J.R.R. Tolkien and G.B. Smith

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.