Tolkien wrote poetry from his youth. In 1962, after the fame consequent to his fantasy books, he published another book, Tales from the Perilous. This book was composed of older writings of Tolkien's pulled out of dusty drawers. The book included the contents of a poetry collection, titled first, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. The poem below, published in Tales from the Perilous, was probably written for his granddaughter Joanna, possibly as late as 1956.
Here is the text of the poem "Cat," written by J. R. R. Tolkien:
The fat cat on the mat
may seem to dream
of nice mice that suffice
for him, or cream;
But he, free, maybe,
walks in thought
unbowed, proud, where loud
roared and fought
his kin, lean and slim,
or deep in den
in the East feasted on beasts
and tender men.
The giant lion with iron
claw in paw
and huge ruthless tooth
in gory jaw;
the pard dark-starred
fleet upon feet
that oft soft from aloft
leaps on his meat
where woods loom in gloom-
far now they be.
fierce and free,
and tamed is he;
but fat cat on a mat
kept as a pet,
he does not forget.
Scholars have not focused on this text. Yet it is more than a nursery rhyme. It is written according to the conventions of Anglo-Saxon poetry. And we see the same hunger for reality as the theme -- the same drive that motivated the author of Beowulf, and an Oxford author of fantasy tales.
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