The Lays of Beleriand

The Lays of Beleriand
File:The Lays of Beleriand.jpg
Author	J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien
Publisher	George Allen and Unwin (UK) Houghton Mifflin (US)
Released	22 August 1985 (UK) 20 November, 1985 (US)
Format	Hardcover
Pages	400
ISBN	0395394295

The Lays of Beleriand is the third volume of The History of Middle-earth. It contains the five poems that Tolkien began to write short after The Book of Lost Tales phase. Only two of them were continued beyond the beginning, The Lay of Leithian being the longest poem Tolkien ever composed, although he didn't finish it.

From the publisher

The third volume that contains the early myths and legends which led to the writing of Tolkien's epic tale of war, The Silmarillion.

This, the third volume of The History of Middle-earth, gives us a privileged insight into the creation of the mythology of Middle-earth, through the alliterative verse tales of two of the most crucial stories in Tolkien's world – those of Túrin, Beren and Lúthien. The first of the poems is the unpublished Lay of The Children of Húrin, narrating on a grand scale the tragedy of Túrin Turambar. The second is the moving Lay of Leithian, the chief source of the tale of Beren and Lúthien in The Silmarillion, telling of the Quest of the Silmaril and the encounter with Morgoth in his subterranean fortress.

Accompanying the poems are commentaries on the evolution of the history of the Elder Days. Also included is the notable criticism of The Lay of The Leithian by C.S. Lewis, who read the poem in 1929.

Contents

1. "The Lay of the Children of Húrin"
2. "Poems Early Abandoned"
   • The Flight of the Noldoli
   • Fragment of an alliterative Lay of Eärendel
   • The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin
3. "The Lay of Leithian"
4. "The Lay of Leithian Recommenced"