Habbanan beneath the Stars

Christopher Tolkien comments on the fate of Men that as glanced upon the Building of Valinor tale given to Eriol. It's a long before we encounter the death as the Gift of Ilúvatar as seen in The Silmarillion. Men are said to be "borne away...to Arvalin...camping as they may...and wait in great patience till the Great End come" (p. 77, The Book of Lost Tales - Volume I). This gives a little insight into what happens to Men upon death--and death being one of Tolkien's great themes in his writings.

It should be noted that Arvalin was first written (I am simplifying this a bit) Habbanan--the title of this post. Tolkien wrote a poem called Habbanan beneath the Stars in 1915 or 1916 while in camps during the Great War. The prose beginning states: "Now Habbanan is that region where one draws nigh to the places that are not of Men" (p. 91, The Book of Lost Tales - Volume I). I will quote the last stanza:

"There on a sudden did my heart perceive
That they who sang about the Eve,
Who answered the bright-shining stars
With gleaming music of their strange guitars,
These were His wandering happy sons
Encamped upon those aëry leas
Where God's unsullied garment runs
In gory down His mighty knees" (p. 92, The Book of Lost Tales - Volume I).

Indeed, Tolkien's Christian theology, which I see greatly influenced his Middle-earth writings was more explicit in the beginning. His son posits that taken as a whole (and I'm leaving out quite a bit) his father may have been writing on Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.