Just for the record, I consider myself to possess a certain amount of literary discernment, being reasonably well-read, and I consider Tolkien to have been a very accomplished poet, if a little old-fashioned for modernist or progressive ears.
I would rate Tolkien at least as highly as the likes of Seamus Heaney and Sylvia Plath; and I think that The Last Ark, a link to which is provided above, puts him on a par with Keats on any scale. I don't love Tolkien's poetry because I admire him. I admire him because I love his poetry. There is a difference. I slammed the article for being facile and ignorant, not for attacking Tolkien.
[ February 22, 2003: Message edited by: The Squatter of Amon Rûdh ]
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Man kenuva métim' andúne?
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