Anna Smol: A Single Leaf

Tag: The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth

  • New book on Tolkien’s The Homecoming

    Over at my other website, Tolkien and Alliterative Verse, we’ve announced a new book forthcoming from HarperCollins in 2023: J.R.R. Tolkien, The Battle of Maldon together with The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, edited by Peter Grybauskas. For more information, check out this Woven Words blog post: https://tolkienalliterative.ca/2022/12/02/new-book-on-maldon-homecoming-and-more/

  • What did he really mean? Carpenter on Tolkien on Drama

    I’ve borrowed my title from Verlyn Flieger’s essay, “But What Did He Really Mean?” published in Tolkien Studies in 2014. Professor Flieger points out ambivalent statements made by Tolkien at different times about religion, Elves or Faeries, and Faërian Drama. I’ll be looking closely at what she says about Faërian Drama at a later date,…

  • New article in JTR on “The Homecoming”

    I’m pleased to announce that my co-author, Rebecca Foster, and I have recently published our study of Tolkien’s alliterative verse in his play, “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son” in the free and open access Journal of Tolkien Research. In case you’re curious about its contents, here is the abstract: “J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘Homecoming’ and Modern…

  • Tolkien Symposium 2021: Tolkien the Playwright

    The Tolkien Symposium usually takes place in Kalamazoo, Michigan a day or two before the International Congress on Medieval Studies begins at the University of Western Michigan. This year, both events were held online, with the Symposium taking place on May 8. This year’s Symposium began with a memorial session dedicated to Tolkien scholar Richard…

  • Tolkien the Playwright

    We don’t often think of Tolkien as a playwright. Fantasy novelist — of course. Poet, scholar, artist – yes. But we shouldn’t forget that Tolkien also wrote one published play, “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son” – let’s call it “The Homecoming” for short – which was produced by BBC Radio and has been read…

  • Tolkien & the Mysterious: The Homecoming

    March 25, designated by the Tolkien Society as Tolkien Reading Day, is meant to encourage the reading of Tolkien’s works individually or in group events. A new theme is announced every year, and for 2019 it’s “Tolkien and the mysterious.” My current reading focuses on Tolkien’s verse drama, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son –…

  • Travels with Tolkien; or, What I Did Last Summer

    A couple of weeks ago, my department held a reception for our students, and the event included a series of brief talks called  “What I Did Last Summer.”  Our intention was to introduce our work to our students and also to combat the popular misconception that professors have the summer “off.” We wanted to give…

  • Jackson’s Lost Opportunity: The Death of Sister-Sons

    I enjoy many things about Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films – the material realization of various Middle-earth cultures, the creation of the best movie dragon I’ve ever seen, Martin Freeman’s Bilbo, to name only a few – but of course Jackson is not making the films specifically for me, a medievalist with a love of Tolkien’s…