First ever audio edition of one of J.R.R. Tolkiens most important poetic dramas, that explores timely themes such as the nature of heroism and chivalry during war.The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelms Son was originally published in the 1953 edition of Essays and Studies. In December of that year, J.R.R. Tolkien took possession of a reel-to-reel tape recorder and, some time during the first few months of 1954, decided to record the whole thing on tape as a way of testing the performative quality of the dramatic dialogue between Tidwald and Torhthelm.For the older Tidwald, Tolkien adopted a slower, deeper voice, perhaps akin to the voice of Gandalf that W.H. Auden recalls hearing as an undergraduate, as noted in Humphrey Carpenters J.R.R. Tolkien, A Biography. For the younger, more idealistic Torhthelm, Tolkien used a lighter, more spirited tone to convey his youth. Christopher Tolkien notes that his father added sound effects, such as the creaking and bumping of the waggon wheels, by moving a piece of furniture in his study.