A review by quoththegirl
The Fall of Arthur, by J.R.R. Tolkien

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.