What do you think?
Rate this book
A Spring Harvest
The poems of this book were written at very various times, one (-Wind over the Sea-) I believe even as early as 1910, but the order in which they are here given is not chronological beyond the fact that the third part contains only poems written after the outbreak of the war. Of these some were written in England (at Oxford in particular), some in Wales and very many during a year in France from November 1915 to December 1916, which was broken by one leave in the middle of May. -The Burial of Sophocles,- which is here placed at the end, was begun before the war and continued at odd times and in various circumstances afterwards; the final version was sent me from the trenches. Beyond these few facts no prelude and no envoi is needed other than those here printed as their author left them. J. R. R. T.
60 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1918
168 people are currently reading
1593 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
February 16, 2022
4 Stars
I’m sure, like a lot of people who have recently been drawn to this book of poems, I became intrigued by Geoffrey Bache Smith after seeing the recent film adaptation of Tolkien.
Smith was one of Tolkien’s dearest friends in their youth, sharing their passions for the creative arts when they bonded at school. Sadly, Smith died during WWI, but if the movie is to be believed, it was due to Tolkien’s persistence and devotion to his friend, even after his death, that this collection of Smith’s poems ever reached a wider audience, for which I am grateful.
This was a really lovely and easy read, holding my attention even though I’m not usually one for poetry books. There were a handful of poems here that really resonated with me, particularly those written by a Smith during his time at war, shortly before his death. One poem, in particular, that I found myself highlighting and rereading over and over, was titled Memories and goes like this:
I think the poems I appreciated most seemed to touch directly upon Smith’s friendships, which had a strong impact on me having seen the film and fallen in love with this passionate and talented group of young men, whose loyalty and support of one another in all pursuits was inspiring.
I was also moved by the notion that Smith was secretly (maybe not-so-secretly) in love with Tolkien — even if his feelings were never returned in kind. These feelings were alluded to during the film, and I couldn’t help but believe it to be true after reading some of the poems myself, such as the one above.
I guess my first recommendation is to see the film first. Then, if you’re anything like me, you’ll be eager to explore Smith’s work for yourself, which you can find online for a free eBook download with a simple google search.
I’m sure, like a lot of people who have recently been drawn to this book of poems, I became intrigued by Geoffrey Bache Smith after seeing the recent film adaptation of Tolkien.
Smith was one of Tolkien’s dearest friends in their youth, sharing their passions for the creative arts when they bonded at school. Sadly, Smith died during WWI, but if the movie is to be believed, it was due to Tolkien’s persistence and devotion to his friend, even after his death, that this collection of Smith’s poems ever reached a wider audience, for which I am grateful.
This was a really lovely and easy read, holding my attention even though I’m not usually one for poetry books. There were a handful of poems here that really resonated with me, particularly those written by a Smith during his time at war, shortly before his death. One poem, in particular, that I found myself highlighting and rereading over and over, was titled Memories and goes like this:
“Shapes in the mist, it is long since I saw you,
Pale hands and faces, and quiet eyes,
Crowned with a garland the dead years wrought you
Out of remembrance that never dies:
One among you is tall and supple
Good to fight or to love beside,
Only the stain of a deadly quarrel,
Only that and the years divide:
One there is with a face as honest,
Heart as true, as the open sea,
One who never betrayed a comrade—
Death stands now betwixt him and me.
One I loved with a passionate longing
Born of worship and fierce despair,
Dreamed that Heaven were only happy
If at length I should find him there.
Shapes in the mist, ye see me lonely,
Lonely and sad in the dim firelight:
How far now to the last of all battles?
(Listen, the guns are loud to-night!)
Whatever comes, I will strike once surely,
Once because of an ancient tryst,
Once for love of your dear dead faces
Ere I come unto you, Shapes in the mist.”
I think the poems I appreciated most seemed to touch directly upon Smith’s friendships, which had a strong impact on me having seen the film and fallen in love with this passionate and talented group of young men, whose loyalty and support of one another in all pursuits was inspiring.
I was also moved by the notion that Smith was secretly (maybe not-so-secretly) in love with Tolkien — even if his feelings were never returned in kind. These feelings were alluded to during the film, and I couldn’t help but believe it to be true after reading some of the poems myself, such as the one above.
I guess my first recommendation is to see the film first. Then, if you’re anything like me, you’ll be eager to explore Smith’s work for yourself, which you can find online for a free eBook download with a simple google search.
May 19, 2019
Inspired by the new Tolkien movie, I decided to read this collection of poems that Tolkien's best friend, Geoffrey Bache Smith, wrote and which Tolkien put together for him posthumously. While I was not smitten with every poem I did find a few that held great weight and power. Such as "Dark is the World our Fathers Left Us," in which the lines,
Have a mournful tone of loss, of losing something that has become too distant to hear, but it is there still, for those who take the time to listen. And even the poem "Rime" which speaks of the powers of reading, and the many lives and experiences we gain through our reading. Smith spoke of simple pleasures and spoke greatly of earth, its greenness, its brightness, and even its headiness. He spoke often of greying, of age, and the wisdom that comes with time, even as people who "have bowed ourselves to time." For Smith life seemed a mix of things, and he spoke mostly of nature, of old things, set against the new. He did not seem to dislike the new for its newness, but its lack of looking back and seeing where it came from and the history that brought it to today.
I think many of these poems need more time to sit with me for me to fully grasp all they have to say; and to digest a lot of the phrases and moods Smith weaves through-out his work. But one thing is clear--he speaks with a great love of the old and timeless things.
He speaks of Arthur, he speaks of Sophocles, and he speaks for every man whose simple pleasure is to read ("All these things I hear and see / I, a scholar of gramarye.") The saddest thing for me is that there is no collection after, given these were published after his death in WWI. But maybe, as he speculates in one of his poems, he'll be among the pale company of kings.
"Dark is the world our fathers left us,
Heavily, greyley, the long years flow,
Almost the gloom has of hope bereft us,
Far is the high gods' song and low."
Have a mournful tone of loss, of losing something that has become too distant to hear, but it is there still, for those who take the time to listen. And even the poem "Rime" which speaks of the powers of reading, and the many lives and experiences we gain through our reading. Smith spoke of simple pleasures and spoke greatly of earth, its greenness, its brightness, and even its headiness. He spoke often of greying, of age, and the wisdom that comes with time, even as people who "have bowed ourselves to time." For Smith life seemed a mix of things, and he spoke mostly of nature, of old things, set against the new. He did not seem to dislike the new for its newness, but its lack of looking back and seeing where it came from and the history that brought it to today.
I think many of these poems need more time to sit with me for me to fully grasp all they have to say; and to digest a lot of the phrases and moods Smith weaves through-out his work. But one thing is clear--he speaks with a great love of the old and timeless things.
He speaks of Arthur, he speaks of Sophocles, and he speaks for every man whose simple pleasure is to read ("All these things I hear and see / I, a scholar of gramarye.") The saddest thing for me is that there is no collection after, given these were published after his death in WWI. But maybe, as he speculates in one of his poems, he'll be among the pale company of kings.
May 11, 2019
I read this after the disappointment that was the movie Tolkien. GB Smith was the best friend of JRR Tolkien who died in the Battle of the Somme. In memory of his friend Tolkien published his poems. They're beautiful and I'm not usually a poetry lover. A beautiful mind taken too soon like many in WWI.
July 16, 2019
Like all os uf here, I think, I knew about Geoffrey Bache Smith because of his connection with J.R.R. Tolkien and the letter he wrote to him saying "may you say things that I have tried to say long after I am not there to say them" (seriously, that letter brought down to tears the first time I read it, it's like he was already seeing the future).
Well, after watching the biopic about Tolkien starring Nicholas Hoult, I decided it was about time that I read Geoffrey's poetry and... And I feel so damn sad right now. No life should end at twenty years old and Geoffrey Smith was so damn talented and had such a beautiful way to express his thoughts and create legends with words (I definitely can see why he was Tolkien's best friend, their styles are really similar) that I feel sad about what Geoffrey could have been if only he had survived the war and grow to be an old man.
I read somewhere that, if that had happened, he would have surpassed Tolkien in fame but that's something we'll never know. All we have left are these beautiful poems and a great "what if?".
Bless your beautiful soul, Geoffrey.
Well, after watching the biopic about Tolkien starring Nicholas Hoult, I decided it was about time that I read Geoffrey's poetry and... And I feel so damn sad right now. No life should end at twenty years old and Geoffrey Smith was so damn talented and had such a beautiful way to express his thoughts and create legends with words (I definitely can see why he was Tolkien's best friend, their styles are really similar) that I feel sad about what Geoffrey could have been if only he had survived the war and grow to be an old man.
I read somewhere that, if that had happened, he would have surpassed Tolkien in fame but that's something we'll never know. All we have left are these beautiful poems and a great "what if?".
Bless your beautiful soul, Geoffrey.
May 24, 2022
Actual rating: 3.5
I picked this up after my rewatch of Tolkien (2019) and absolutely loved it! Many of the poems were moving especially given the context for when they were written but not really anything to write home about.
I picked this up after my rewatch of Tolkien (2019) and absolutely loved it! Many of the poems were moving especially given the context for when they were written but not really anything to write home about.
March 19, 2020
This collection, written by Tolkien's childhood friend (and one of the four in the TCBS), is in many senses a haunting read. Bache Smith seems to have possessed a spark of real genius, thus making his early death in World War I all the more tragic. A number of these poems are quite good, and several are profoundly moving, particularly "Let us tell Quiet Stories of Kind Eyes" and the closing "So we lay down the Pen." He seems a romantic (thus explaining much of his appeal to me), but he possesses that rare quality of being able to hold the paradox of beauty and suffering in tension. It is a fascinating and a heavy thing to witness his boylike (in the very best sense) and often pastoral romanticism collide with the griefs that hung over the trenches in France. This was, of course, the experience of many a European boy who went off to war in 1914, yet Bache Smith possesses the writing chops to verbalize and lament that collision with immersive effect. Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, he is able to lament the war without descending into the inherent nihilism of his contemporaries, the War Poets. This alone is worthy of commendation.
August 21, 2020
His poems should be appreciated more! I especially love the ones that mention the TCBS, though they're actually quite sad.
This is literally about Tolkien. You cannot change my mind.
“One I loved with a passionate longing
Born of worship and fierce despair,
Dreamed that Heaven were only happy
If at length I should find him there.”
This is literally about Tolkien. You cannot change my mind.
Read
October 20, 2024A beautiful collection of poems by G.B. Smith, who sadly died in the First World War, aged 22.
Smith was a close friend of J.R.R. Tolkien, who helped publish these poems. To be honest, I did not expect a lot of similarities between their respective works, but I was surprised. To me, it is quite clear that the two must have influenced each other, or at least taken inspiration from the same sources.
The Lord of the Rings has always felt like a lament for a bygone world to me and Smith’s poems have a similar effect. There is a deep sadness permeating them, but also a sense of awe in their depiction of nature as perhaps more sublime than beautiful (in a Burkean sense). Smith’s archaic style gives a timeless quality to these poems, they are detached from the mundanity of everyday life and more concerned with questions of time, death and memory. One of my favourites was a poem about the meeting of Bedivere and Lancelot after King Arthur's death. The following quote is taken from it:
While Smith's earlier work is inspired by medieval and classical texts, the later poems are mostly concerned with war. The style remains archaic, but it is clear that Smith tried to place what he experienced at the front in the context of the ancient tales which he and Tolkien so clearly admired. It’s incredibly sad to read the last poems, many of them dealing with death, knowing what was to come.
I am glad this collection was published, as a reminder of the talent of a young man who did not live long enough to become the poet he might have been. As a testimony of his experience of the Great War, the poems are enlightening, but I also find them beautiful and moving in their own right. I’ll finish this review with a stanza from one of Smith’s last poems, which is difficult not to read in the context of when it was likely written.
Smith was a close friend of J.R.R. Tolkien, who helped publish these poems. To be honest, I did not expect a lot of similarities between their respective works, but I was surprised. To me, it is quite clear that the two must have influenced each other, or at least taken inspiration from the same sources.
The Lord of the Rings has always felt like a lament for a bygone world to me and Smith’s poems have a similar effect. There is a deep sadness permeating them, but also a sense of awe in their depiction of nature as perhaps more sublime than beautiful (in a Burkean sense). Smith’s archaic style gives a timeless quality to these poems, they are detached from the mundanity of everyday life and more concerned with questions of time, death and memory. One of my favourites was a poem about the meeting of Bedivere and Lancelot after King Arthur's death. The following quote is taken from it:
Gods of the burnt-out hearth,
the wandered wind,
Gods of pale dawns that
vanished long ago,
Gods of the barren tree, the withered leaf.
The faded flower, and the
ungarnered sheaf,
Gods half-forgot in the wild ages’ flow
Yours, yours am I, that all for
nought have sinned.
While Smith's earlier work is inspired by medieval and classical texts, the later poems are mostly concerned with war. The style remains archaic, but it is clear that Smith tried to place what he experienced at the front in the context of the ancient tales which he and Tolkien so clearly admired. It’s incredibly sad to read the last poems, many of them dealing with death, knowing what was to come.
I am glad this collection was published, as a reminder of the talent of a young man who did not live long enough to become the poet he might have been. As a testimony of his experience of the Great War, the poems are enlightening, but I also find them beautiful and moving in their own right. I’ll finish this review with a stanza from one of Smith’s last poems, which is difficult not to read in the context of when it was likely written.
Aye, happy seven times is he
Who enters not the silent doors
Before his time, but tenderly
Death beckons unto him, because
There’s rest within for weary feet
Now all the journey is complete.
March 4, 2024
{March 3, 2024}
Several of these poems, particularly "Memories" and "Intercessional," make me weep. So beautiful, so sad. My heart aches with this reading.
{Original review: April 18, 2022}
G.B. Smith was a close friend of J.R.R. Tolkien and a fellow member of the T.C.B.S. Tragically, he perished in the Great War. Tolkien prepared his poems for publication after the cessation of the war, and this book is the result.
Having been the poet of the brotherhood, his verses are extremely beautiful and have an ancient quality to them. I was swept up in language achingly luminous and sat in silent awe at the end of some of them ("O, Sing Me a Song of the Wild West Wind," for example). There are often mentions of 'the gods,' which evidences the mythological studies the young men received and discussed.
The book begins with some beautifully styled Arthurian legend, lovely, lovely words and thoughts such as these:
"So they grew old together, and the years
Pressed no more to their lips the cup of tears
(They had drained all, maybe). And ever less
Seemed all things mortal, as in quietness,
They pondered the eternal mysteries
(The noblest heritage of all men born),
Such as are writ upon the face of dawn,
Or in the glamour of a moonlit night,
Or in the autumn swallow's southern flight,
Or in the breaking of the restless seas:"
Poetry is tricky for me. When reading anthologies, typically I will read a great many verses before finding one that resonates enough that I want to copy it into my commonplace book. Or reading one single poet's works inevitably illuminates many I do not care for (which is understandable - of course we will not all love all of them; I view this as normal and expected). Frequently the meanings feel too obscure to puzzle out and I fail to appreciate them. Occasionally I will find a poem I really love, and less often any one poet whose many verses faithfully strike me with their comeliness and ideas worth pondering.
Geoffrey Bache Smith is the poet and this is the volume wherein I have appreciated each and every verse. At first I presumed I was merely biased and enthusiastic about the close connection to Tolkien (whose writing I love), but realized there have been countless poems (and poets) in my reading history for which I had an unconscious bias yet they failed to deliver according to my expectations, though they were highly praised by friends or were connected in some way as to make me more apt to be favorably swayed. Since it hasn't worked before, I think it's fair to assume:
I love this for what it is. Background knowledge enhances it immensely, but I feel sure that I would have loved this on its own merit, without knowing who wrote it or anything about him.
Just think what more he could have penned had his life not been extinguished in the trenches! The world lost a great mind in that terrible battle. I am grieved to think of the other noble lives and talents forever silenced in that 'Lost Generation.'
As in Geoffrey's own words, eerily prophetic:
"The mighty deeds done once for all,
The voice heard once, and heard no more?
Rather they shine as doth the star
About the close of winter's day,
That cheers the traveller afar
And draws him on, and points the way.
We praise, we praise the immortal dead."
Several of these poems, particularly "Memories" and "Intercessional," make me weep. So beautiful, so sad. My heart aches with this reading.
{Original review: April 18, 2022}
G.B. Smith was a close friend of J.R.R. Tolkien and a fellow member of the T.C.B.S. Tragically, he perished in the Great War. Tolkien prepared his poems for publication after the cessation of the war, and this book is the result.
Having been the poet of the brotherhood, his verses are extremely beautiful and have an ancient quality to them. I was swept up in language achingly luminous and sat in silent awe at the end of some of them ("O, Sing Me a Song of the Wild West Wind," for example). There are often mentions of 'the gods,' which evidences the mythological studies the young men received and discussed.
The book begins with some beautifully styled Arthurian legend, lovely, lovely words and thoughts such as these:
"So they grew old together, and the years
Pressed no more to their lips the cup of tears
(They had drained all, maybe). And ever less
Seemed all things mortal, as in quietness,
They pondered the eternal mysteries
(The noblest heritage of all men born),
Such as are writ upon the face of dawn,
Or in the glamour of a moonlit night,
Or in the autumn swallow's southern flight,
Or in the breaking of the restless seas:"
Poetry is tricky for me. When reading anthologies, typically I will read a great many verses before finding one that resonates enough that I want to copy it into my commonplace book. Or reading one single poet's works inevitably illuminates many I do not care for (which is understandable - of course we will not all love all of them; I view this as normal and expected). Frequently the meanings feel too obscure to puzzle out and I fail to appreciate them. Occasionally I will find a poem I really love, and less often any one poet whose many verses faithfully strike me with their comeliness and ideas worth pondering.
Geoffrey Bache Smith is the poet and this is the volume wherein I have appreciated each and every verse. At first I presumed I was merely biased and enthusiastic about the close connection to Tolkien (whose writing I love), but realized there have been countless poems (and poets) in my reading history for which I had an unconscious bias yet they failed to deliver according to my expectations, though they were highly praised by friends or were connected in some way as to make me more apt to be favorably swayed. Since it hasn't worked before, I think it's fair to assume:
I love this for what it is. Background knowledge enhances it immensely, but I feel sure that I would have loved this on its own merit, without knowing who wrote it or anything about him.
Just think what more he could have penned had his life not been extinguished in the trenches! The world lost a great mind in that terrible battle. I am grieved to think of the other noble lives and talents forever silenced in that 'Lost Generation.'
As in Geoffrey's own words, eerily prophetic:
"The mighty deeds done once for all,
The voice heard once, and heard no more?
Rather they shine as doth the star
About the close of winter's day,
That cheers the traveller afar
And draws him on, and points the way.
We praise, we praise the immortal dead."
February 27, 2020
I have a confession: I've never really gotten poetry. It's full of alliteration and word paintings and symbolism and I just never knew what to make of it. I never completely understood it. I always had to have my literature professor explain what the heck was going on.
So I decided to try a collection of poetry. Just to see what happened. Ya know, as you do.
And I actually found this collection heartfelt and romantic and full of emotions that I wasn't quite prepared for. (Yeah, I know all poetry is full of emotion, but these poems felt different than the ones I read in class.)
Yeah, at first I had no idea what was going on (it starts out with an epic poem--or something like it--and the symbolism was completely lost on me). But, as I kept reading, the poems I came across were something I could relate to. Or something I understood, even though I've never experienced war and the constant fear of death.
I found this author through the movie Tolkien, which tells the story of J. R. R. Tolkien's early life and the brotherhood he shared with three young men (one of which is the man who penned these poems). Yeah, I read this collection just to see what they were talking about in the movie, but I stayed cause I found something amazing. Something beautiful.
I still don't quite understand poetry, but I found this collection beautiful and a little sad. And I loved every minute of it.
So I decided to try a collection of poetry. Just to see what happened. Ya know, as you do.
And I actually found this collection heartfelt and romantic and full of emotions that I wasn't quite prepared for. (Yeah, I know all poetry is full of emotion, but these poems felt different than the ones I read in class.)
Yeah, at first I had no idea what was going on (it starts out with an epic poem--or something like it--and the symbolism was completely lost on me). But, as I kept reading, the poems I came across were something I could relate to. Or something I understood, even though I've never experienced war and the constant fear of death.
I found this author through the movie Tolkien, which tells the story of J. R. R. Tolkien's early life and the brotherhood he shared with three young men (one of which is the man who penned these poems). Yeah, I read this collection just to see what they were talking about in the movie, but I stayed cause I found something amazing. Something beautiful.
I still don't quite understand poetry, but I found this collection beautiful and a little sad. And I loved every minute of it.
February 10, 2022
Wild clouds are scurrying overhead,
The wild wind’s voice is loud and dread,
Sounding the knell of the dying day,
Yet here is silence and gloom alway.
And a great longing seizes me
To burst my bondage and be free,
To look on winds’ and waters’ strife,
And breathe in my nostrils the breath of life.
Give me not dim and slumbrous ease,
But sounding storm and labouring seas,
Not peaceful and untroubled years,
But toil and warfare and passion and tears.
And I would fall in valorous fight,
And lie on lofty far-seen height.
Yet how to burst these prison-bands,
Forged by unseen spirit-hands?
The wild wind’s voice is loud and dread,
Sounding the knell of the dying day,
Yet here is silence and gloom alway.
And a great longing seizes me
To burst my bondage and be free,
To look on winds’ and waters’ strife,
And breathe in my nostrils the breath of life.
Give me not dim and slumbrous ease,
But sounding storm and labouring seas,
Not peaceful and untroubled years,
But toil and warfare and passion and tears.
And I would fall in valorous fight,
And lie on lofty far-seen height.
Yet how to burst these prison-bands,
Forged by unseen spirit-hands?
May 21, 2019
A very lovely collection of poems compiled by J. R. R. Tolkien in memory of his closest friend Geoffrey Bache Smith.
I see a lot of Tolkien in Smith's reverence for nature, his love of myths, and his obsession with time and history and aging (his reiterating of the word 'grey' in many of his poems stands out particularly in my mind). While a couple of the poems strike me as written by a slightly unexperienced hand, most are very pleasant to read and many have moments of exceeding beauty and profundity.
It's very unfortunate we'll never get to read any more of Smith's work, for it seems to me that he had the potential to become an accomplished and celebrated poet of his time, had he not fallen during The Great War in 1916. The loving way he writes of singing birds, of the sea, of the howling wind, and of his best friends (Tolkien being one of them, naturally) conveys to me the musings and daydreaming of a bright, optimistic young man with a kind and gentle soul.
Although I found the movie 'Tolkien' to be lacklustre, I'm very happy it shone light on the relationships that Tolkien had with his closest friends at Oxford (The TCBS, as they called themselves) which led me to check out this collection of Smith's poems, a book which I heartily recommend to all the superfans who were disappointed by the Tolkien biopic.
Here is one of Smith's later poems, in which he writes about the three other core members of the TCBS amid the chaos of WW1:
“Memories
Shapes in the mist, it is long since I saw you,
Pale hands and faces, and quiet eyes,
Crowned with a garland the dead years wrought you
Out of remembrance that never dies:
One among you is tall and supple
Good to fight or to love beside,
Only the stain of a deadly quarrel,
Only that and the years divide:
One there is with a face as honest,
Heart as true, as the open sea,
One who never betrayed a comrade—
Death stands now betwixt him and me.
One I loved with a passionate longing
Born of worship and fierce despair,
Dreamed that Heaven were only happy
If at length I should find him there.
Shapes in the mist, ye see me lonely,
Lonely and sad in the dim firelight:
How far now to the last of all battles?
(Listen, the guns are loud to-night!)
Whatever comes, I will strike once surely,
Once because of an ancient tryst,
Once for love of your dear dead faces
Ere I come unto you, Shapes in the mist.”
I see a lot of Tolkien in Smith's reverence for nature, his love of myths, and his obsession with time and history and aging (his reiterating of the word 'grey' in many of his poems stands out particularly in my mind). While a couple of the poems strike me as written by a slightly unexperienced hand, most are very pleasant to read and many have moments of exceeding beauty and profundity.
It's very unfortunate we'll never get to read any more of Smith's work, for it seems to me that he had the potential to become an accomplished and celebrated poet of his time, had he not fallen during The Great War in 1916. The loving way he writes of singing birds, of the sea, of the howling wind, and of his best friends (Tolkien being one of them, naturally) conveys to me the musings and daydreaming of a bright, optimistic young man with a kind and gentle soul.
Although I found the movie 'Tolkien' to be lacklustre, I'm very happy it shone light on the relationships that Tolkien had with his closest friends at Oxford (The TCBS, as they called themselves) which led me to check out this collection of Smith's poems, a book which I heartily recommend to all the superfans who were disappointed by the Tolkien biopic.
Here is one of Smith's later poems, in which he writes about the three other core members of the TCBS amid the chaos of WW1:
“Memories
Shapes in the mist, it is long since I saw you,
Pale hands and faces, and quiet eyes,
Crowned with a garland the dead years wrought you
Out of remembrance that never dies:
One among you is tall and supple
Good to fight or to love beside,
Only the stain of a deadly quarrel,
Only that and the years divide:
One there is with a face as honest,
Heart as true, as the open sea,
One who never betrayed a comrade—
Death stands now betwixt him and me.
One I loved with a passionate longing
Born of worship and fierce despair,
Dreamed that Heaven were only happy
If at length I should find him there.
Shapes in the mist, ye see me lonely,
Lonely and sad in the dim firelight:
How far now to the last of all battles?
(Listen, the guns are loud to-night!)
Whatever comes, I will strike once surely,
Once because of an ancient tryst,
Once for love of your dear dead faces
Ere I come unto you, Shapes in the mist.”
March 2, 2020
I sought out this book after watching the movie Tolkien......what an experience. I highly recommend that combination - the movie first, then the poetry. (It's free through the Gutenberg Project! [The book, not the movie.])
June 4, 2024
Initially, I found GBS because of his connection to Tolkien. I would assume that this is not a unique experience.
However, his poetry contains so much talent that is his and his alone. There is so much heart and feeling in his words. The war changed his writing in a way that only made it more personal and more important.
The last lines in my copy of these poems is:
“When the New Age is verily begun,
God grant that we may do the things undone.”
Oh, how I wish GBS could have stepped into the New Age with JRRT.
However, his poetry contains so much talent that is his and his alone. There is so much heart and feeling in his words. The war changed his writing in a way that only made it more personal and more important.
The last lines in my copy of these poems is:
“When the New Age is verily begun,
God grant that we may do the things undone.”
Oh, how I wish GBS could have stepped into the New Age with JRRT.
June 13, 2023
"𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘦𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘨:
𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘦
𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥𝘴, 𝘖 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦"
- Sonnet.
These poems are beautiful, they contain very rich imagery, mainly nature imagery, which makes readers easily imagine and feel, yes sense, what the speaker is describing.
The way the poems appear in the book is very interesting, as it seems as if they were following a narration, not a story, but as if the reader was walking through the path of life: the imagination (creation), growing up (represented in nature theme poems), and death (in those that were about war).
The meter and the rhythm used in the poems are very beautiful, if you like poems by Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Byron, Ann Radcliffe, and Emily Dickinson, you might enjoy these ones.
If you love J. R. R. Tolkien's poems and works, go ahead, grab this book and read it! You will realize that Tolkien's works contain some Smith ideas or feelings that are represented in the poems of this book, this might be because the author of those poems, G. B. Smith was one of the first Tolkienites.
ᛒᚠ @booksfromfaeries Instagram
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘦𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘨:
𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘦
𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥𝘴, 𝘖 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦"
- Sonnet.
These poems are beautiful, they contain very rich imagery, mainly nature imagery, which makes readers easily imagine and feel, yes sense, what the speaker is describing.
The way the poems appear in the book is very interesting, as it seems as if they were following a narration, not a story, but as if the reader was walking through the path of life: the imagination (creation), growing up (represented in nature theme poems), and death (in those that were about war).
The meter and the rhythm used in the poems are very beautiful, if you like poems by Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Byron, Ann Radcliffe, and Emily Dickinson, you might enjoy these ones.
If you love J. R. R. Tolkien's poems and works, go ahead, grab this book and read it! You will realize that Tolkien's works contain some Smith ideas or feelings that are represented in the poems of this book, this might be because the author of those poems, G. B. Smith was one of the first Tolkienites.
ᛒᚠ @booksfromfaeries Instagram
October 19, 2019
Smith has such an eerie beauty to his writing, an incredibly deep understanding of life for a young man of no more than 22.
January 2, 2020
After watching the "Tolkien" movie I had to go and check out Geoffrey Bache Smith's poetry. It was really nice getting to read more of his work and knowing what all he and his friends went through in school and the war. Very sad his life was taken so young in the war but so nice that his close friend J.R.R. Tolkien helped to get this book published and Geoffrey's work out there.
February 12, 2022
As with many people in the review section, I was drawn to this poetry book by the movie Tolkien. It’s taken me over two years to finally finish but, honestly, it’s timely. I started this book pre-COVID and finishing it almost two years in is super meaningful to me. I just finished reading Out of the Silent Planet by CS Lewis, where he talks about death as a desired destination and not something to fear. I really felt that echoed in this book, at least toward the end, a vision of death as a place of peace away from all the chaos we see in life. Even in that, though, I really resonate with the desire to meet death after a long and fulfilled life, and the hope that things will eventually change for the better. It’s honestly been a while since I read a book of poems, and this one really touched me.
February 3, 2020
Like so many others, I picked this up after seeing the movie, Tolkien, and wanting to read more by his charismatic and close friend. It was an enjoyable read, although I found a few of the poems a bit tedious. Admittedly, poetry isn't my favorite form of literature, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.
January 18, 2021
Beautiful poems carrying the essence of the authors days at Oxford and memories from the war. Many poems have a sense of longing, misery and loneliness in them, some of them are like narrations of some old tales. The image of nature and surrounding is captured very well carrying us to a distance unknown serene land.
January 30, 2024
King Arthur, nature, spring, windy hills, history, ancient things, old books, fellowship, sword and sorcery — just my cup of tea!
Like many others, I discovered Geoffrey Bache Smith through the movie ‘Tolkien’. Part of Tolkien’s inner circle at King Edward’s and Oxford, it’s clear to see the influence they had on each other’s work. As Tolkien writes, in his prefatory note for A Spring Harvest, these poems were written over a period of several years between 1910-1916, through Smith’s adolescence and early adulthood. As such, some of the poems are more polished than others, but it’s clear to see he was a poet of incredible potential before his untimely death in WW1. I wish we could have seen how his work further developed. There’s also, unsurprisingly, a very moving contrast between his pre-war poems and the ones he wrote during the war, which are arguably some of his best. Smith moves from pastoral romantic to war poet and his work from this time betrays a loss of boyhood innocence and idealism in the rude awakening of the battlefield. As such, it worked well that the latter were grouped together at the end of the volume, which is well arranged.
My favourites were:
Memories
Let us tell Quiet Stories of Kind Eyes
A Sonnet
Domum redit Poeta
Rime
“O, there be Kings whose Treasuries”
The Burial of Sophocles
April 1916
Others I particularly liked or thought had standout lines included:
A Preface for a Tale I have never told
“Dark Boughs against a Golden Sky”
Sea Poppies
“O, Long the Fiends of War shall dance”
Songs on the Downs
“O, one came down from Seven Hills”
The Last Meeting
“So we lay down the Pen”
To an Elzevir Cicero
“O, sing me a song of the Wild West Wind”
Ave atque Vale
Sonnet
Anglia Valida in Senectuate
Intercessional
Dark is the World our Fathers left us
Sonnet to the British Navy
Like many others, I discovered Geoffrey Bache Smith through the movie ‘Tolkien’. Part of Tolkien’s inner circle at King Edward’s and Oxford, it’s clear to see the influence they had on each other’s work. As Tolkien writes, in his prefatory note for A Spring Harvest, these poems were written over a period of several years between 1910-1916, through Smith’s adolescence and early adulthood. As such, some of the poems are more polished than others, but it’s clear to see he was a poet of incredible potential before his untimely death in WW1. I wish we could have seen how his work further developed. There’s also, unsurprisingly, a very moving contrast between his pre-war poems and the ones he wrote during the war, which are arguably some of his best. Smith moves from pastoral romantic to war poet and his work from this time betrays a loss of boyhood innocence and idealism in the rude awakening of the battlefield. As such, it worked well that the latter were grouped together at the end of the volume, which is well arranged.
My favourites were:
Memories
Let us tell Quiet Stories of Kind Eyes
A Sonnet
Domum redit Poeta
Rime
“O, there be Kings whose Treasuries”
The Burial of Sophocles
April 1916
Others I particularly liked or thought had standout lines included:
A Preface for a Tale I have never told
“Dark Boughs against a Golden Sky”
Sea Poppies
“O, Long the Fiends of War shall dance”
Songs on the Downs
“O, one came down from Seven Hills”
The Last Meeting
“So we lay down the Pen”
To an Elzevir Cicero
“O, sing me a song of the Wild West Wind”
Ave atque Vale
Sonnet
Anglia Valida in Senectuate
Intercessional
Dark is the World our Fathers left us
Sonnet to the British Navy
December 23, 2024
I have recently read the book, Tolkien and the Great War. G.B. Smith was another member, with Tolkien, of the TCBS. The two shared correspondence during the war and when Smith was killed, Tolkien took it upon himself to edit a short collection of poetry by Smith.
I am not sure what to say about the poems. The later work is better and darker than the earlier work. Poems that have more to say and more uncertainty about the future. Smith had talent, that is certain, but poems from his school days seem like trivialities -- costume jewelry -- when placed behind the better, deeper poems.
Shapes in the mist, it is long since I saw you,
Pale hands and faces, and quiet eyes,
Crowned with a garland the dead years wrought you
Out of remembrance that never dies:
If there is anything that I feel when I read this set of poems, it is sadness. The World Wars robbed the world of so much talent -- blighted at its beginning and unable to truly bear fruit. It is only by divine providence and a bad case of trench fever, that Tolkien survived to write the books that would earn him fame.
If Smith had survived the war and brought his talents to bear upon, surely there would have been more gems for us to read and contemplate. As it is, there is enough beauty here to enjoy, even if one wonders what a second or third volume from Smith would have looked like.
I am not sure what to say about the poems. The later work is better and darker than the earlier work. Poems that have more to say and more uncertainty about the future. Smith had talent, that is certain, but poems from his school days seem like trivialities -- costume jewelry -- when placed behind the better, deeper poems.
Shapes in the mist, it is long since I saw you,
Pale hands and faces, and quiet eyes,
Crowned with a garland the dead years wrought you
Out of remembrance that never dies:
If there is anything that I feel when I read this set of poems, it is sadness. The World Wars robbed the world of so much talent -- blighted at its beginning and unable to truly bear fruit. It is only by divine providence and a bad case of trench fever, that Tolkien survived to write the books that would earn him fame.
If Smith had survived the war and brought his talents to bear upon, surely there would have been more gems for us to read and contemplate. As it is, there is enough beauty here to enjoy, even if one wonders what a second or third volume from Smith would have looked like.
July 7, 2020
I must say, as rather a large quantity of you must have, I have been drawn to his poems after seeing the film, Tolkien. My heart ached after seeing this film, I had merely a vague thought that there was some kind of unrequited love from Geoffrey to Tolkien, I thought to myself that maybe I was mistaken, but after reading some other comments I can see it clearly, I wasn't, and after reading some of his poems, it has come to my mind, how can such pure love be created? in my life, god punishes me if I may lie, but I have never experience that kind of altruism, his love was purely light, it was gentle to the touch, and every word he wrote..., it diminished me to ashes, I can always be mistaken, but curse my tongue if I am now, for I say, when I read the poems that were especially focused on their friendship, I couldn't fell other sensation but the purest embodiment of what is truly to love someone, fiercely, without a doubt.
I don't know if it was a sexual attraction or merely a friendship, but the love that was behind every word, was as kindle as the fire of one single candle, I truly recommend his poems, because beneath them there is something magnificent, finding the soul of the author itself.
I don't know if it was a sexual attraction or merely a friendship, but the love that was behind every word, was as kindle as the fire of one single candle, I truly recommend his poems, because beneath them there is something magnificent, finding the soul of the author itself.
April 19, 2020
Like many people (I suspect) I first heard of Geoffrey Bache Smith's poems through the movie Tolkien, that came out in 2019 and starred Nicholas Hoult as a very young JRR Tolkien before he began studying old and middle English at Oxford University. Smith was one of Tolkien's four closest friends (including Christopher Wiseman and Robert Gilson) from his school days at King Edward's school in Birmingham. In 1914 the four young men joined up to fight in WW1. Only two of them came home.
The poems aren't entirely my taste. Some of them are very reminiscent of Keats (I endured flashbacks to boarding school English lit classes, dissecting Ode to a Grecian Urn, while reading them.) The section titled First Poems are possibly the most accessible and one of them, "To a Pianist," was very probably written for Christopher Wiseman, who was an accomplished musician and amateur composer until WW1 destroyed his desire to write music ever again.
Last Poems are Smith's heartbreaking war poems. “Let Us Tell Quiet Stories of Kind Eyes” is a lament for the lost time when a group of four boys who met at King Edward’s School and for the tragic death of one in 1916 (Gilson, aged 23, during the Battle of the Somme.) Smith was not to know he would die later the same year, shortly after the Battle of the Somme. Ave atque Vale (Hail and Farewell) describes of his love of Oxford and the university colleges which too many will never see again:
"Oxford is evermore the same,
Unto, the uttermost verge of time,
Though grave-dust choke the sons of men,
And silence wait upon the rime."
Tolkien and Smith's mother pushed to have his poems published after 1918 but he has sadly fallen into obscurity. He was not a prolific writer but I think he deserves to be better known.
The poems aren't entirely my taste. Some of them are very reminiscent of Keats (I endured flashbacks to boarding school English lit classes, dissecting Ode to a Grecian Urn, while reading them.) The section titled First Poems are possibly the most accessible and one of them, "To a Pianist," was very probably written for Christopher Wiseman, who was an accomplished musician and amateur composer until WW1 destroyed his desire to write music ever again.
Last Poems are Smith's heartbreaking war poems. “Let Us Tell Quiet Stories of Kind Eyes” is a lament for the lost time when a group of four boys who met at King Edward’s School and for the tragic death of one in 1916 (Gilson, aged 23, during the Battle of the Somme.) Smith was not to know he would die later the same year, shortly after the Battle of the Somme. Ave atque Vale (Hail and Farewell) describes of his love of Oxford and the university colleges which too many will never see again:
"Oxford is evermore the same,
Unto, the uttermost verge of time,
Though grave-dust choke the sons of men,
And silence wait upon the rime."
Tolkien and Smith's mother pushed to have his poems published after 1918 but he has sadly fallen into obscurity. He was not a prolific writer but I think he deserves to be better known.
April 13, 2025
Such a beautiful tribute to friendship and the conviction that our friends' creations deserve to be shared with the world.
Geoffrey's friend John Ronald gave the world an incredible gift with this window into Geoffrey's heart and imagination. It is one that draws on ancient legend and the natural beauty of England, and one that absorbs and reflects on the horror of war as he was increasingly thrust into the trenches of The Great War. I'm grateful that my friend gave it to me as a gift in turn.
It is a tragedy to see the potential for greatness in these lines and then consider how short Geoffrey's life was cut. It's a tragedy how obscure his work is, as well. But again, thankfully, we have this collection available to us. It is arranged carefully, and ends perfectly, with a hope that I cling to every day:
"When the New Age is verily begun, / God grant that we may do the things undone."
Geoffrey's friend John Ronald gave the world an incredible gift with this window into Geoffrey's heart and imagination. It is one that draws on ancient legend and the natural beauty of England, and one that absorbs and reflects on the horror of war as he was increasingly thrust into the trenches of The Great War. I'm grateful that my friend gave it to me as a gift in turn.
It is a tragedy to see the potential for greatness in these lines and then consider how short Geoffrey's life was cut. It's a tragedy how obscure his work is, as well. But again, thankfully, we have this collection available to us. It is arranged carefully, and ends perfectly, with a hope that I cling to every day:
"When the New Age is verily begun, / God grant that we may do the things undone."
May 13, 2025
A posthumous collection of story-poems, written by a man who died in WW1, and collected by his friend, Tolkien. The first poem's subject is a the tale of King Arthur, but it rings with real pain.
"...straight I sought
A place where I might die, too feeble grown
To endure a new beginning to my years
When once the past was lost, and whelmed in tears."
"So they grew old together, and the years
Pressed no more to their lips the cup of tears
(They had drained all, maybe). And ever less
Seemed all things mortal, as in quietness
They pondered the eternal mysteries
(The noblest heritage of all men born),
Such as are writ upon the face of dawn,
Or in the glamour of a moonlit night..."
------
Or another truth: "A Preface for a Tale I have never told...
A story that shall whisper, “All things change—
For friends do grow indifferent, and loves
Die like a dream at morning: bitterness
Is the sure heritage of all men born,
And he alone sees truly, who looks out
From some huge aery peak...
But turns his gaze unto the mountain-tops..."
"...straight I sought
A place where I might die, too feeble grown
To endure a new beginning to my years
When once the past was lost, and whelmed in tears."
"So they grew old together, and the years
Pressed no more to their lips the cup of tears
(They had drained all, maybe). And ever less
Seemed all things mortal, as in quietness
They pondered the eternal mysteries
(The noblest heritage of all men born),
Such as are writ upon the face of dawn,
Or in the glamour of a moonlit night..."
------
Or another truth: "A Preface for a Tale I have never told...
A story that shall whisper, “All things change—
For friends do grow indifferent, and loves
Die like a dream at morning: bitterness
Is the sure heritage of all men born,
And he alone sees truly, who looks out
From some huge aery peak...
But turns his gaze unto the mountain-tops..."
July 26, 2020
The edition I bought from That Company via the InterGossip is a poorly formatted little pamphlet glued together with a greasy, fingerprint-y cardboard cover. There is nothing to identify the perpetrators except, inside the back cover, "Made in the USA / Coppell, TX / 07 July 2020."
The poems themselves are delightful juvenilia, works showing great promise in a young man killed in action in 1916. Geoffrey Bache Smith was a schoolmate and friend of J. R. R. Tolkien, who after the war edited an edition of his friend's poems - almost surely more professionally - as a tribute to his friend and a kindness to his grieving mother.
I plan to post, in the next week or two, a longer review on my site, poeticdrivel.blogspot.com, because young Lieutenant Smith's work deserves our kind consideration.
The poems themselves are delightful juvenilia, works showing great promise in a young man killed in action in 1916. Geoffrey Bache Smith was a schoolmate and friend of J. R. R. Tolkien, who after the war edited an edition of his friend's poems - almost surely more professionally - as a tribute to his friend and a kindness to his grieving mother.
I plan to post, in the next week or two, a longer review on my site, poeticdrivel.blogspot.com, because young Lieutenant Smith's work deserves our kind consideration.
September 18, 2020
There's a lot of beautiful stuff in this little volume, and one can easily see what occupied Smith's mind about the world and the poet's place in it. Themes continually crop up: of nature's splendor and terror, of the old gods and the new God, of friendship and loss, of moments of beauty found serendipitously, of fate, fortune, and destiny. Another stark reminder of the consequences of war, and the fact that war loss is not only in the real but the potential.
Save that poetic fire
Burns in the hidden heart,
Save that the full-voiced choir
Sings in a place apart,
Man that's of woman born,
With all his imaginings,
Were less than the dew of morn,
Less than the least of things.
Save that poetic fire
Burns in the hidden heart,
Save that the full-voiced choir
Sings in a place apart,
Man that's of woman born,
With all his imaginings,
Were less than the dew of morn,
Less than the least of things.
June 25, 2022
Helt ok.
Vet inte riktigt hur man ska läsa dikter och poesi så jag inbillade mig 80-hårdrockslåtar till melodier och la in texterna från boken & denna samling blev genast mycket bättre!
Jag såg filmen Tolkien för något år sedan och i slutet fick vi se några av hans vänner stupa i strid och filmen slutade med att allt som har skett inspirerade honom till att skriva. Whatever
Det som var intressant var att få veta att en av hans närmaste vönner som stupade i slaget om Somme skrev alla dessa dikter och Tolkien publicerade dem med ett lätt förord. Såklart måste JAG läsa dem.
Vet inte riktigt hur man ska läsa dikter och poesi så jag inbillade mig 80-hårdrockslåtar till melodier och la in texterna från boken & denna samling blev genast mycket bättre!
Jag såg filmen Tolkien för något år sedan och i slutet fick vi se några av hans vänner stupa i strid och filmen slutade med att allt som har skett inspirerade honom till att skriva. Whatever
Det som var intressant var att få veta att en av hans närmaste vönner som stupade i slaget om Somme skrev alla dessa dikter och Tolkien publicerade dem med ett lätt förord. Såklart måste JAG läsa dem.
July 4, 2021
Read at https://andrewdunning.ca/spring-harvest/, for which much thanks. Also available from Project Gutenberg.
The first "legend", called "Glastonbury", which finds an unnamed hermit, Bedivere, and Lancelot growing old together, is as good Arthurian fantasy as anything else I've read of similar length.
Not all the rest is as effective, but all at least pleasant and often more than that. Glad that Tolkien got it published.
Recommended.
The first "legend", called "Glastonbury", which finds an unnamed hermit, Bedivere, and Lancelot growing old together, is as good Arthurian fantasy as anything else I've read of similar length.
Not all the rest is as effective, but all at least pleasant and often more than that. Glad that Tolkien got it published.
Recommended.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews