Tolkien Gateway

Letter 295

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Letter 295
RecipientW.H. Auden
Date29 March 1967
Subject(s)Cheered by Auden's praise for two poems, thanks and offered help for Auden's work on the Völsungs

Letter 295 is a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

[edit] Summary

Tolkien had contributed a poem in Anglo-Saxon to the journal Shenandoah as part of a festschrift for Auden's sixtieth birthday. Auden praised this poem and Tolkien's "The Sea-Bell" ("Frodo’s Dreme"). Tolkien was delighted by Auden's letter and greatly cheered by Auden's pleasure and praise for the two poems. He also thanked Auden for his effort on The Song of the Sibyl[note 1] and hoped to send Auden his attempt to unify the lays about the Völsungs that he did many years before.

[edit] Note

  1. Auden and Paul B. Taylor translated the Völuspá or "Song of the Sibyl" and included it in The Elder Edda: A Selection in 1969.