Bilbo's Last Song: (At the Grey Havens)

i actually purchased this for my husband to read to our daughter before bed. we are huge tolkien fans and my four year old loves to hear daddy reciete this beautiful poem before bed. i would recomend this to any tolkien fan.

Bilbo's last song is a wonderful tale told through song. Small, colorful drawings add flair and remind the reader of Bilbo's adventures. It is a satisfying, if poignant, end to the tale of The Lord of the Rings.

It is wonderful to put to mind what a story is saying. It is especially wonderful to know she knew the author & that they were of like mind. You know then that these are closest to the authors idea of what it should look like in our minds eye.

Unless you are dead set on owning everything published under Tolkien's name, do not buy this book, unless it's on a bargain book stack for less than a dollar. It is a 'stand alone' poem written on the occasion of Bilbo's ride, with many others, at the end of LOTR, to the ship in the Grey Havens to carry them to the undying lands. The illustrations are "nice", but I have never been a big fan of Pauline Baynes as a Tolkien illustrator. You can easily read the entire poem in 10 minutes. Notes on the illustrations are more extensive than Tolkien's own words.

I loved it! A wonderful farewell, beautiful illustrations, perfectly written. I love all of Tolkien's writing and when I found this I was excited! It is a short read but worth it! Any true Tolkien fan or Middle Earth fan will love it!

This really can't be described as book, it's more of a farewell. This is Bilbo's, as well as Tolkien's, farewell to the world. Farewell to his friends and family. This poem is very well worth the money to buy.

A pretty little book. And that sums it up. It's got some nice illustrations, a pretty cover, and spans the poem across multiple pages to maximize the availability of space for those illustrations.

Will you want this book as a LOTR/Hobbit/Tolkien fan?

Maybe. I think I expected more from the book, and it's nowhere near a wrap-up of the Tolkien universe with Bilbo sailing off into the West. It's a very short poem, poignant, but that's about it.

This is a lovely "wrap up" for any friend of Middle Earth. Written as if by Bilbo Baggins, here is a slim volume containing one poem...and it is lovely. If you love "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit," you will appreciate this snatch of song, left by "Master Baggins"!

You have to be a Tolkien fanatic to pay as much for the little read. Seriously, expect to breeze through this in about 5 minutes, only to be left with the nagging question, "And I spent how much for this?"

Beautifully written and illustrated. The poem incapsulates Bilbo's entire journey. But these book is meant to be read in hardback not digital. Please, Please do not buy the digital version. I will be buying the "real" thing soon. Great for kids and adults.

Ridiculous. Sending this back. Got it as a gift for my 20 year old son for Christmas and I wish I paid a little more attention to the details. This is nothing more than a children's book and a really simplistic, overpriced one at that. Don't waste your time or money.

Ridiculous. Sending this back. Got it as a gift for my 20 year old son for Christmas and I wish I paid a little more attention to the details. This is nothing more than a children's book and a really simplistic, overpriced one at that. Don't waste your time or money.

I purchased the above book, thinking it might be better than what I had been told. Was I wrong. The book sells for $ 12.99 plus tax and shipping...Don't waste your money on this. There are only 12 pages that have a 4-line poem that continues to the end. On the opposite side of each page is a piece of art work, illustrated by Pauline Baynes. Art work is ok.
This is a total waste of money.

I bought this book used and granted my copy is the 1990 edition of this book, but it is exactly the same in content, just different in color of cover and size. I have always been a huge fan of The Hobbit and recently have gotten interested in other Tolkien works. I wanted to buy every book Tolkien wrote about Middle Earth and of course this was one of them. It is a CHILDREN'S BOOK! It is exactly 32 pages and the last 3 of those are notes on the pictures. Each left hand page has 2 lines of the poem and the right hand page has an illustration by Pauline Baynes. It is a 24 line poem stretched out into a book. It looks, for all intents and purposes, like a children's book. Dr Suess books have more lines in his poems! I'm not knocking the poem itself as it isn't bad and fits well with the ending of the Lord of the Rings, but if I had bought this book new for full price of over $20, I would be FURIOUS. Just understand what you are purchasing before you place your order.

This exquisitely beautiful book is a real treasure, with such wonderful full-color illustrations by Pauline Baynes and sparkling silver lettering on the cover. Bilbo's Last Song is considered to be Tolkien's epilogue to his classic work `the Lord of the Rings' and closure on Bilbo's story. The jewel-like paintings by Pauline Baynes (Tolkien's favorite illustrator of his works), within this book tell two stories simultaneously ~ with the larger illustrations depicting the journey that brings the Ring-bearers and the company of Elves to the Grey Havens and the beginning of the final voyage across the sea. Running concurrently is a sequence of vignettes showing scenes from `The Hobbit' so Bilbo remembers his first journey, as he prepares for his last. This is an enchanting, supremely magical book filled with lyrical prose and fantastical adventure.

Bilbo Baggins, famous Hobbit adventurer and savior of the One Ring, arrives at the Grey Havens at the end of the Third Age to board the White Ship on its journey West. It is here that he composes his last song, reflecting on the leaving of Middle-Earth and the voyage that will take him to the Undying Lands at the end of the sunset. (This representation of JRR Tolkien's ideals on death and/ or immortality is pleasantly harmonius and it is nice that you are left in the unknown). Poignant and lyrical, the song is both a longing to set forth on his ultimate journey and a tender farewell to his friends left behind.

"Farewell friends! The sails are set, the wind is east, the moorings fret..."

Bilbo's last song is a must for all fans of Tolkien's vast, epic fantasy as it offers closure to one of the most significant character's stories. Alongside the stunning illustrations that adorn every single page, including the inner cover, is a section at the back containing more information on the pictures that convey Bilbo's stories and adventures. Although this is considered to be a children's book, similarly to `The Hobbit' I feel strongly that this is a book for all ages who love and cherish Tolkien's works, and who have read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings and are interested in a sequel. Pauline Baynes artwork, (which also features in Farmer Giles of Ham, The adventures of Tom Bombadil, Smith of Wotton Major and Tree and Leaf) is perfect and really adds to Bilbo's story; bringing clearly to life his adventures and last voyage across Middle-Earth.

You have all got to be kidding me, generally I will pay for Tolkien's books and gladly they are always without exception and very well written. But you get a book, this is 36 pages of made up nothing. Very disappointed and it wasn't even a very good poem. Let's put it this way, if you paid for this, Bilbo got his last song and laugh at your expense.

This poem was originally given as a gift to Professor Tolkien's longtime secretary in his office at Oxford University. It was an affectionate gift expressing gratitude and friendship. Significant time passed before its existence became known to anyone other than Professor Tolkien and the recipient of this poem.

Professor Tolkien sometimes gave spontaneous gifts of great significance. For example, during the Cold War, he gave to a visiting Chinese student at Oxford, a valuable original artwork illustrating The Hobbit, artwork created by Professor Tolkien. The artwork has never been seen again.

The British performing-duo Flanders & Swan created music for this small poem, and they publicly performed it. Recording of Flanders & Swan in performance of this poem exists. I heard it once on the Australian classical music network, on Colin Fox's weekend-morning program. It, too, tugs at the heartstrings.

Although I have usually had a very good if not better experience with the store and UPS in the past.... This time was a failure. The book never reached my home when both companies claim it was delivered so I am not able to give an actual review on the book itself.

If the store or UPS will get the book to my home I will give a different review.

This tiny little book contains one poem, Bilbo's farewell to Middle earth as he rides to the Grey Havens. The poem was never part of The Lord of the Rings and was probably written very late in JRR Tolkien's life. It wasn't published until sometime after Tolkien's death in the 1970s, and then only as a poster. It was not until 1990 that it became available in book form with illustrations by Pauline Baynes. Now, in time for The Hobbit movies, it has reappeared in this smaller format.

Despite its small size, Bilbo's Last Song is a precious jewel. In a way this was JRR Tolkien himself's farewell to the world he created, and thus the tone is both melancholic and hopeful as both Bilbo and Tolkien look forward to the Uttermost West or Heaven. Enhancing the words of the poem are the beautiful paintings and drawings by Pauline Baynes, who as a young woman gained favor with Tolkien for her illustrations, and who subsequently had a long and brilliant career. Among her many other works, she provided the illustrations for the first editions of Tolkien's Farmer Giles of Ham, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, and Smith of Wootton Major. Her work for Bilbo's Last Song is typically lovely, providing glimpses into earlier events from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as well as hints of the beauties yet to come as Bilbo journeys to Elvenhome.

Bilbo's Last Song is a talisman of sorts, a precious reminder of the beauty to be found in Tolkien's words. It deserves a place in the library of every lover of Middle Earth.

This is a lovely little keepsake book with colorful illustrations highlighting many scenes from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The paper is high quality, the printing and inks are excellent, and there are lovely silver accents on the cover. Pauline Baynes, a long-time friend of Professor Tolkien, may be better known as the illustrator of C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. In this work which is the song written by Bilbo at the time of his parting to go to the Grey Havens and thence to take ship for the Undying Lands, the illustrations are graceful and filled with heart-felt reminiscence. They are detailed and emotional and do perfect justice to Bilbo's thoughts as he looks back upon a life filled with adventures, old friends and the riches of a life well lived. The little song is short and very touching and captures the swirl of feelings as he leaves Middle-Earth and embarks upon his journey to his final home among the Elves and the Ring Bearers.
This strikes me as a work that would be lovely to read at the passing of a loved one for it captures the longing to set forth as well as the sadness of the leaving.
It is a must for any Tolkien fan and certainly for any fans of the talented Pauline Baynes. Bilbo would be well pleased.

"Bilbo's Last Song," by J.R.R. Tolkien, is illustrated by Pauline Baynes. The text is a poem/song attributed to Bilbo Baggins, a character from Tolkien's fantasy epic "The Lord of the Rings" and its companion volume, "The Hobbit." The song itself is a tender, wistful message of farewell. It opens, "Day is ended, / dim my eyes, / but journey long / before me lies."
The song is illustrated throughout with scenes from both "Lord" and "the Hobbit." Fans of Tolkien's tales will recognize many familiar scenes and characters: the doorway to Bilbo's home, the wizard Gandalf, the tragic Gollum, the dragon Smaug, and more. The illustrations vary from quaint and homey to action-packed to tenderly evocative. A key at the end of the book tells the origin of each scene illustrated. Bayne's pictures are full of color, charm, and interesting detail; I really believe this is a book one can come back to again and again.

This is a scam. It is a short poem - a very short poem- of maybe 150 words packaged in a nice hardcover book with illustrations. The poem is nice and and the book and illustrations are fine but this Tolkien fan felt tricked into paying 10 bucks for 150 words.

I wrote an essay on this poem. The assignment was to write a "compare & contrast" piece, and I chose to compare/contrast this with Tennyson's "Crossing the Bar." Both use the central metaphor of death as a sea voyage, but take it in different directions. My teacher was highly impressed, both with the analysis and with my choice of subject.

This poem deserves to be known better than it has been.

In the recent swell of Tolkien-related books, because of new fans of the movies, this little gem is often overlooked because it is basically a gift book, one of those tiny little books that are mostly pictures. But even if you don't buy gift books, this is so far and above the other ones that it should definitely be purchased.
This is Bilbo's song as he arrives at the Grey Havens at the finale of "Lord of the Rings," at the Elven ships that will sail for the Undying Lands. His thoughts as he prepares to leave Middle-Earth are looking back on his long, adventure-filled life -- poignant, peaceful, and a little bit hopeful for the future.
While this is not a story or a sequel, it is nevertheless very Tolkienish. The rhythm, meter, and wording of this little poem is very recognizable as Tolkien's work, for anyone who has read his books and the wonderful poetry that is sprinkled through them. And Pauline Baynes has augmented the poetry with a series of beautiful pictures. Quite detailed and pretty, they have a slightly unearthly tinge, like the starlight around the Elves. And this new edition has excellent paper and printing, very high quality.
Even those who aren't die-hard Tolkien fans can appreciate the beauty of his poetry and the perfect accompaniment of Baynes' pictures. Lovely little gem.

I'm no author but I am a lyricist and a huge lotr fan. Shorty after reading this I felt so inspired to jot down a few lines. Then I started thinking about when I was a youngin'(child) and I saw the fellowship, which lead me to the books. I wish I could thank the legend himself for creating so many great books "thank you for showing me that books are cool"

Okay, why only two stars?
It cannot be the author, nor the layout or illustrations. The poem itself is lovely, as are the bright illustrations by Tolkien's favourite illustrator - Pauline Baynes.
And that is exactly what one would find attractive in this book: the pictures. One can get the poem anywhere from the Internet and the book has no annotations or notes, apart from pointing each illustration to the according segments of Tolkien's books.
The illustrations would be the only reason, I can imagine, for a moderate Tolkien-enthusiast to buy this booklet. And there lies the problem: it's too expensive.
Sure it's a hardback, with paper most suitable for illustrations, and it is mighty hansom to leaf through. But it's a trifle too small for that price.
Worthy of publishing indeed, and perhaps it's even great to show your kids. But being a Tolkien-collector myself, buying and reading beyond an enthusiast's taste, I was disappointed by this.
I bought it via mail order, which is why I have it at all: would I have seen it in a bookstore, the ridiculous price would have made it stay put. See if you can get it second-hand.
This one gets three stars for the loveliness, minus one for the "all Tolkien-fans say moooh!" attitude.
Two.
Bram Janssen,
The Netherlands

Strictly speaking, this book/poem is neither "the last poem in The Lord of the Rings" (as the Horn Book review misstates) nor "a sequel to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings" (as one of the customer reviews claims). "Bilbo's Last Song" is not in The Lord of the Rings, and it's not substantial enough to qualify as a sequel. It's a short but moving poem that was originally published as a poster (shortly after Tolkien's death, if memory serves). It's Bilbo's farewell to Middle Earth and, by extension, Tolkien's farewell to both his fictional world and our world. In its current form, this little poem has been stretched into a book to capitalize on the current resurgence of interest in Tolkien. Pauline Baynes' drawings are characteristically simple and effective but not a good enough reason to buy this book. Unless you're a Tolkien collector, skip this one and spend your money on something more substantial of Tolkien's, such as The Tolkien Reader or Unfinished Tales. What we *really* need is a collection of *all* of Tolkien's poems in one volume.

I wanted to purchase this book for my husband's birthday. I went looking for it at a local bookstore after discovering it here on the store and reading the great reviews - we are both lovers of Tollkien's works. My first reaction was - 'gee, its tiny' - being only slightly bigger than a pocket size book. Then I looked more closely. A hardcover, yes, but nothing spectacular in quality. The pictures are sweet, light and airy, but I expected more. And as for the verse - I also expected there to be more. It is well written, but very brief. Four brief lines of verse on each right-hand page, while the page on the left was an illustration. I didn't stand there and count lines of text, but since there are maybe 24 pages in the book total, that would make it 12 pages of text or 48 short lines of verse in the whole book. It could have been printed on one or two pages and still been surrounded by lovely illustrations.
It's just not worth the money in my book - no pun intended.

For a short children's picture book it's great! I got mine for $8. That is very reasonable. Several schmucks have complained about the length of the book. Folks, every bit of information about this book is listed in black and right on the product page. That includes page count. Who's fault is it if the buyer clicks the purchase button without reading the product description?

I was thinking about buying this but five dollars is pretty pricy so I just got it from the library. This is a great poem but it's short but that doesn't matter. It's about bilbo getting ready to leave for the fair havans and he is remembering his journey which is, of course the hobbit book. I liked it and I gived it 4 stars because it was short, but I am fantic about middle earth but that doesn't change my decision.

A nice little book that looks nice on a bookshelf. It may not be essential to your Tolkien collection, but it's cute. The illustrations are well-suited to the poem. This book makes a nice, soothing little bed-time story for the kids.

I used to have the poem on a poster. In high school I wrote an essay comparing it with Tennyson's "Crossing the Bar"--discussing how they poems were alike and how different. I got an "A" on it, I remember. (Both poems use describe death as a journey over water. While Tennyson seems emotionally detached and passive, expressing only a wish or hope to see the pilot after crossing the bar, the narrator in JRRT's poem is looking forward to the journey.)

This book was one that I stumbled apon in [a local store] as I was browsing the Tolkien area as usual. Since it was a rather short read, I sat down at a table in the back of the store. By the time I reached the last page my heart ached, tears came to my eyes, a smile appeared on my face, and I knew I could never put it back on that shelf. I could truly sense the love Tolkien felt for his Hobbits, and all of their friends. It is the perfect encore to the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I've enjoyed Bilbo's Last Song so many times since that day that I highly recommend this book to all true Tolkien fans. Ignore the price and buy this wonderful book!

I was and remain a big fan of Tolkien's COMPLETED narratives, which are the most elaborately worked out "Fantasy" fiction ever written, I think undeniably. But, I have to say, I could never really stomach the poetry, which is maudlin and sentimental, at best. Some people, as other reviews prove, obviously go in for this sort of thing, but if you were one of those people who skipped the long poems in the Lord of the Rings, I'd advise skipping this book entirely.

I'm rather disappointed in what I found. I thought I was going to get a sort of epilogue of the lord of th rings. Instead I got a short song and a bunch of pictures. I guess if it were a picture book for very young children it would not be so bad. But it probably included more words in the about the author than it did anywhere else in the book.

This is one of Tolkien's lesser-known books. Like all of his books, it's way above average. However if you're not a fan, you may want to give it a miss, as it doesn't have the familiar Lord Of The Rings magic about it.

I purchased this expecting a book and all I received is a bunch of pictures with very little if any reading. Would not recommend it to anyone. Especially at the price of $4.00 +, I will make sure I download a sample first before I will every buy another one of these books.

Here is the poem **SPOILER ALERT**

Day is ended, dim my eyes,
but journey long before me lies.
Farewell, friends! I hear the call.
The ship's beside the stony wall.
Foam is white and waves are grey;
beyond the sunset leads my way.
Foam is salt, the wind is free;
I hear the rising of the Sea.

Farewell, friends! The sails are set,
the wind is east, the moorings fret.
Shadows long before me lie,
beneath the ever-bending sky,
but islands lie behind the Sun
that I shall raise ere all is done;
lands there are to west of West,
where night is quiet and sleep is rest.

Guided by the Lonely Star,
beyond the utmost harbour-bar,
I'll find the heavens fair and free,
and beaches of the Starlit Sea.
Ship, my ship! I seek the West,
and fields and mountains ever blest.
Farewell to Middle-earth at last.
I see the Star above my mast!

Great poem. No doubt Tolkien's own farewell. However I was able to glean this from this website [...]

Granted, I do not have the lovely pictures, but that is not what is being marketed with this product as noted by the giant JRR Tolkien at the top of the book and the tiny illustrator's name at the bottom.

I guess a long as there are enough sheep to blow money at the Tolkiens then Chris and the family will continue to find creative ways to exploit that name. However, know that there are those who see through what is going on and will not hesitate to call you out.

My suggestion is to not buy this new, and thus support the Tolkien empire, but pick up a used copy if you must have one. You will also be helping a sheep who was tricked into buying this product at full price recoup some of their money.

Or you could cut and paste the above poem onto a couple of word documents and down load your favorite pictures of midgets, and wizards to go along with the words.