Elf Alone

The Lonely Harebell

After a visit to Cromer, a resort on England's coast, Tolkien was inspired to write an unnamed poem a year later which in turn inspired a rewrite a year later in November of 1916. He soon made a second version which he entitled The Lonely Harebell, and four more versions. On one of these four versions, he inscribed the words "[written in] Hospital Birm[ingham] Nov[ember] 1916 (part f[ounded] on matter wr[itten at] Lichfield Sep[tember] 1915 Insp[ired at] Cromer 1914)" on it.

Further revisions

Between January and March of 1918, Tolkien would rewrite the poem, inscribing the words "[written] 1914–1916, Rewr[itten] 1918 Cromer, Hosp[ital] Birm[ingham and] farmhouse near Easington York[shire]" and entitling it first as Elf-alone before changing it to Elfalone or Elf Alone.

In 2024, the poem was published for the first time in September as entry 39 of The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien. In their commentary, Hammond and Scull identified a connection between Elf Alone and Kortirion among the Trees.

1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 25/05/2026.