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Podcast: Exploring Tolkien
Episode: Revisiting Tolkien's Lost 'Noel' Poem
Description: This poem, Noel, was written by J.R.R. Tolkien before The Hobbit was published, and only just discovered in 2013. Here’s how that happened!
In 2013, Tolkien scholars Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull found something they didn’t expect.
While researching a 1936 edition of The Tablet (a Catholic journal), they found mention of 2 Tolkien poems published in the Abingdon Annual of Our Lady’s School — a still active school in Abingdon!
The school directed them where to find the 80 year-old publication. In it, they found an early version of Tolkien’s poem The Shadow Brid...