Goblin Feet - Poem by J.R.R. Tolkien

"Goblin Feet" is a poem written in 1915 by J. R. R. Tolkien for Edith Mary Bratt, his wife-to-be, which was published in Oxford poetry 1915 before being reprinted in anthologies such as The Book of Fairy Poetry (1920): it thus marks Tolkien's first appearance in the capacity of a writer for children.Show more

His fiancée, had expressed her liking for “spring and flowers and trees, and little elfin people”, and the poem with its rather twee references to “the tiny horns of enchanted leprechauns...their little happy feet”[3] reflects her preferences. Tolkien himself would later wish that “the unhappy thing, representing all that I came (so soon after) to fervently dislike, could be buried for ever” (Wikipedia)