 | |
| 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 by J. R. R. Tolkien. The book contains 16 poems, two of which feature Tom Bombadil, a character encountered by Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings. The rest of the poems are an assortment of bestiary verse and fairy tale rhyme. Three of the poems appear in The Lord of the Rings as well. The book is part of Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium.[2]
The volume includes The Sea-Bell, subtitled Frodos Dreme, which W. 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 Irish immram poems, the piece is markedly melancholic and the final note is one of alienation and disillusion.[3]
The book was originally illustrated by Pauline Baynes and later by Roger Garland. The book, like the first edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, is presented as if it is an actual translation from the Red Book of Westmarch, and contains some background information on the world of Middle-earth that is not found elsewhere: e.g. the name of the tower at Dol Amroth and the names of the Seven Rivers of Gondor. There is some fictional background information about those poems, linking them to Hobbit folklore and literature and to their supposed writers, in some cases Sam Gamgee.
- ^ Scull, Christina & Hammond, Wayne G. (2006), The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, HarperCollins, 'Chronology' volume, p. 601; ISBN 978-0-618-39113-4
- ^ Shippey, Tom (2006). "Poems by Tolkien: The Adventures of Tom Bombadil". In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.). The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. pp. 515–517. ISBN 978-0-415-96942-0.
- ^ Roche, Norma (1991). "Sailing West: Tolkien, the Saint Brendan Story, and the Idea of Paradise in the West". Mythlore. 17 (4): 16–20, 62.