The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun was a Medieval story written by J.R.R. Tolkien as a 508-line poem in 1930. The poem concerns a Breton man, Aotrou, and his barren wife, Itroun, who become involved with the witch Corrigan. The couples' names are Breton translations of "lord" and "lady". Though Tolkien did not specify the primary inspiration for the poem, Tom Shippey believes it is An Aotrou Nann hag ar Gorigann, from Breton folklore, telling of a Lord Nann and a similar witch, Korrigan.[1]
Background[]
It was first published in the former literary magazine The Welsh Review in December of 1945.[2] Fifty years later in 2002, the poem was reprinted in a limited bilingual Serbian/English book, Pesma o Otruu i Itrun with only 500 copies.[3] The book was republished as an expanded edition in June of 2015.[4] In 2016, the poem was republished in English as a book by HarperCollins as The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, together with The Corrigan Poems. The 2016 book was edited by Verlyn Flieger and includes peripheral materials and commentary on the poem's background and development. In 2024, excerpts from The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun and it’s earlier versions, The Corrigan poems, were included as entry 116 in The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Contents[]
Note on the Text
Introduction
Acknowledgments
Part One: The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun
The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun
Notes and Commentary
Part Two: The Corrigan Poems
Introduction
'The Corrigan' I
Notes and Commentary
'The Corrigan' II
Notes and Commentary
Part Three: The Fragment, Manuscript Drafts and Typescript
