The Last Ark

About this phrase

This poem is special from a linguistic perspective because Tolkien wrote the first version of the poem, Oilima Markirya “The Last Ark”, in the early thirties while he was still experimenting with the precise structure of "Qenya", and then wrote another one towards the end of his life, when the linguistic concepts of his languages had matured. This is the latter version.

It is the longest text in mature Quenya that has been published so far. This version of the poem lacks a title, but is usually referred to as the Markirya poem, as oilima is unlikely to be valid in later Quenya, whereas markirya could mean ark (lit. mar-kirya "home-ship").