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I love that Tolkien could still surprise himself while writing The Lord of the Rings. There’s something beautiful about allowing improvisation to shape a story.
Tolkien and Auden shared a long, warm relationship that existed mostly through letters, almost like a mid-20th-century version of an online literary friendship. It is unclear how often they met in person, though Auden was at Oxford toward the end of Tolkien’s career, so their paths likely crossed. Tolkien even composed a short Old English poem in Auden’s honor, possibly for a birthday. Auden died only a few weeks after Tolkien in September 1973.
Their connection can be traced throughout Tolkien’s published letters, where Auden appears frequently in both the correspondence and index. Auden had been deeply influenced years earlier after hearing Tolkien read Beowulf at Oxford, an experience that inspired him to study Old English and strongly shaped his poetic interests, something he later reflected on in The Dyer’s Hand.
Tolkien’s early opinion of Auden was not especially favorable. In a pre–World War II letter, he made a dismissive remark that reflected both Auden’s controversial public reputation at the time and Tolkien’s dislike of his political associations and eventual move to the United States. But after The Lord of the Rings was published, Auden became one of the book’s most important early champions, including writing a major positive review for the New York Times. Tolkien greatly appreciated the support, and over time their correspondence became increasingly warm and personal, eventually reaching the point where Tolkien addressed him as “Dear Wystan,” an unusually informal greeting for him.
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