What was the name of Tolkien’s first published poem about Tom Bombadil?

Tolkien’s first published poem about Tom Bombadil was The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.

The poem appeared in the Oxford Magazine in 1934, several years before Tom Bombadil became a character in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien later revised and expanded the material for the 1962 book The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book.

The book contains sixteen poems presented as translations or adaptations associated with the Red Book of Westmarch, the fictional record connected with Bilbo and Frodo. Only some of the poems concern Bombadil, and the title poem portrays his encounters with Goldberry, Old Man Willow, and a Barrow-wight.

Readers sometimes assume Bombadil was invented specifically for The Lord of the Rings. In fact, Tolkien had already written about him, and the character’s unusual identity remains deliberately mysterious. The 1934 poem is distinct from the later collection, whose title is often used as though it referred to the original publication.