3 - 3.5 stars_The Lays of Beleriand_ is a book that I’ve had on my bookshelf for many, many years and quite frankly never thought I’d get to. I think I probably got my copy around the time it was first published when I was but a wee sprat simply because it was by Tolkien and certainly at that time the likelihood that I would read a book comprised primarily of two long narrative poems accompanied by copious editorial apparatus was, to say the least, unlikely. As time went on and I got older I still never read it as I didn’t think the ‘History of Middle-earth’ series (or HoME) would hold much interest for me. Why bother reading the ‘preliminary drafts’ of the material when I had already read the finished products, or at least as close as we were going to get to them in the case of The Silmarillion? It took the podcasts of Corey Olsen (‘The Tolkien Professor’) to get me off my rump in this regard and encourage me to actually pick up the series which allowed me to more fully appreciate what the History of Middle-earth series really provides.I had always thought the series was little more than rough drafts which would only, at best, provide a view into Tolkien’s writing process. An interesting area of study for some perhaps, but it certainly wasn’t my primary interest in him. While this aspect of the series is certainly still somewhat true, I found once I had given the books a fair chance that they offered far more. Ultimately they allowed me to see, in the best cases, much fuller versions of the tales of the First Age of Middle-earth that are given only in precis in The Silmarillion as published. I should have considered this possibility after being blown away by the content in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth when I read it, but all I remembered at the time were my failed attempts at the first volume in the series, The Book of Lost Tales, Part One, when I was young and as for the current volume in question? As noted above plowing through some very long narrative poems still didn’t exactly recommend itself to me when I considered all of the other items on my to-read list. Well, I will admit that I’m glad now that I *did* read it.I could nit-pick and complain that instead of yet another version of the stories of Turin and Beren & Luthien (they were certainly the stories that Tolkien seemed to have loved the most and came back to again and again, re-writing, revising and tinkering as was his wont) it would have been great if we had gotten the full epic treatment of something for which we don’t already have a lot of material, say perhaps the story of Tuor…or hey how about Earendil? He was the first character in what was to become Middle-earth about whom Tolkien wrote and his was supposedly the tale that spawned the entire opus of Middle-earth and was, arguably, the cornerstone to the entire story of the First Age and yet we have little to nothing about him! Still, even if we’re visiting well-tread ground here (at least if you’re a Tolkien fan and have read the other material that exists apart from the HoME series) these versions have plenty to recommend them to us. For one thing there is just so much more detail than we get in the Silmarillion versions that you can really start to live inside the tales a little more easily as a result. You also get a glimpse of the true scope of what Tolkien worked on beyond his most famous works the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit; even though this material was all, in some ways, preliminary and ultimately published posthumously, it becomes obvious that this was really what was at the heart of his creative life and it was truly huge in scope.I was actually surprised when I finished the book to find that I preferred the Lay of Leithian since I normally don’t gravitate as much to the story of Beren of Luthien, beautiful as it is, and the fact that it was written in rhyming couplets could have been disastrous. Luckily there was no twee sing-songiness to the poem (Tolkien really was a fairly accomplished poet) and the chance to see more of both Beren and Luthien in action (not to mention Huan the great hound of Valinor) turned out to be very enjoyable. All those people who think Tolkien didn’t like (or write) strong women really need to take a gander at Luthien. Her tale has been described as the story of a girl and her dog who go out to rescue her boyfriend, and while it is much more than that, the fact that it works well enough as a thumbnail sketch speaks volumes. If you’re a Tolkien fan, especially one who enjoys poetry, and you enjoy the tales of the Silmarillion then you owe it to yourself to check out the HoME series and this volume does not at all disappoint in that regard. A must-read for the Tolkien completist.
The Lays of Beleriand is the third volume in the History of Middle-earth series which details the drafts and notes Tolkien made in his lifetime about the bodies of work that has become known as The Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings. This volume focuses on Tolkien's attempts to write his cycle of myths as "lays" (alliterative verse, aka a form of poetry used in Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon).The main tales focused on in The Lays of Beleriand are "The Children of Húrin" and "The Tale of Lúthien and Beren" (Lay of Leithian). It's familiar ground for most Tolkien fans, which is perhaps a good thing because both lays are incomplete. And while the book contains more of Tolkien's stories written in verse, these other verses are mere fragments. Again, I'll offer up the typical HOME disclaimer: this series is for the more hardcore Tolkien enthusiasts as it deals with Tolkien's drafts and notes, all drawn from various periods in Tolkien's writing life. If you struggled with Rings, if you struggled with The Silmarillion, you're most likely to struggle even more with this. Lays of Beleriand, being the third volume, contains some of Tolkien's earlier writings and various details have changed over time so there's easily room for a lot of confusion.I waffled on about how to rate this. I didn't enjoy The Lay of the Children of Húrin that much, but found myself rapt in The Lay of Leithian.I just couldn't seem to get into The Lay of the Children of Húrin. It reminded me of trying to read Milton's Paradise Lost. There was beautiful writing, stunning imagery, but my eyes kept glazing over and I couldn't take anything in. I knew I was counting down the pages til the end of the chapter, skimming nearly every page and trying to force myself to get through it.I can't work out why I couldn't be absorbed by it. It might have been the use of alliterative verse – except I really enjoyed reading Tolkien's The Fall of Arthur, which is written in the same style (or it is to my uneducated eyes). It might have been the tale itself – except I've read "The Children of Húrin" in prose and bloody love it. At the end of the day, I feel like The Lay of the Children of Húrin had everything I love, but it just didn't work for me. The early-abandoned poems on the Flight of the Noldoli [Noldor] from Valinor, Eärendil and the Fall of Gondolin were a breath of fresh air for me. While these are very short and fragmentary (editor Christopher Tolkien provides the poem, notes and commentary in ten pages and under for all three), they do contain examples of some of Tolkien's most beautiful writing and I had to stop and read out-loud the oath of the Sons of Fëanor, it's that good.Likewise, The Lay of Leithian is something that just clicked for me. I've never considered myself a huge fan of the tale of Lúthien and Beren, but I was rapt in this version of the tale. This makes up the bulk of the book (150 out of 393 pages) and is sadly incomplete, cutting off just after Lúthien and Beren flee Angband. The pages just flew by for me and I found myself enjoying the depiction of Lúthien as a woman who doesn't have to be given a weapon and a bunch of ninja-elf moves to be a badass. There were times when she did seem to be characterised as the swooning damsel and that annoyed me a lot, but then Tolkien let her save the day on multiple occasions and I was more than OK with that. I also found it interesting to read about Thingol in the wake of reading some essays that suggest he, not Thranduil, was the original Elven-king of The Hobbit.So, how do I rate this book? I'd easily given 4-5 stars for the abandoned poems and The Lay of Leithian, but The Lay of the Children of Húrin was a flat 2-starrer for me, though I dearly wish it had been otherwise. It felt safer to go for a rating smack-bang in the middle with 3 stars.
What do You think about The Lays Of Beleriand (1985)?
It's never quite accurate to categorize Tolkien as a "modern" novelist. He certainly did not match the trends of his time, and modern readers often struggle with his antique style, antique in the sense he is out of time by centuries. Tolkien is not exactly prose writer, he's really an out of place bard, and in his poetry especially you see his true skill as an author. To me "The Lay of Beleriand", which includes the unfinished epic poems of the the Lay of Leithian and the Children of Hurin, is Tolkien's greatest work. It's a tragedy that he never finished them, for in 80 pages of expertly rhymed couplets he conjures more magic and heart-wrenching pathos than in all of the Lord of the Rings.
—Maggie
I love this book. It's really magical to see these stories in this way, epic poems that really bring these corners of the Tolkien mythology to life. And faithfully recreated Old English metres, at that. You can almost imagine some travelling bard reciting these over a couple of nights in some lordly lord's hall.I've read this before, and usually, I'll end up skipping over a lot of the commentary and notes, as it detracts a bit from the magic. This time, though, I read it nearly cover to cover. It really provides a great deal of insight into how the mythology evolved, the transitional steps between the Lost Tales and the "finished" versions in the Silmarillion. If you're into that kind of thing (nerd alert), then I'd recommend it.
—Jack
Gave this a second try because the Mythgard Academy was doing an online class about it. It really made the difference to follow it slowly with someone who has a background in Medieval poetry. (My first try led to the following review: "Nope. I tried, but I couldn't get through the epic poems.")Most of this book is two long poems, one about the Turin Turambar story and the other about the Beren and Luthien story. I am finding the study of Tolkien's earlier drafts interesting because they tell in a way, different versions of the same story, and different details and emphases come out.
—Artnoose Noose
