What was the title of J.R.R. Tolkien’s first published poem, printed in 1911?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s first published poem was The Battle of the Eastern Field, printed in 1911.

Tolkien wrote and published poetry long before The Hobbit made him widely known. The Battle of the Eastern Field appeared in the school magazine of King Edward’s School in Birmingham, where Tolkien was a pupil. The poem reflects his early interest in imaginative verse and heroic subject matter.

This early publication is distinct from Tolkien’s later poems about Middle-earth. Works such as The Adventures of Tom Bombadil were published decades afterward, when Tolkien’s mythology had become internationally famous. The 1911 poem therefore belongs to his formative school years rather than to his mature publishing career.

Tolkien’s early education mattered greatly to his development. At King Edward’s School he studied languages and literature, and he later became a professional philologist. His fascination with historical languages, medieval texts, and invented words eventually shaped the linguistic depth of his fictional worlds.