The Lays of Beleriand
The Lays of Beleriand, published in 1985, is the third volume of Christopher Tolkien's 12-volume book series, The History of Middle-earth, in which he analyzes the unpublished manuscripts of J.R.R. Tolkien.
This book includes the five poems that Tolkien began to write shortly after The Book of Lost Tales phase. Only two of them were continued beyond the beginning, the Lay of the Children of Húrin and the Lay of Leithian, the latter being the longest poem Tolkien ever composed, although he didn't finish it.
Overview
The book contains the long heroic lays or lyric poetry Tolkien wrote: these are The Lay of the Children of Húrin about the saga of Túrin Turambar, and The Lay of Leithian (also called Release from Bondage) about Beren and Lúthien. Although Tolkien abandoned them before their respective ends, they are both long enough to occupy many stanzas, each of which can last for over ten pages. The first poem is in alliterative verse, and the second is in rhyming couplets. Both exist in two versions.
In addition to these two poems, the book also gives three short, soon-abandoned alliterative poems, which are The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor, The Lay of Eärendel, and The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin.
The first versions of the long lays fit chronologically in with Tolkien's earliest writings, as recounted in The Book of Lost Tales, but the later version of The Lay of Leithian is contemporary with the writing of The Lord of the Rings.
Contents
- Preface
- I. "The Lay of the Children of Húrin"
- — First version
- — Second version
- II. Poems Early Abandoned:
- — "The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor"
- — "Fragment of an alliterative Lay of Eärendel"
- — "The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin"
- III. "The Lay of Leithian"
- — Canto I — Canto XIV
- — Unwritten Cantos
- — Appendix: Commentary by C.S. Lewis
- Index
Inscriptions
There is an inscription in the Tengwar characters in the first pages of every History of Middle-earth volume, written by Christopher Tolkien and describing the contents of the book. The inscription in Book III reads:
"In the first part of this Book is given the Lay of the Children of Húrin by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, in which is set forth in part the Tale of Túrin. In the second part is the Lay of Leithian, which is the Gest of Beren and Lúthien as far as the encounter of Beren with Carcharoth at the gate of Angband."
Publication history and gallery
UK editions
- George Allen & Unwin, hardcover (1985), pp. 393. ISBN 0048232777
- Unwin Paperbacks, paperback (1987), ISBN 0044400187 - (cover art by Roger Garland)
- HarperCollins hardcover (1991), ISBN 0261102052
- HarperCollins paperback (1994), ISBN 0261102265 - (cover art by John Howe)
- — 1994 paperback edition, reset in 2002, then in 2015
- HarperCollins hardcover (2010), ISBN 0007365276
- — 2015 paperback edition, 37th impression (2024)
- HarperCollins hardcover with reversable dustjacket (2024), ISBN 978-0008669201 - (Centenary Boxed Sets #2)
Referencias
1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 30/05/2026.
