Tolkien Poem "The Fall of Arthur" Acquired by Publisher, Release Date: May 2013

[Toujours]

HarperCollins has announced the acquisition of Tolkien's never-before-published poem The Fall of Arthur, which will be released for the first time next May. Running to more than 200 pages, Tolkien's story was inspired by Geoffrey of Monmouth and Thomas Malory's tales of King Arthur, and is told in narrative verse. Set in the last days of Arthur's reign, the poem sees Tolkien tackling the old king's battle to save his country from Mordred the usurper, opening as Arthur and Gawain go to war.

Source: The Guardian

If you don't feel like clicking the source, it also has the opening lines of the poem:

Arthur eastward in arms purposed
his war to wage on the wild marches,
over seas sailing to Saxon lands,
from the Roman realm ruin defending.
Thus the tides of time to turn backward
and the heathen to humble, his hope urged him,
that with harrying ships they should hunt no more
on the shining shores and shallow waters
of South Britain, booty seeking.

---

SO MUCH ALLITERATION. Anyway, thoughts? Something you would be interested in?

[Scarf]

I'm counting the days before someone decides to make a movie out of it, then 2 movies, then 3.

Over than 200 pages? Jeez, that's long. But I guess that's epic poetry for you. I'd read Beowulf not too long ago, and it was fine, but I don't think it was nearly half as long as this is going to be. And I dunno, this seems like it's gonna be long winded.

But my LotRs obsessed friend is probably already drooling over this news. I'm sure I can borrow it sometime if I get interested.

[LividZephyr]

Tolkien? This is probably from at least 60 years ago. Surprised they didn't try to acquire this back in 2003 when LOTR was big with the movies and all.

Not sure if I'm going to read it. Never been overly fond of epic poems. I typically avoid writing poems that are over a page long, because that just gets too dense. I tend to read the same kinds of things that I like writing... but this might intrigue me, even though I haven't read any Tolkien (I'm not that big of an epic fantasy buff, to be honest). VERY intriguing though...