INSTRUCTORS:
What do we learn about Tolkien’s imagination through his short stories? Through his poems? Through his scholarship? Through his books for children?
Tolkien’s Middle-earth legends dominated his creative life, from their birth in the early Silmarillion tales through their absorption of Bilbo Baggins’s diary and their culmination in the tale of the Great Ring. However, throughout his life, Tolkien wrote many small pieces of prose and verse that were not directly drawn into the great narrative of Middle-earth. Tolkien’s children’s books, his scholarship, his short stories, and his eclectic short poems combine to provide a unique glimpse into Tolkien’s thought and imaginative development over the course of fifty years. Join Signum President Corey Olsen and the great Tolkien and Anglo-Saxon scholar Tom Shippey for an in-depth look at a J.R.R. Tolkien you might never have met before.
Course Schedule
Week 1
Leaf by Niggle
Week 2
Farmer Giles of Ham
Week 3
“The Adventures of Tom Bombadil”
Week 4
Short Poems: Of Boots, Bimble Bay, and the Man in the Moon
Week 5
Short Poems: Of Beasts, Fabulous Monsters, and Fairies
Week 6
Short Poems: Of Diverse Mariners
Week 7
Smith of Wootton Major
Week 8
Tolkien’s Scholarship: Beowulf – Dr. Tom Shippey
Week 9
Tolkien’s Scholarship: Beorhtnoth and Sir Gawain – Dr. Tom Shippey
Week 10
Tolkien’s Scholarship: Pearl and Sir Orfeo – Dr. Tom Shippey
Week 11
The Father Christmas Letters
Week 12
Roverandom
Required Texts
The Amazon links are provided for convenience only, and we encourage students to purchase texts wherever they wish.
- The Tolkien Reader – J.R.R. Tolkien
- Smith of Wooton Major & Farmer Giles of Ham – J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Annotated Hobbit – edited by Douglas A. Anderson
- Letters From Father Christmas – J.R.R. Tolkien
- Roverandom – J.R.R. Tolkien
- Beowulf – translated by Dirk Ringler
- The Monsters and The Critics – J.R.R. Tolkien
- Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo – J.R.R. Tolkien
Course History
This course has been offered in the following semesters.
| Semester | Preceptor(s) |
|---|---|
| Spring 2024 | Dr. Sara Brown & Sparrow Alden |
| Summer 2019 | Dr. Erin Aust & Liam Daley |
| Summer 2017 | Dr. Liam Daley |
| Summer 2013 | Dr. Erin Aust & Liam Daley |
Course Artwork
Course artwork adapted from an original illustration by Breana Melvin. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
