Christopher Tolkien

Tuesday marked the return of the king.

On May 21, a previously unknown poem by "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" author J.R.R. Tolkien reached eager readers at last. "The Fall of Arthur" was Tolkien's take on the final days of the legendry hero king.

The book's publisher, Harper Collins, said it was Tolkien's only work about the legends of King Arthur, but "may well be regarded as his finest and most skilful achievement in the use of the Old English alliterative metre" of the sort found in "Beowulf."