Overview

Despite his discreet personality, private “vices”, and literary idiosyncrasies, Tolkien was in fact a deeply collaborative figure, both as a scholar and, above all, as a writer. This volume is dedicated to one of his earliest and most significant creative and personal collaborations, his friendship with G.B. Smith: an alumnus of Corpus Christi College, Tolkien’s school friend and fellow member of the TCBS, and indeed his closest companion during university years.A gifted poet, Smith published only one collection, A Spring Harvest, edited posthumously by Tolkien after Smith’s death in the trenches of the Somme – another lost voice among the First World War poets. The volume explores this relationship from biographical, literary, and philosophical perspectives, focusing on the content and style of Smith’s poetry, Tolkien’s editorial work, their shared intellectual world, and the lasting influence of Smith on Tolkien’s imagination. In doing so, it also seeks to give Smith his due, recognising A Spring Harvest not only as the premature culmination of his talent, but also as a body of work carried forward and fulfilled in the enduring legacy of his friend, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Full Product Details

Author:   Giuseppe Pezzini
Publisher:   Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Imprint:   Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN:  

9783032001979

ISBN 10:   3032001978
Pages:   242
Publication Date:   15 May 2026
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Introduction.-I.- LIFE, CONTEXT, HISTORY.-1.‘A Perfect Genius’.-G.B. Smith Among Family and Friends .-2..-G.B. Smith at Oxford and at War.- A Lost History?. -3.-A Thousand Leaves from One Tree.-The History of G.B. Smith’s Poetry and its Reception -II.-GENRES, RESONANCES, CRITICISM.-4.-G. B. Smith and J. R. R. Tolkien.- Two First World War Poets.-5.-‘That we may do the things undone’.- G.B. Smith, Tolkien, and the Classics.-6.-‘O scholar grey with quiet eyes’.-G.B. Smith’s Poem Rime and its Influence on Tolkien’s Work .-7.-""The Monk and the Bird’s Song’.- A Motif in Longfellow, Smith, and Tolkien.-8.-From the ‘Dawns’ to the ‘Tides of Time’.- Smith and Tolkien in the Mists of Glastonbury Legends.-9.- G.B. Smith.- Apprentice Poet of his Time.-III.-EPILOGUE.-10.-‘The T.C.B.S. was destined to testify for God and Truth’.-Reflections on Tolkien’s Letter n. 5 to G.B. Smith.-IV. APPENDIX.-A SPRING HARVEST.

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Author Information

Giuseppe Pezzini is Tutor and Fellow in Latin at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, which he joined in 2021 after holding positions at St Andrews, Magdalen College Oxford, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He has published extensively on Latin language and literature, philosophy of language, and the theory of fiction, both ancient and modern. His publications include a monograph on Tolkien’s literary theory (2025), a book on the verb to be in Latin (2015), and edited volumes on Tolkien (2023), ancient linguistic naturalism (2019), the early Latin language (2023), and Roman cultural history (2025). He is the Tolkien editor for the Journal of Inklings Studies.

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