The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
1962 poetry collection by J. R. R. Tolkien
Book · Open Library
- Author
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- First published
- 1962
- Editions
- 17
- Subjects
- Middle-earth, Poetry, Fiction, Fantasy, English Fantasy poetry, Children's poetry, English, Middle Earth (Imaginary place), Juvenile poetry
via Open Library
Key facts
- Author
- J. R. R. Tolkien
- Illustrator
- Pauline Baynes
- Cover artist
- Pauline Baynes
- Language
- English
- Subject
- Fantasy
- Genre
- Poetry
- Publisher
- George Allen & Unwin
~5 min read
Article
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.
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.