The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book

Rating:
Summary: Fine verse
Review: It is crazy that this book should be out of print. What are publishers thinking of? The verses are a delight, though they become increasingly tragic as the book progresses - "The Sea Bell" is a devastating account of something like clinical depression, yet like many of the rest it has a strange beauty. On the surface much is easy-to-read verse, but often has subtle allusions to deep matters. Many links with "The Lord of the Rings" for those who know where to look, and, I think, an unusually personal account of Tolkien's own struggles to find beauty, wonder and enchantment in the bleak modern world - it is only coincidence that "The Sea Bell" is the only one of his major works for publication written in the first person?