[Pitchwife]

Apart from the wealth of new information and background details which Belegorn mentioned, I think the main appeal of HoME for me is the chance to watch a great creative mind working on and reworking a complex subject matter throughout his life, every stage showing qualities which were lost or yet undeveloped in others. From the primitive mythology of BoLT with its unchecked and sometimes tongue-in-cheek joy of invention to the metaphysical depth of the late essays in Morgoth's Ring and War of the Jewels, every phase has its unique charm, and it's great that Christopher Tolkien has made them all available for us to study and appreciate.

(As for the matter of Robbie Williams and literature textbooks vs Walt Whitman, much as I love Dead Poets Society I can't help feeling that the dichotomy it presents there is bogus. Rhyme and metre are only dull if you fail to realize their function in delivering the impact, emotional or other, and pure emotional content without a convincing form has no punch. For me, a poem or novel doesn't lose its appeal by studying how it does its job, I'd rather say I learn to appreciate it on an additional level.)