The Keys of Middle-Earth introduces the reader to the world of medieval literature through the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien. Using key episodes in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, readers are taken back to the works of Old, Middle English and Old Norse literature that so influenced Tolkien. The original texts are presented with helpful new translations to help the reader approach the medieval poems and tales, and introductory essays draw on recent scholarship and Tolkien's own unpublished notes.
Essays on Tolkien's career and use of medieval literature are followed by discussions of key thematic and technical parallels. The editions of such famous poems as The Wanderer, and The Seafarer are presented with comprehensive discussions of their links to Tolkien's own scholarship. New translations are aimed specifically at the newcomer to medieval literature to allow them to see patterns in the original poems and stories. Presenting a new era of Tolkien Studies, this unique book will be of use to students (and teachers) of Medieval/ Old English literature, and general readers eager to find out more about the origins of Tolkien's most famous works.