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Synopsis
The third volume that contains the early myths and legends which led to the writing of Tolkien's epic tale of war, The Silmarillion. This, the third volume of The History of Middle-earth, gives us a priviledged insight into the creation of the mythology of Middle-earth, through the alliterative verse tales of two of the most crucial stories in Tolkien's world -- those of Turien and Luthien. The first of the poems is the unpublished Lay of The Children of Hurin, narrating on a grand scale the tragedy of Turin Turambar. The second is the moving Lay of Leithian, the chief source of the tale of Beren and Luthien in The Silmarillion, telling of the Quest of the Silmaril and the encounter with Morgoth in his subterranean fortress. Accompanying the poems are commentaries on the evolution of the history of the Elder Days. Also included is the notable criticism of The Lay of The Leithian by CS Lewis, who read the poem in 1929.

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11 Reviews 5 star:  (8) 4 star:  (3) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review (11 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   14 of 14 people found the following review helpful: My favourite part of 'The History of Middle-Earth', 31 Dec 2001 By  Vladimir Cvetkovic Sever (Zagreb, Croatia) - See all my reviews    It is just two poems - unfinished - plus fragments of several more abandoned after a couple of pages, and loads of editorial info on top of that. Yes, but - this is gorgeous writing. The pain of Túrin is as real and gripping as the 'Silmarillion' account was factual and distant, and the love of Beren and Lúthien shines with the power unrivalled in the rest of Tolkien's writing. And that's saying a lot! The unfinished aspect of the works just serves as a reminder of the difficulty with which work of this magnitude is achieved - as well as the fragility of creative impulse that sustains it. Rather than despair over what is left unsaid, I find myself turning to this book more often than to 'The Lord of the Rings' - the power and the relative brevity (so that much can be ingested in one sitting - the verse is extremely readable) of the works make me fall instantly in love with them every time!  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   13 of 14 people found the following review helpful: A Sad Loss..., 4 Aug 2003 By  Jane Aland (London, England) - See all my reviews    The Lays of Beleriand contains 2 partially completed verse tales, the 1st of which – ‘The Lay of the Children of Hurin’ is hampered by it’s reader unfriendly metre, and is no improvement on the prose version as already given in earlier volumes. In contrast ‘The Lay of Leithian’ is an excellent epic poem, and it’s a sad loss that this was never completed, as I feel this would ultimately have been one of Tolkiens most celebrated works. As usual there is a morass of needless editorial minutia concerning changing names, but due to the construction this can be readily skipped. The ‘History of Middle Earth’ series of books often makes the mistake of presuming that every single unpublished scribbling by this great writer is worthy of publication, but this volume at least contains much that is of genuine quality.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   6 of 6 people found the following review helpful: We can only despair, that these poems were never finished, 14 Dec 2000 By A Customer Lays of Beleriand comprises of two long poems. One of them is the alliterative poem Lay of the Children of Húrin, the second one is the octosyllabic poem Lay of Leithien, i.e the story of Beren and Lúthien). Both of them are a valuable addition for a Tolkien reader. There can be found many passages of immense beaty as well as some weaker ones, partly deriving from the fact, that the poems are unfinished and so we have only a glimpse of what could be, if Tolkien had the life-span of a true Dunedain.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)