Who wrote...

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by mark12_30

As far as exactly who wrote it... in the Shadow of the Past, Gandalf only says : 'It is only two lines of a verse long known in Elven-lore".

But as the verse can't have pre-existed the Ring, those two lines must be by Sauron.

Equally, following Gordis' reasoning at #4, the rest must have been composed later.

So the entire poem would seem to have at least two authors, i.e. Sauron + unknown Elf (unless the part added later represents Sauron's Expanded Special Edition(tm)).

Hmmn. I'm not sure JRRT really thought this one out.