J. R.R Tolkien is considered to be one of the greatest fantasy writers ever.. Of course, like many people, I found out about him when the first Lord of the Rings movie came out. I did read The Hobbit and liked it. The first Lord of the Rings book, well, didn’t like. Mind you this was twelve years ago so I may go back to it. I did decide to read the epic poem Tolkien wrote called The Fall of Arthur recently and it was awesome.
For those who don’t know, Tolkien was a professor at Oxford university and a lot o his works are based on classic literature (The Lord of the Rings has a lot biblical and British mythology in it.) He always wanted to add a story to the Arthurian myth. He started it and, sadly, never finished it. It’s a shame really because he was on to something with the story. The story is basically Arthur and his knights fighting Mordred to get Guinevere back. It’s a nice little story that perfectly fits with the Arthurian myth.
Since this is an epic poem, we need to look at it as a poem. One thing that I’ll give Tolkien credit is that he knows how to write poems and songs. Some people may not like that it is written in “old English” (it’s actually Modern English or “Shakespearian English.” Old English actually looks a lot like German.) This was actually a smart move on Tolkien’s part in that it looks a lot like what any Medieval poet would write. It also flows nicely and even sounds nice when you read it out loud.
It’s a shame that only fifty pages of it exist. I would’ve loved to see this story complete because I want to know what happens next. Add this to the list of things that need to come back along with the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Library of Alexandria and the Legacy of Kain team.
J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Arthur is an excellent modern epic poem that will sadly never be completed. Even though I’m not a huge fan of Tolkien, this poem is something I must commend him for. It shows his excellent grasp of literature and poetry skills. I say to every literature professor, have your students read this as part of the Arthurian Legend curriculum. It’s about as important as Mallory’s Mort D’Arthur and White’s Once and Future King.
