The Dragon's Visit to Upper Bimble[1] is a humorous poem that was written by J.R.R. Tolkien to be the fourth[1] poem of his series Tales and Songs of Bimble Bay.[2]
First stanza[]
On the cherry trees the dragon lay
a-simmering and a-dreaming.
The blossom was white in the early day,
but green his scales were gleaming.
Over the seas he had flown by night,
for his land was dragon-haunted,
Stuffed with gold and jewels bright,
but food and sport he wanted.
Background[]
Tolkien originally wrote the poem at Oxford[1] in probably 1928, entitling it simply as The Dragon's Visit. He later revised it in 1936[1] or 1937 to publish the poem on February 4 of 1937 in the Oxford Magazine, where it appeared as no. 11 on page 342 in issue 55.[2]
Near the beginning of November in 1961,[2] Tolkien attempted to revise the poem to possibly include in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book, eventually making three nearly identical typescripts, changing the ending, while also struggling to fit the poem within the world of Middle-earth.[1]
On November 15,[2] Tolkien submitted one of his three revised versions of The Dragon's Visit along with a number of other poems to Rayner Unwin to possibly include in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book. The poem was eventually rejected in early 1962[1] and omitted from the collection. It is possible that "Tolkien found it deficient and because he found it impossible to remodel and bring it into"[3] the legendarium.[4]
In 1964, Tolkien was given an offer by Caroline Hillier to submit potential poems for the first issue of Winter's Tales for Children, a new anthology. Sometime in early December, Tolkien began to revise The Dragon's Visit once again. After sending the wrong version to Hillier, Tolkien sent her a letter on December 10, noting, but not explaining the specifics, that the poem accidentally sent was rejected in 1962. In the letter, Tolkien enclosed the final version of the poem.[1]
In October 1965, Tolkien had it published alongside Once upon a Time in the first issue of Winter's Tales for Children where it appeared on pages 84–7, edited by Caroline Hillier and illustrated by Hugh Marshall.[2]
The revised poem was later reprinted in The Young Magicians in October 1969, edited by Linwood Vrooman Carter. Sometime later, Tolkien changed the title of the original manuscript to The Dragon's Visit to Upper Bimble.[1]
The original version of the poem as well as the revised ending was reprinted in The Annotated Hobbit in 1988 on pages 262-3 and the Revised and Expanded Edition in 2002 on pages 309-11.[2]
On March 28 of 2008, the poem was included in Tales Before Narnia: The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction.[5] John D. Rateliff noted that he considered The Dragon's Visit to be "one of Tolkien's best poems" in his review of the book.[6]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, Volume Two, no. 107: "The Dragon's Visit (?1928-64)"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, Volume II: Reader's Guide, pgs. 214-5 (entry "The Dragon's Visit")
- ↑ The Annotated Hobbit, pg. 311
- ↑ The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book, Introduction
- ↑ John D. Rateliff, "The New Arrival: WINTER'S TALES FOR CHILDREN" on Sacnoth's Scriptorium blog, July 13, 2009
- ↑ John D. Rateliff, "Review of Tales Before Narnia" on mythsoc.org, 2009