| Poems by J.R.R. Tolkien | |
| The Stone Troll | |
|---|---|
| Poem Information | |
| Other names | Pēro & Pōdex, The Root of the Boot, Troll-song |
| Written | Around 1923 or 1924 |
| Revised | Around 1962 |
| Published | Songs for the Philologists, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, The Poetry of J.R.R. Tolkien, The Tolkien Papers, The Annotated Hobbit, The Return of the Shadow, The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien |
| Subject(s) | Trolls |
The Stone Troll is a poem composed by Samwise Gamgee and recorded in the Red Book of Westmarch.[1] Sam recited this poem when Aragorn and the hobbits were resting[2] in the shade of the trolls who had been turned into stone during Bilbo Baggins' adventure with the Dwarves.[3]
First stanza
Troll sat alone on his seat of stone,
And munched and mumbled a bare old bone;
For many a year he had gnawed it near,
For meat was hard to come by.
Done by! Gum by!
In a cave in the hills he dwelt alone,
And meat was hard to come by.[4]
Genealogy
| unknown | Tim | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tom | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Background
The poem was first written around 1923 or 1924 with the Latin name Pēro & Pōdex, before it was revised and renamed to The Root of the Boot. This version appeared in The History of The Hobbit.
The The Root of the Boot version was set to the tune of The Fox Went Out, and was first published as the 22nd song in Songs for the Philologists in 1936. This version was reprinted in The Poetry of J.R.R. Tolkien and The Tolkien Papers (1967), and The Annotated Hobbit (1988). A revised form appeared in The Return of the Shadow in 1988.
Tolkien later revised the poem as The Stone Troll and included it in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil in 1962. Pauline Baynes, who illustrated The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, depicted Tom who kicked the troll with his boots as Tom Bombadil; although the name was most probably generic and there is no evidence that the author intended Tom to be Bombadil, as having an uncle and father would be absurd.
Robert Foster considers a possibility that Tom was somehow modelled after Bombadil, considering that Sam composed the poem soon after their meeting.[5]
See also
External links
- The Root of the Boot manuscript at University of Leeds
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, "Preface"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Flight to the Ford"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "Roast Mutton"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, "The Stone Troll"
- ↑ Robert Foster, The Complete Guide to Middle-earth, p. 385