| This article is about the poem. For the titular long-worm, see Scatha. |
Scatha the Worm is a poem written by J.R.R. Tolkien about the long-worm dragon Scatha.[1]
Poem excerpt
Some have great wings like the wind
Some have fire and fierce wrath,
Some have venom on their long teeth
Some have hides like armour, tails
like steel, tongues like spears, eyes
piercing bright: some are great & golden
Some are green; some are red as
glowing iron. Not so was Scatha.[1]
Background
In the year 1954, after having written the scene in Book VI of The Lord of the Rings where Éowyn gave the ancient Horn of the Mark to Holdwine of The Shire, Tolkien wrote a short poem "in several styles" below the heading Scatha the Worm, which was only a clear title of the second and third versions of the poem.[1]
It is possible that the detail that some dragons were green might be a reference to a story or poem[2] that Tolkien tried to write about "a great green dragon" at the age of seven.[3][4] It is possible that Tolkien may have intended for Scatha the Worm to be spoken by Éowyn to Holdwine of The Shire according to an omitted manuscript note, but chose to omit the poem in the final text of The Lord of the Rings.
The full poem was published for the first time as entry 177 in The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, Volume Three, no. 177: "Scatha the Worm (c. 1954)"
- ↑ The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, "Introduction"
- ↑ The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition, Letter 163, pg. 313
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography, II: "1892-1916: Early years"