Tolkien’s Glee

Lovers of Tolkien’s works know well his penchant for including song lyrics and verse in his prose. This book offers a thorough reading of every piece of verse in the two best-known works of J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The study of these songs begins with the assumption that they were intended to delight through sound, and so a great deal of the analysis focuses on the “music” of the songs, the sounds of the individual words, and the metrical patterns, and how they contribute to Tolkien’s story and his themes. Though some of the discussion gets technical, all specialized terms are defined in a glossary, and introduced side-by-side with clear, understandable explanations without oversimplification. The book discusses influences on Tolkien’s verse from classical, Old and Middle English, and modern English, though “source study” is expressly avoided.

John R. Holmes has been teaching Medieval literature at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio since 1985 and has written two dozen articles on J.R.R. Tolkien.

John R. Holmes
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages:
Bibliographic Info: glossary, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9865-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5735-6
Imprint: McFarland

• “This book is a must-have for anyone interested in the background and histories of the songs and lyrics interspersed throughout Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Dr. Holmes is a well-known Tolkien scholar and expert on the construction and presentation of historical verse, lyrics, and metrical song. His writing style is very approachable and witty, making this book both readable and enjoyable for Tolkien enthusiasts at all levels.”—Dr. Bradford Lee Eden, editor, Journal of Tolkien Research and medieval musicologist

• “It is rare for a book to be at once scholarly and entertaining, but John Holmes’s Tolkien’s Glee accomplishes the feat with wit and erudition in equal measure. Readers will find surprising nuggets of information paired with rollicking enjoyment.”—Verlyn Flieger, founding co-editor of Tolkien Studies, professor emerita, University of Maryland