kbbru's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Fun to read aloud.
hannah_dillard's review against another edition
3.0
This was hard for me to get through and I did skim the second half. I think maybe because it was poetry, maybe because it was unfinished—whatever the reason, this will go down as “I have read it, but most likely won’t again.” However, another Tolkien book conquered!
theeverglow17's review against another edition
4.0
this rating is for the poem itself, which is beautiful and epic. it is a shame that the professor never finished it... and a shame that we only have 40 pages of it to read!
roxanamalinachirila's review against another edition
4.0
"Thus Arthur in arms eastward journeyed,
and war awoke in the wild regions.
Halls and temples of the heathen kings
his might assailed marching in conquest
from the mouths of the Rhine o'er many kingdoms.
[...]
Foes before them, flames behind them,
ever east and onward eager rode they,
and folk fled them as the face of God,
till earth was empty, and no eyes saw them,
and no ears heard them in the endless hills"
Like many other authors I've heard of, J.R.R. Tolkien had a lot of projects he never finished - "The Fall of Arthur" among them. An alliterative poem about king Arthur started before "The Lord of the Rings" and later abandoned, it's now been edited and published by his son, Christopher Tolkien, based on his father's notes and manuscripts.
"The Fall of Arthur" is nowhere near complete, and while the book itself is over 200 pages, the poem in itself only takes up 40 of them. 40 sonorous pages, with the ring of Anglo-Saxon saga to them, epic and a pleasure to read out loud (especially if you're in the sort of mood in which you'd want to read poetry out loud because it sounds cool).
Christopher Tolkien fills in the blanks: he devotes a fairly long essay to the early history of the Arthurian legend, starting from "Historia regum Britanniae", a pseudohistorical account of British kings written by Geoffrey of Monmouth in 1136, in which King Arthur defeats the Roman Emperor and does other very unlikely feats of might (Apparently, making up stuff and claiming it really happened in history is a very old hobby.), and going through various texts called "The Death of Arthur", both prose and verse (apparently, writing about Arthur's death is also a very old hobby).
It's quite interesting, if you don't know much about the literary development of Arthur and his knights (which indeed I didn't).
He also delves into the connection that "The Fall of Arthur" has with the rest of Tolkien's works - like it being related to the Silmarillion in an early phase. Then there are also a bunch of older variations of the text, and notes J.R.R. Tolkien made for continuing it, as well as a bit of an explanation about alliterative poetry and how it works, in J.R.R. Tolkien's own words.
The poem itself is rather a teaser for a greater work that will never happen, so that can be frustrating, but the book itself is interesting, both for the info about king Arthur's literary evolution, and for the process of creating a poem such as this, which is pieced together by Christopher Tolkien.
and war awoke in the wild regions.
Halls and temples of the heathen kings
his might assailed marching in conquest
from the mouths of the Rhine o'er many kingdoms.
[...]
Foes before them, flames behind them,
ever east and onward eager rode they,
and folk fled them as the face of God,
till earth was empty, and no eyes saw them,
and no ears heard them in the endless hills"
Like many other authors I've heard of, J.R.R. Tolkien had a lot of projects he never finished - "The Fall of Arthur" among them. An alliterative poem about king Arthur started before "The Lord of the Rings" and later abandoned, it's now been edited and published by his son, Christopher Tolkien, based on his father's notes and manuscripts.
"The Fall of Arthur" is nowhere near complete, and while the book itself is over 200 pages, the poem in itself only takes up 40 of them. 40 sonorous pages, with the ring of Anglo-Saxon saga to them, epic and a pleasure to read out loud (especially if you're in the sort of mood in which you'd want to read poetry out loud because it sounds cool).
Christopher Tolkien fills in the blanks: he devotes a fairly long essay to the early history of the Arthurian legend, starting from "Historia regum Britanniae", a pseudohistorical account of British kings written by Geoffrey of Monmouth in 1136, in which King Arthur defeats the Roman Emperor and does other very unlikely feats of might (Apparently, making up stuff and claiming it really happened in history is a very old hobby.), and going through various texts called "The Death of Arthur", both prose and verse (apparently, writing about Arthur's death is also a very old hobby).
It's quite interesting, if you don't know much about the literary development of Arthur and his knights (which indeed I didn't).
He also delves into the connection that "The Fall of Arthur" has with the rest of Tolkien's works - like it being related to the Silmarillion in an early phase. Then there are also a bunch of older variations of the text, and notes J.R.R. Tolkien made for continuing it, as well as a bit of an explanation about alliterative poetry and how it works, in J.R.R. Tolkien's own words.
The poem itself is rather a teaser for a greater work that will never happen, so that can be frustrating, but the book itself is interesting, both for the info about king Arthur's literary evolution, and for the process of creating a poem such as this, which is pieced together by Christopher Tolkien.
eyan_birt's review against another edition
4.0
I have a lot to think about with Tolkien's rendition of The Fall of Arthur. The emphasis on relationships between Arthur/Lancelot/Mordred is fascinating, while maintaining the origin of the poems that Tolkien here translated. Christopher's explanations and notes, as well as the inclusion of connections to Tolkien's more well known original works (Namely the Simarillion) makes the text more relatable to a more modern audience.
ladyvictoriadiana's review against another edition
4.0
Really liked this one. I’m a big fan of the Arthurian legends and though I’m not a lover of poetry, the poem itself was enjoyable. And the explanations and little excourses at the end were helpful and informative as always.
quoththegirl's review against another edition
5.0
I guiltily paid full price for this book at B&N (something I'm practically allergic to after spending far too much time in secondhand shops), but after reading it, I have no regrets. It was worth every cent. Latest in a line of posthumous publications edited and compiled by Tolkien's son Christopher, The Fall of Arthur is a (tragically incomplete) alliterative poem in the Northern and Anglo-Saxon tradition. Think Arthurian Beowulf. If there's any combination more perfectly calculated to make me fall in love, I've never encountered it. The poem is absolutely exquisite, and I'm not sure I'll be able to forgive Tolkien for dying without finishing it. Aside from the subject matter, the poem itself is an astounding piece of skill. English alliterative meter is no joke, and according to Christopher, his father just dashed large chunks of it off without batting an eyelash. Christopher's extremely detailed (if a little dull) analysis of the evolution of the poem is still worth a read, and if you read nothing else of the supplementary materials, at least check out the Appendix on the verse form so that you can appreciate the difficulty of writing alliterative verse.