The Lays of Beleriand

First of all, a lay is a poem. This book consists of several poems from the first age of Middle Earth. The two major poems are "The Lay of the Children of Hurin" and "The Lay of Leithian". Both exist in "The Silmarillion" and the earlier works of the Middle Earth History series in prose form. They are both unfinished works, but represent Tolkien's love of poetry, words, and of course these two stories. Being poems and not being a poetry person, these works were tough going for me, but after a while, I was able to follow the plots and appreciate the language used. Of course it helped that I've become quite familiar with the stories from the prose versions. After a rocky start where I thought I'd never finish this book, I found that I enjoyed it much more than I was expecting.

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