As a Germanicist who was also enchanted by Finnish, Tolkien’s inspirations lay in things like the Icelandic sagas and the Kalevala, which are replete with singing or composition of poems. (The Kalevala was sung, and in works like Egil’s Saga the prose narrative is frequently interrupted to present an intricate poem.) After all, there was a close link between song, poetry, and magic in ancient northern Europe.