The Horns of Ylmir from 'The Fall of Gondolin'

The Horns of Ylmir from 'The Fall of Gondolin is a poem first written by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1912, and published in The Shaping of Middle-earth as an appendix to "The Quenta".

The title refers to the Ulumúri, the conches of Ulmo that gave the sea-music and would cause sea-longing in Arda.

Poem excerpt

Tuor recalleth in a song sung to his son Eärendil the visions that Ylmir's conches once called before him in the twilight in the Land of Willows.

'Twas in the Land of Willows where the grass is long and green—
I was fingering my harp-strings, for a wind had crept unseen
And was speaking in the tree-tops, while the voices of the reeds
Were whispering reedy whispers as the sunset touched the meads
Inland musics subtly magic that those reeds alone could weave
'Twas in the Land of Willows that once Ylmir came at eve.
In the twilight by the river on a hollow thing of shell
He made immortal music, till my heart beneath his spell
Was broken in the twilight, and the meadows faded dim
To great grey waters heaving round the rocks where sea-birds swim.

Thus murmurous slumber took me mid those far-off eldest things
(In a lonely twilit region down whose old chaotic ways
I heard no sound of men's voices, in those eldest of the days
When the world reeled in the tumult as the Great Gods tore the Earth
In the darkness, in the tempest of the cycles ere our birth),
Till the tides went out, and the Wind died, and did all sea music's cease
And I woke to silent caverns and empty sands and peace.
Then the magic drifted from me and that music loosed its bands—
Far, far-off, conches calling—lo! I stood in the sweet lands,
And the meadows were about me where the weeping willows grew,
Where the long grass stirred beside me, and my feet were drenched with dew.
Only the reeds were rustling, but a mist lay on the streams
Like a sea-roke drawn far inland, like a shred of salt sea-dreams.
'Twas in the Land of Willows that I heard th' unfathomed breath
Of the Horns of Ylmir calling—and shall hear them till my death.

In other versions

The Grimness of the Sea

The first version was titled The Grimness of the Sea and was written at St Andrews in the summer of 1912.

Later in life, Tolkien wrote on the poem the words: "Original nucleus of The Sea-song of an Elder Day".

The Tides

The second version of the poem was titled The Tides and was written on December 4 in 1914 together with the note On the Cornish Coast, although notes on subsequent manuscripts suggest wrongly that it was written as early as 1910 to 1912. The poem consists of forty lines. It is thought to have been inspired by Tolkien's visit to the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall, in the summer of 1914, where the sea left a great impression on him.

Sea-Chant of an Elder Day

The third version was titled Sea-Chant of an Elder Day, or Fyrndaga Sœléoþ in Old English, and was written in two manuscripts in March of 1915. The poem consists of forty-two lines and has minor emendations. It already has a prose prologue alleging the song was made by Tuor for his son Eärendel in Nan-tathren.

The Sea-song of an Elder Day

In the fourth version, the poem was titled The Sea-song of an Elder Day, which indicated to Christopher Tolkien that it should have been published in The Book of Lost Tales Part Two.

The Horns of Ulmo

Only a few small emendations were made after this version, such as changing the name of the poem to The Horns of Ulmo before changing Ulmo to Ylmir (the Gnomish translation of the name), adding from The Fall of Gondolin to the name, and including references to the Vala and Ossë within the poem.