The Battle of the Eastern Field

The Battle of the Eastern Field is a poem written by J.R.R. Tolkien about a rugby match sometime before March of 1911 when he was still at King Edward's School in Birmingham.The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, I: Chronology, pg. 23 (entry "March 1911") It is notably the firstTolkien Studies: Volume X, "In Memoriam: Maggie Burns" poem that Tolkien published.The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (2017), II: Reader's Guide I, entry "The Battle of the Eastern Field")
== Mock preface and first stanza ==
[On Friday March 31st I came across this curious fragment in the waste paper basket, in the Prefects' room. Much of it was so blotted that I could not decipher it. I publish it with emendations of my own. G.A.B.]
:I
:Ho, rattles sound your warnote!
:Ho, trumpets loudly bray!
:The clans will strive and gory writhe
:Upon the field to-day.
:To-day the walls and blackboards
:Are hung with flaunting script,
:From Atlas on the staircase
:To Bogey's darkling crypt.
:Each knight is robed in scarlet,
:Or clad in olive green;
:A gallant crest upon each breast
:Is proudly heaving seen.
:While flows our Yellow River,
:While stands the great Pavil,
:That Thursday in the Lenten Term
:Shall be a beanfest still.The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, Volume I, no. 6: The Battle of the Eastern Field (1911)
== Background ==
It is unknown when Tolkien wrote the poem nor whether any earlier versions survive, but it is possible that he wrote it in the same year that the poem was published.
In March of 1911, The Battle of the Eastern Field was first published as entry 186 in the 26th issue of the King Edward's School Chronicle on pages 22–6. The mock author's notes published with the poem signed with the pseudonym G.A.B., possibly short for Gabriel, Tolkien's schoolboy nickname.
Sometime shortly after the poem was published, Tolkien made an annotated copy that he signed with his initials.
The poem was reprinted in Mallorn 12 on pages 24-8 in 1978."Mallorn 12" on tolkienbook.net, 1978 In an article published in Mallorn 13 in 1979, the poem was first identified by Jessica Yates as being a parody of 'The Battle of Lake Regillus' from Thomas Babbington Macaulay's The Lays of Ancient Rome in 1842.Mallorn 13, "The Battle of the Eastern Field: A Commentary" by Jessica Yates, pg. 5 In the autumn of 2008, the poem was reprinted again in Mallorn 46 on pages 20-2 with commentary by Maggie Burns. In 2017, the first four lines were reprinted in the second edition The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide.
In September of 2024, the poem was included as entry 6 in The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, along with Tolkien's annotated copy.
== References ==
Category:Poems by J.R.R. Tolkien