J.R.R. Tolkien: From Academic Roots to Middle-earth Creator
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, born on January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein, South Africa, was more than just the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He was a distinguished scholar, a philologist, and a professor at the University of Oxford. His life, marked by both personal tragedy and academic achievement, profoundly influenced his literary creations, shaping the world of Middle-earth that has captivated readers for generations.
Early Life and Education: Forging a Foundation
Tolkien's early years were formative in shaping his later life and work. His time in South Africa was short-lived, as he moved to the UK with his mother and brother in 1895. The death of his father left the family in a precarious financial situation, leading them to settle in Sarehole, a rural village outside Birmingham. Tolkien later expressed fondness for his time in Sarehole, stating that he was happy running about in that country.
In 1900, the family relocated to Birmingham, and Tolkien's formal education commenced. He attended King Edward's School in Birmingham, where he cultivated a strong interest in languages and literature. His mother's conversion to Catholicism in 1900 also became a major influence on his faith and life.
Tragedy struck again when Tolkien's mother died of what is now known as Type 1 diabetes when he was 12. He and his brother became wards of Father Francis Morgan, a Catholic priest. During this time, they moved to Edgbaston, an industrialized part of Birmingham.
As Tolkien continued his studies, he began experimenting with imaginary languages, including Animalic and Nevbosh. He was also a core member of the Tea Club, Barrovian Society (T.C.B.S), where he developed an interest in poetry. A trip through Switzerland in 1911 provided inspiration for many locations he later created in Middle-earth.
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In October 1911, Tolkien began his studies at Exeter College, Oxford. He immersed himself in Classics, Old English, the Germanic languages (especially Gothic), Welsh, and Finnish. However, his path into the world of academe was disrupted by the onset of World War I.
World War I: A Crucible of Experience
Tolkien's academic pursuits were interrupted by World War I. He was officially commissioned in July 1915 after completing his studies. Shortly after marrying his wife Edith in 1916, he was sent to the Front in France, joining the 11th Lancaster Fusiliers on June 6.
The horrors of war left an indelible mark on Tolkien. The death of his friend Rob Gilson on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, and later the death of Geoffrey Smith, deeply affected him. For the rest of the war, Tolkien was away from combat, living in garrisons and hospitals while recovering from trench fever.
It was during this time that he wrote his first tale of Middle-earth, The Fall of Gondolin. The brutality of World War I had inflicted deep emotional wounds on Tolkien, and The Fall of Gondolin was shaped by his psychological scars. The story contains descriptions of brutal urban warfare that echo Tolkien's experiences in the Somme.
Academic Career: Shaping Minds and Literature
After the war, Tolkien embarked on his academic career, first joining the University of Leeds in 1920 and then moving to Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1925. He specialized in Old and Middle English. He produced few but influential scholarly publications, notably a standard edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1925; with E.V. Gordon) and a landmark lecture on Beowulf (Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, 1936). Tolkien had completed a translation of Beowulf in 1926, and it was posthumously published, along with classroom lectures he had given on the subject, some of his notes, and an original short story inspired by the legend, as Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary (2014). He also published an edition of the Ancrene Wisse (1962).
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Tolkien's approach to teaching and scholarship was innovative and engaging. At Leeds as well as teaching he collaborated with E. V. Gordon on the famous edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and continued writing and refining The Book of Lost Tales and his invented “Elvish” languages. In addition, he and Gordon founded a “Viking Club” for undergraduates devoted mainly to reading Old Norse sagas and drinking beer. It was for this club that he and Gordon originally wrote their Songs for the Philologists, a mixture of traditional songs and original verses translated into Old English, Old Norse and Gothic to fit traditional English tunes.
He viewed Beowulf not as a dry text from long ago, but as a dramatic poem, and his lectures and presentations in class made a major impact on all his students, especially a young W.H. Auden. As he crafted the world of Middle-earth, Tolkien looked to Beowulf, deriving the names for places, creatures, and even characters from it.
From 1925 to 1945 Tolkien was the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford. He then moved within the same university to become the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature and Fellow of Merton College, and held these positions from 1945 until his retirement in 1959.
The Inklings: A Literary Fellowship
Tolkien's academic life was intertwined with his literary pursuits. In 1926 Tolkien met C.S. Lewis, a fellow writer and a colleague at Oxford. The two men became friends and began attending meetings of a student literary group called the Inklings. After the student group ceased meeting in 1933, Tolkien, Lewis, and other friends and university colleagues adopted the name for their own literary group, which met informally into the 1940s.
According to Tolkien, the group’s name was a pun, meaning both “people with vague or half-formed intimations and ideas” and “those who dabble in ink.” They held meetings at the Eagle and Child pub (commonly known as the “Bird and Baby”) in Oxford, where they shared camaraderie. The group also met in Lewis’s rooms at Magdalen College to read to each other their works-in-progress. Tolkien would dedicate the first edition of The Lord of the Rings to the Inklings, and he credited Lewis and the group with encouraging him to finish it. Lewis offered his own book, Out of the Silent Planet, for readings by the group. Tolkien considered Lewis’ support and enthusiasm for his story during this period invaluable, later explaining that “but for his interest and unceasing eagerness for more I should never have brought the L. of the R. to a conclusion.”
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The Inklings filled the niche in Tolkien’s life that the T.C.B.S. had once occupied, providing a space for intellectual exchange and creative encouragement.
From The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings: Creating Middle-earth
While at Pembroke College, Tolkien suddenly began writing The Hobbit one day in the 1930s. In a letter to W.H. Auden, Tolkien noted the first lines he wrote, beginning: “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”
One of the first people to see the manuscript of The Hobbit was Tolkien’s friend C.S. Lewis, who would later review the book enthusiastically on its release.
In 1937 The Hobbit was published, with pictures by the author (an accomplished amateur artist), and was so popular that its publisher asked for a sequel.
Tolkien’s agent had requested a sequel to The Hobbit after its successful publication in 1937, and he began work on The Lord of the Rings that same year. But it would take 12 years to complete the sequel, with Tolkien’s attention to detail and uncertainties about whether he should complete the work drawing out the writing process. During his time writing The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien was an active member of the Inklings and met with C.S. Lewis often on Thursdays to discuss his work on the book.
The result, 17 years later, was Tolkien’s masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, a modern version of the heroic epic. A few elements from The Hobbit were carried over, in particular a magic ring, now revealed to be the One Ring, which must be destroyed before it can be used by the terrible Dark Lord, Sauron, to rule the world. Contrary to statements often made by critics, The Lord of the Rings was not written specifically for children, nor is it a trilogy, though it is often published in three parts: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. It was divided originally because of its bulk and to reduce the risk to its publisher should it fail to sell. In fact it proved immensely popular.
On its initial publication, The Lord of the Rings was considered a divisive work and was reviewed unfavorably and sometimes harshly by a number of critics. A particularly infamous review came from literary critic Edmund Wilson, titled “Oo, Those Awful Orcs!”, which accused Tolkien of being pretentious and childish. Lewis was there to defend the work of his friend, publishing a detailed analysis of the true moral depth, literary detail, and style of The Lord of the Rings.
Over the years, the earlier criticism would begin to fade as Tolkien’s tale found an audience with younger generations, from the 1960s counterculture to the Millennials, many of whom loved Peter Jackson’s films.
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