In early 2013, fans of the epic fantasy writer J.R.R. Tolkien received exciting news: Two previously lost poems by the Oxford don had been discovered in an obscure, 1936 school journal. Given Tolkien’s love of old maps and manuscripts, it’s fitting that his poem was uncovered by two Tolkien scholars, Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull, a couple who were searching through old archives.
Literary Detectives
The pair encountered a reference in a Feb. 15, 1936 issue of “The Tablet” to “a poem or two” by Tolkien being published in a periodical called variously the “Abingdon Annual” and “Abingdon Chronicle.” Furthermore, there was a reference in Tolkien’s own papers to the publication of a poem in the “Abingdon Chronicle.”Using some detective work, Hammond and Scull determined that the “Abingdon Annual” or “Abingdon Chronicle” was really a periodical called “The Annual” published by Our Lady’s School, Abingdon (near Oxford). The literary sleuths contacted the school, which is still running, and asked whether they had the 1936 issue of “The Annual.” They obtained a copy, which included two long-forgotten Tolkien poems: “The Shadow Man”—an earlier version of a poem eventually published as part of a collection in 1962—and a Christmas poem titled “Noel.”
