Tolkien taught Old Norse language and literature for several years at Oxford, so he was familiar with such ancient poetry as the Elder Edda. This book includes two poems that he wrote in modern English but in the style - the metrical form, alliterative techniques, and the sense of "seizing a situation" (7) as Tolkien himself describes it - used in the Old Norse poetry he taught. The first of the two poems is "The Lay of the Volsungs," in which we read of Sigmund and Sigurd and their deeds. The second, "The Lay of Gudrun," focuses on the fates of Gunnar and Hogni, the brothers of Gudrun.

I enjoyed seeing the form of the poetry, after being clued in by the introduction what kind of alliterative and metrical technique to look for. I liked the sound of the verses. As is typical for me and poetry, however, I sometimes had difficulty following exactly what was happening. The notes were thorough; I wish I had realized before starting to read that each poem had notes that went along with it, as many of these notes were organized by stanza and were hard to follow once I had finished the poem, particularly "The Lay of the Volsungs" with its 9 parts. I think I would have had an easier time if I were more familiar with the original legends. Recommended for those interested in Norse mythology and Tolkien completists. ( )

http://allbookedup-elena.blogspot.com... ( )

The five stars are for the poetry within this book. It reaches right inside you to a primitive level and makes you shiver. I also enjoyed the commentary around the poems about the mythology, the history, the languages and inner workings of this type of poetry, though I must admit that some of the finer linguistic details were beyond me. The saga itself is simply exciting and fun to read. ( )

All right . . . so I have mixed feelings about TLoSaG. The poem is fairly good, and I like the movement of that alliterative meter. But the ratio of featured presentation to appendices and editorial material is disappointing. It feels rather like Christopher Tolkien is saying to himself, "Aha, I found another one of my father's works! I must publish it in book form so I can get some more royalties from these people who'll buy anything that says 'Tolkien' on the spine!" True, I don't know what he ought to have done instead, but, somehow, the thing is a semi-letdown rather than the highly interesting read I was hoping for.