing career, and both new poetry and his early poetry continued to play an important role in the writing of The Lord of the Rings. This article examines closely two of the poems from The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's “Where now the horse and the rider” poem about the Rohirrim, and Bilbo's “Earendil was a mariner” poem recited in Rivendell. Special attention is given to the long and peculiar history of the latter poem in the interest of illustrating the interrelationship of Tolkien's poetry and his prose story-telling.