J.R.R. Tolkien and G.B. Smith: With Wind in our Ears

J.R.R. Tolkien and G.B. Smith With Wind in our Ears
Publication Information
Editor	Giuseppe Pezzini
Publisher	Palgrave Macmillan
Released	15 May 2026
Format	Hardcover
Pages	242
ISBN	978-3-032-00197-9

J.R.R. Tolkien and G.B. Smith: With Wind in our Ears is a book edited by Giuseppe Pezzini, of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. It contains papers presented at the conference "G.B. Smith and J.R.R. Tolkien: a meaningful friendship" that took place from 21 March to 22 March 2023 at Corpus Christi. It includes the full text of A Spring Harvest as an appendix.

Contents

Part I. Life, Context, History

• ‘A Perfect Genius’: G.B. Smith Among Family and Friends
  • John Garth

• Geoffrey Bache Smith at Oxford and at War: A Lost History?
  • Grace Khuri

• A Thousand Leaves from One Tree: The History of G. B. Smith’s Poetry
  • Oronzo Cilli

Part II. Genres, Resonances, Criticism

• G. B. Smith and J. R. R. Tolkien: Two First World War Poets
  • Stuart D. Lee

• ‘That we may do the things undone’: Smith, Tolkien, and the Classics
  • Giuseppe Pezzini

• ‘O scholar grey with quiet eyes’: G.B. Smith’s Poem Rime and Its Influence on Tolkien’s Work
  • Mark Atherton

• The Monk and the Bird’s Song: A Motif in Longfellow, Smith, and Tolkien
  • Kris Swank

• From the ‘Dawns’ to the ‘Tides of Time’: Smith and Tolkien in the Mists of Glastonbury Legends
  • Federica Calabrese

• G.B. Smith: Apprentice Poet of His Time
  • Allan Turner

Part III. Epilogue

• ‘The T.C.B.S. was destined to testify for God and Truth’: Reflections on Tolkien’s Letter no. 5 to G.B. Smith
  • Ivano Sassanelli

Appendix

From the publisher

Despite his discreet personality, private “vices”, and literary idiosyncrasies, Tolkien was in fact a deeply collaborative figure, both as a scholar and, above all, as a writer. This volume is dedicated to one of his earliest and most significant creative and personal collaborations, his friendship with G.B. Smith: an alumnus of Corpus Christi College, Tolkien’s school friend and fellow member of the TCBS, and indeed his closest companion during university years.A gifted poet, Smith published only one collection, A Spring Harvest, edited posthumously by Tolkien after Smith’s death in the trenches of the Somme – another lost voice among the First World War poets. The volume explores this relationship from biographical, literary, and philosophical perspectives, focusing on the content and style of Smith’s poetry, Tolkien’s editorial work, their shared intellectual world, and the lasting influence of Smith on Tolkien’s imagination. In doing so, it also seeks to give Smith his due, recognising A Spring Harvest not only as the premature culmination of his talent, but also as a body of work carried forward and fulfilled in the enduring legacy of his friend, J.R.R. Tolkien.

External links

• Book news: Tolkien and the Smith who helped forge his future path by John Garth
• Recordings of the talks at the original conference