Forgotten Ground Regained

ISSN 2996-6353
New Series Issue 11, Summer, 2026

INTRODUCTION

The poems you are about to read are, in my judgment, among the best Tolkien fan poems written in alliterative verse (and related forms) to date. I therefore provide detailed information about their pre-publication history. But before I do, a few words about the nature of fan fiction and the fan fiction community.
Fan fiction occupies an unusual position in the ecosystem of books. Due to the strictures of modern copyright law, it is by definition noncommercial, and thus constitutes one of the few remaining preserves for purely noncommercial participation in popular fiction. And yet the impulse it reflects has ancient provenance, for what is most Arthurian literature save Geoffrey of Monmouth fan fiction? Even the Aeneid, classic though it be, could reasonably be classified as Homeric fan poetry. Due to its noncommercial, participatory nature, fan fiction tends to be self-organized by fans; these days, its center of gravity circles around fan-organized and administered sites like Archive of Our Own (or AO3, as fans like to call it) and the Silmarillion Writer’s Guild.
Since fan fiction is a highly communal, participatory endeavor, it is organized around a series of social activities. There are challenges, where writers are encouraged to write fan fiction to a set prompt; there are gift stories dedicated to another fanfic writer; there are specific length-based genres, such as micro-fiction, drabbles (stories of exactly 100 words), double or triple drabbles (at 200 or 300 words), ficlets, one-shot stories, vignettes, and the like. Fanfic stories may be classified by their relation to the original story (for instance, fix-its to solve problems in the original story; canon-divergent stories, or stories with OCs (original characters). Or they may be classified by their thematic approach: shipping (imagining relationships between specific characters), hurt/comfort (say, a story in which Elrond tends to wounded Frodo in Rivendell), and so forth. It is an entire ecosystem, one in which poetry plays a relatively small role, just as Tolkien fan fiction is just one fan community among many, and Tolkien fan poetry a small part of that. However, Tolkien’s love of poetry, and his love for alliterative verse in particular, means that quite a lot of alliterative Tolkien fan poetry has been written. If you want to explore that space in depth, rather than checking out the curated set of poems presented here, look at my page for the speculative fiction community on Forgotten Ground Regained.
Fan fiction is normally published under pseudonyms. I have only supplied real names for poets who gave me their express permission to do so. Thus, Dawn Felagund, Himring, Rio Wulfmare, and Zdenka should be understood as noms de plume.
New Poems
The following poems were newly written for this issue:
  • Dorothy Nielsen’s poem, “Tolkien’s Revelation”
  • Rio Wulfmare’s “Star-Moment”
  • Matthew Dickerson’s poem, “A Good King”
  • Nate Beeton’s “Farewell to Bëor” and “Star-Enlaced”
  • Lisa Cooper’s “Rain in the Wood”
  • Savannah Horrel’s “The Archeology of Doggerland and Old Beleriand"
  • Cliff Jones Jr.’s “Marching Orders”
  • Quincy R. Lehr’s “From ‘TheTale of the Sad King’
  • Math Jones’ “Tolkien Dreams”
  • Colin Mackenzie “A Selcouth Tree”
  • and Chris Bolland’s poem, “The Wight”.
Dorothy Nielsen’s poem, “Tolkien’s Revelation” is a meditation on what Tolkien saw that can inform us in our present, difficult moment in history.
Rio Wulfmare’s poem “Star-Moment” describes the moment when Lúthien is dancing in the starlight, after Daeron's music has suddenly stopped, but before Lúthien has turned to notice Beren watching. It is a female-coded moment, with Varda's star-presence explicitly described, and draws connections not only among the four characters, but also among the four classes of being (Vala, Maia, Eldar, Man), and between forces operating at a cosmic and an intimate scale. It is worth highlighting for its style, along with Nat Beeton’s and Zdenka’s poems, all of which fall much closer to traditional Old English metrics than most modern English imitations.
Matthew Dickerson’s poem “A Good King” celebrates Faramir, the only Man besides Aragorn to resist the One Ring when that temptation stood before him. The poem was especially inspired by his response to his father’s chastisement; when Denethor tells him his gentleness might be repaid with death, Faramir replies quite simply: “So be it.”
Nate Beeton’s “Farewell to Bëor” is one of two poems in this issue to address the friendship between Finrod Felagund and Bëor the Old, and the impact of his death, the first mortal death the Eldar experienced. His poem “Star-Enlaced” (Gilraen in Imladris) describes Gilraen’s thoughts as she dwells in Rivendell, surrounded by elven beauty but alone, bearing a child whose heritage is “seven stars, and seven stones, and one white tree”.
Lisa Cooper’s “Rain in the Wood” describes the kind of woodland scene Tolkien loved. A woodland scene such as Treebeard might have enjoyed in Fangorn forest, in a moment of quiet and peace.
Savannah Horrel’s “The Archeology of Doggerland and Old Beleriand" imagines Beleriand and the ancient, drowned world of Doggerland beneath the North Sea as one and the same, with ancient treasures getting pulled up from the deep by harried archeologists, unrecognized and unappreciated.
Cliff Jones Jr.’s “Marching Orders” puts us inside the head of an Orc during one of those long forced-marches, scheming for freedom.
Quincy R. Lehr’s “From ‘TheTale of the Sad King’” is an example of something that seems to happen far more often than most people realize – alliterative verse made up as an accompaniment to a fantasy roleplaying game.
Math Jones’ “Tolkien Dreams” speaks for itself. It is short, and I shall say no more here.
Colin Mackenzie “A Selcouth Tree” is, like most of his other poems published in Forgotten Ground Regained, in modern Scots. It describes a wondrous tree: the Mallorn that Samwise planted in the Shire at the end of Lord of the Rings, though much of the imagery could easily be applied, depending on how freely you want to let your imagination run, to one of the Two Trees, or even to the holy Cross from the Dream of the Rood.
Chris Bolland’s poem “The Wight” draws on the Norse legend of the draugr and Tolkien’s concept of barrow wights to lead us from horror on the open seas to a being who “chants the charms of sunless days”. And from there, it takes you on an unexpected ride, a sort of eucatastrophe. It is written in three-line stanzas, consisting of two half-lines followed by one full line of alliterative verse (typically with three stresses), approximating the pattern of Old Norse ljoòahattr.
Joseph Mathias’ poem, “Middling Earth” is a humorous take on the advantages of Michigan, over against Middle Earth’s rather conspicuous lack of “decent places” (as Samwise would have put it).
Collected Poems
The following poems are collected in this issue after having previously been published in Tolkien Society journals or having previously been posted to Tolkien fan fiction sites:
Patricia Masson’s “Hymn to Earendil” was originally published in Mallorn, the Journal of the Tolkien Society, 14, p. 32 (1980). It is one of several poems by Pat Masson that I reprinted on Forgotten Ground Regained last year.
Pat Masson died young (of cancer, at only 54 years of age.) Her mother prepared a pamphlet containing her poems and short stories to be distributed at her funeral. Eventually (after much research!) I came across that booklet on ancestry.com as I was searching for her next of kin in order to get permission to reprint “Hymn to Ëarendil”. For more information about Pat Masson, check out Dennis Wise’s article about her in Forgotten Ground Regained, Spring 2026.
Dawn Felagund is moderator of The Silmarillion Writers' Guild, a Tolkien fanfiction archive. Her poem “Crossing Forest River” was written for the Round 5 creative challenge of the Hungarian Tolkien Society's 2024 Mailing Competition, for the following prompt:
After The Battle of the Five Armies, Mr. Bilbo Baggins, Beorn and Gandalf took a “long and cheerless road” along the northern end of Mirkwood, where they had “many hardships and adventures”, as “the Wild was still the Wild, and there were many other things in it in those days besides goblins”. Can you imagine that? The Burglar, the Skin-Changer and the Wizard against the evils of the Wild? The Hobbits of the Shire could. They could imagine a lot of things they have never seen (as you will see in the next task, as well), and they fabricated an epic tale of this one. Reconstruct it! You can write concisely about many adventures or go into the details of one particular danger they had to overcome. You can choose the form and style as you wish: you can stick with the prose or follow one of the verse forms of The Hobbit or The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, or that of northern sagas, as you prefer. But do not forget: Hobbits “are fond of strange words, and of rhyming and metrical tricks”, and even in prose you can play a bit with words, rhymes, or alliterations. So, there should be some fun in the form.
It is written in the meter and stanza form of the Middle English poem Pearl, by the same poet as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Zdenka’s poem “The Death of Beor the Old” was first publicly posted on The Silmarillion Writers' Guild website. It was written for Mereth Aderthad 2025, a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the guild. I gave a talk at that conference, Alliterative Verse in Arda, for which Zdenka’s poem was a companion piece.
“The Death of Beor the Old” was specifically written in response to the following passage from The Silmarillion:
[A]t last Bëor the Old died when he had lived three and ninety years, for four and fifty of which he had served King Felagund. And when he lay dead, of no wound or grief, but stricken by age, the Eldar saw for the first time the swift waning of the life of Men, and the death of weariness which they knew not in themselves; and they grieved greatly for the loss of their friends. –The Silmarillion, "Of the Coming of Men Into the West"
It was also influenced by Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth in HOME X: Morgoth's Ring and by the final conversation between Aragorn and Arwen at Aragorn's death in Lord of the Rings, Appendix A: I (v).
Zdenka’s “The Making of Angrist” was publicly posted to the fan fiction site Archive of Our Own in July 2018, and was also posted to The Silmarillion Writers' Guild. It was written for the “Multi-fandom Drabble Exchange 2018”, a coordinated writing event in which fans write drabbles, or fan fiction works that are exactly 100 words long. The creation of Angrist—that deadly and most unfortunate knife—by the dwarven smith Telchar of Nogrod is described in the Silmarillion (‘Of Beren and Lúthien", p. 177.)
Zdenka’s “The Choices of Lady Éowyn” describes Éowyn’s struggle before she decided to ride to war secretly as Dernhelm, taking Merry with her. It was publicly posted to the fan fiction site Archive of Our Own in March 2018 and was also posted to The Silmarillion Writers' Guild. It was started for the 2017 Half a Moon Prompt Challenge, Day 6: Choices, and finished for the 2018 Mini-Moon challenge, Day 1: War and Peace.
Himring’s “Ëarendil the Seafarer” is a ficlet, or short (one page) short story containing dialogue in alliterative verse. It’s in the form of a conversation between Ëarendil and Elwing his wife before he sailed for Valinor to beg aid from the Valar. It was first publicly posted to The Silmarillion Writers' Guild and was written for a “challenge”, or fanfic writing prompt, posted at tolkienshortfanworks.dreamwidth.org in January 2022. The prompts were: beginnings or fresh starts and alliterative verse. The verse passages in “Ëarendil the Seafarer” were inspired by the Old English alliterative poem "The Seafarer".
Nate Beeton’s poem “Farewell to Bëor” is illustrated with bluebeardcrypt’s “Finrod and the Edain”, with the artist’s permission, and with Thomas Fearnley’s 1839 painting, “Old Birch Tree at the Sognefjord”. His poem “The Star Enlaced” is illustrated by Thomas Moran’s 1892 painting, “Mist in Kanab Mountain, Utah”.
Lisa Cooper’s “Rain in the Wood” is illustrated by Adolf Stäbli’s 1896 painting, “Maienregen”.
Cliff Jones Jr.’s “Marching Orders” is illustrated by Kristina Pavlovic’s “Orc Fan Art” image, under a CC by SA 3.0 license.
Susan Edwards’ “Slaying the Dragon” was first published in Mallorn, the journal of the Tolkien Society, issue 49, p. 42, and was reprinted as a stand-alone poem on Forgotten Ground Regained last year. It takes the persona of Bard the Bowman, telling the tale of Smaug’s attack on Esgaroth in first person. Susan Edwards’ second poem in this issue, “The Paths of the Dead”, was first published in Mallorn, the journal of the Tolkien Society, issue 51, p. 34, and reprinted as a stand-alone poem on Forgotten Ground Regained last year. It tells the tale from Lord of the Rings of how Aragorn, Gimli, and Gloin dared to use the Paths of the Dead, haunted caverns under the White Mountains of Gondor, in order to reach southern Gondor in time to turn the tide against the invading fleet of Corsairs.
Finally, I wrote my poem, “The Song of Shadows” back in 1995 when I was playing an Elven bard, Rhunedhel, on Elendor MUSH, once the premier text-based Tolkien roleplaying game. Rhunedhel (as his name implies) was an Avarin elf from the Uttermost East, which meant I got to make up his backstory and family history more or less out of whole cloth. So I had fun: both with the story (which possibly involves a close encounter with the Witch King before he became the Witch King), and with the form (which isn’t traditional alliterative verse at all, but combines split-alliterative lines with a shortened version of the bob-and-wheel we find in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. (You can read Dennis Wise’s review of the poem and the form here.)
Artwork
So that’s what the poems are about. I hope you enjoy them! And now for a few words about other features of this issue, most notably, the artwork. I have arranged to illustrate as many poems in this issue as I can using fan art. It hasn’t always been possible, but I think you will enjoy some of the combinations.
The cover art and one of the poem illustrations are reprinted in this issue with the permission of Yifan Jia (yifanjiaart.com). Specifically, the cover art is derived from Yifan Jia’s landscape painting, “Dancing Tides”, while Dawn Felagund’s poem, “Crossing Forest River” is presented in company with Yifan Jia’s fantasy landscape, “Shadow over Erebor”.
Dorothy Nielsen’s poem “Tolkien’s Revelation” is illustrated by Joel Lee’s fanart illustration depicting Bilbo and Gandalf. It is reproduced under a Creative Commons 4.0 International license.
Patricia Masson’s poem “Hymn to Ëarendil” is illustrated by a photograph of the evening star taken by Rüdiger Stehn. It is reproduced under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Rio Wulfmare’s poem, “Star-Moment” is illustrated by the author’s pencil-and-chalk piece, “The Dream of an Elf”, and is reproduced with his permission.
Zdenka’s poem “The Making of Angrist” is illustrated with a photograph by Jeff Kubina and is reproduced under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Her poem “The Choices of Lady Éowyn” is illustrated with artwork by KuraiGeijutsu and is reproduced with the artist’s permission. Her poem "The Death of Bëor the Old” is illustrated with artwork by Lefuet and is also reproduced with the artist’s permission.
Matthew Dickerson’s poem “A Good King” is illustrated with artwork by Peter Dickerson, That Which They Defend, and is reproduced with his permission.
Himring’s poem “Ëarendil the Seafarer” is illustrated with artwork by fanwork artist Silmalope and is reproduced with the artist’s permission.
Nate Beeton’s poem “The Star-Enlaced” is illustrated by Thomas Moran’s 1892 painting, “Mist in Kanab Mountain, Utah”.
Cliff Jones Jr.’s “Marching Orders” is illustrated by Kristina Pavlovic’s “Orc Fan Art” image, under a CC by SA 3.0 license.
Math Jones' poem, “Tolkien Dreams”, is illustrated with a photograph he took of a marker in the Oxford graveyard that holds J.R.R. and Edith Tolkien’s grave, pointing visitors to their grave.
Susan Edward’s poem “Slaying the Dragon” is illustrated with artwork by David Demaret’s Esgaroth is Burning and is reproduced with the artist’s permission. Her poem “The Paths of the Dead” is illustrated with a photograph of Putangirua Pinnacles, on the south coast of New Zealand’s North Island, where the Paths of the Dead sequence was filmed. This photograph was shot by Abigail Simpson von Ahsen and originally posted to illustrate an article on her blog.
Chris Bolland’s poem “The Wight” is illustrated with artwork by Hannah Johnson and is reproduced with her permission.
Paul Deane’s poem “The Song of Shadows” is illustrated with a photograph by Zachariou Fotini and is reproduced under a CC by SA 4.0 International license.
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