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Podcast: The Daily Poem
Episode: J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Last of the Old Gods"
Description: Tolkien was no believer in the power of geo-political solutions to better the state of man, convinced that his duty was to fight “the long defeat” while awaiting God’s miraculous and unlooked-for deliverance–eucatastrophe. Though he would not publish the Lord of the Rings for another twenty years, this 1931 poem shows much of that thinking was already well-formed. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe