THE ADVENTURES OF TOM BOMBADIL by JRR Tolkien

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“The Red Book contains a large number of verses. A few are included in the narrative of the Downfall of the Lord of the Rings, or in the attached stories and chronicles; many more are found on loose leaves, while some are written carelessly in margins and blank spaces.” — from the PREFACE

title: The Adventures of Tom Bombadil

author: JRR Tolkien

illustrator: edition read: Roger Garland (other editions: Pauline Baynes & Alan Lee)

published: 1962 (rewrites of poems init. written/published in 1920s & 1930s)

publisher: George Allen & Unwin

genre: poetry

setting: Middle-earth

main themes/subjects: the Man in the Moon, elves, trolls, talking animals, spooky supernatural creatures (barrow-wights, mewlips, etc.), Tom Bombadil, fae English country & forest imagery, interesting meters & rhyme schemes, wandering, madness, shadows, water-worlds, embodied nature

tropes: comic animal fables, nursery tales, bestiary lore, nonsense rhymes, fairy poems

my thoughts:

Is Tolkien my favorite poet, too? Reading this collection made me remember how much I absolutely love his poetry. In fact it actually made me cave & order the three volume box set collection of all of his poems so I’m going to enjoy flipping through those on the regular. . .

My favorite poems were “The Mewlips”, “The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon”, “Fastitocalon”, & “Perry-the-Winkle”.

philosophy: “The verses, of hobbit origin, here presented have generally two features in common. They are fond of strange words, and of rhyming and metrical tricks . . . They are also, at least on the surface, lighthearted or frivolous, though sometimes one may uneasily suspect that more is meant than meets the ear.” This quote is a perfect encapsulation of the deeper philosophy behind all of Tolkien’s faerie stories.

i would recommend this book to readers who enjoy classic English style poetry set in Middle-earth & other Faerie realms. this book is best read aloud. (interestingly though I didn’t love Jacobi’s narration for this part—he is better suited to fiction-narration I think. . .)

“And all that he got, in an earthen pot

broken and black with smoke,

Was porridge cold and two days old

to eat with a wooden spoon.

For puddings of Yule with plums, poor fool,

he arrived so much too soon:

An unwary guest on a lunatic quest

from the Mountains of the Moon.”

— from “THE MAN IN THE MOON CAME DOWN TOO SOON”

season: Winter or Spring

music pairing: traditional English folk music &

further reading:

• THE COLLECTED POEMS OF JRR TOLKIEN, edited & annotated by Scull & Hammond (2024)

• TALES FROM THE PERILOUS REALM (1997)

  • Especially Roverandom (1925) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ & On Fairy Stories (1939)

• THE LORD OF THE RINGS: The Appendices, by JRR Tolkien (1954)

• BEREN AND LÚTHIEN, edited by Christopher Tolkien (2017) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

• THE SILMARILLION (published posthumously in 1977) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

• For more works by & about JRR Tolkien, check out this post:

---

Click on the star ratings beside the titles I’ve read to read my reviews/thoughts about the book.

I earn commissions from the sponsored links to my shop on bookshop.org which allow me to keep my content like Book Reviews & Reading Lists free to all subscribers. <3

---

---

All graphics, images, & photography © Stop and Smell the Books unless otherwise indicated.

---

Upgrade to a paid subscription to see more of my expanded annotations & favorite quotes & illustrations from this book. . .