An Evening in Tavrobel

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An Evening in Tavrobel is a poem written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in 1924 within the Leeds University Verse 1914-24 on page 56.[1] It was probably written a few years earlier, in 1916 or 1917. The poem recounts an evening in Tavrobel, a place beyond the rivers Gruir and Afros, where lived the elf Gilfanon.[2]

The poem has been reprinted in Three Early Poems (1991),[3] and in Amon Hen 242 (2013), together with commentary by Fernando Cid Lucas and Bernardo Santano Moreno.[2] It is included in the extended edition of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (2014).

Poem

'Tis the time when May first looks toward June
with almond-scented hawthorn strewn
the tremulous day at last has run
down the gold stairways of the Sun,
who brimmed the buttercups with light
like a clear wine she spillèd bright;
and gleaming spirits there did dance
and sip those goblets' radiance.
Now wane they all; now comes the moon;
like crystal are the dewdrops strewn
beneath the eve, and twinkling gems
are hung on the leaves and slender stems.

Now in the grass lies many a pool,
infinitesimal and cool,
where tiny faces peer and laugh
at glassy fragments of the stars
about them mirrored, or from jars
of unimagined frailty quaff
This essence of the plenilune,
thirsty, perchance, from dancing all noon.

See also

References

  1. "Leeds University Verse 1916-1924", TolkienBooks.net (accessed 29 July 2013)
  2. 2.0 2.1 Fernando Cid Lucas and Bernardo Santano Moreno, "El Poema An Evening in Tavrobel de J.R.R. Tolkien", in Amon Hen 242 (July 2013), pp. 16-17
  3. "Three Early Poems. 1991", TolkienBooks.net (accessed 29 July 2013)