| This article is about the poem. For the town and kingdom, see Dale. Additionally for the people, see Dale-men. |
The Dale-lands[1] is a poem written by J.R.R. Tolkien in May of 1910 when he was still at King Edward's School in Birmingham.[2]
Poem excerpt[]
Deep in the vale where the bluebells ring
'Neath the young gay trees that heavenward spring;
Down in the dale where the emerald spreads
Round the prouder grasses flaunting heads: —[3]
Background[]
In May of 1910,[2] Tolkien wrote the first version of the poem.[2] He originally entitled it Spring, but soon thereafter changed it to Deep in the Vales before contemplating changing it to either The Dale Lands[2] or Valley-Lands.[3]
In early 1914, Tolkien rewrote the poem Wood-sunshine: Wood-Elves Dance on a manuscript containing a version of The Dale Lands.[3]
On May 18 of the same year,[4] Tolkien rewrote The Dale Lands,[4] changing the name to The Dale-lands.[4] Following this, Tolkien made two nearly identical manuscripts of the poem, adding the Old English words On néolum dalum’ ("In deep dales") as a heading on both. Tolkien eventually made a professional typescript of the poem, inscribing "1907?" on it much later, possibly misremembering when he wrote the poem.[3]
In September of 2024, the poem was published for the first time as entry 2 in The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien along with the earliest version.[3]
References[]
- ↑ The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, I: Chronology, "Bibliographies", "Poetry by J.R.R. Tolkien: By Title", pg. 843 (entry "The Dale-lands")
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, I: Chronology, pg. 19 (entry "May 1910")
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, Volume One, no. 2: "The Dale-Lands (1910-14)"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, I: Chronology, pg. 52 (entry "18 May 1914")