The early twentieth century saw an upheaval of normal life in Europe because of the Great War and the changing political and social systems. In the midst of this time, JRR Tolkien found himself transformed from a young student at Oxford to a soldier in the British army as war broke out across the continent. This war affected his life deeply, whether indirectly while he was at Oxford or through his time in the trenches in direct combat. As a dedicated academic, however, Tolkien never abandoned his passion for languages and mythology but used his experiences to bolster his own writings and creative pursuits.
One of the largest influences on Tolkien’s life was through his experiences at Oxford. There, he met his closest friends who would stay with him throughout his life, classes that encouraged his interest in languages and mythology, and professors who challenged the way he viewed the world. Despite his interested in his studies, however, Tolkien tended to put more effort into his own projects: developing his own languages, divining the changes these imagined languages would have over centuries, and medieval literature . Shortly after joining Oxford, Tolkien found a group of colleagues who shared his same interests. They met often to discuss their research and writings, allowing Tolkien a creative outlet to pursue his own work.
Tolkien’s group of fellow students at Oxford University led to two results. Firstly, in addition to ignoring what they deemed as modern literature, they also were able to avoid current events. Hidden in Oxford, the students could engross themselves in the medieval poetry they admired without venturing out beyond the academic world. This privileged position meant that they had no need to ...
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... pressing questions of his generation and address basic problems he found in the world. Throughout his life, Tolkien remained an ever devoted academic, passionate about languages and creating his intricate mythology and world of Middle Earth, despite obstacles in his life.
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Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit, Or, There and Back Again. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996. Print.
The paper will begin with a look at the life of Tolkien. This will serve the purpose of providing some context for the novel. Looking into the life of Tolkien will also serve to give the reader some insight into the mind that gave birth to such a rich land and why the novel may have some importance for sufferers of mental illness. Next will likely be a short summation of the
Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel, Humphrey Carpenter, and Christopher Tolkien. The Letters Of J.R.R. Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), 1981. Web. .
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Tolkien’s only means of escape from a lower-middle-class commercial life was winning an academic scholarship, which, with some difficulty, he did in 1910, gaining entrance to Exeter College, Oxford. In 1908 Tolkien fell in love with Edith Bratt, an orphan like himself. In 1910 Father Morgan forbade him to communicate with her until he was of age, to which Tolkien obeyed. At Oxford he began studying classics but soon concentrated on English language and literature, being awarded first-class honors in his final examination in 1915. He revisited Edith Bratt five days after his twenty-first birthday, and they were formally betrothed in 1914 when, at Tol...
Carpenter, Humphery, Christopher Tolkien and J.R.R. Tolkien. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Print.
J.R.R. Tolkien was Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, South Africa on January 2, 1892 and died on September 3, 1973. (St. James 558) He delighted and titillated readers of all ages by first introducing them to the middle-earth in The Hobbit, a story of Frodo's cousin Bilbo. The story detailed his mythical journey in which he was accompanied by wizards and elves in search of rumored treasures. The One Ring that plays a major role in The Fellowship of the Ring was the fruit of Bilbo's struggles in The Hobbit. Although The Hobbit was a large success...
Tolkien, J. R. R., and Douglas A. Anderson. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. He studied at Oxford pursuing a degree in English language and literature. This later gave him the thought of creating his own imagined world known as Middle-Earth. He then later married Edith Bratt, had four children, and became a professor at Oxford. The Hobbit, first published in 1937, had some of Tolkien’s invented language and mythology. The plot and character’s of The Hobbit combined the ancient heroic Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian epics, which he studied at Oxford. The Hobbit “is immersed in folk tradition” (Matthews). The character Bilbo Baggins was inspired by the rural Englishman of the 1930s. Tolkien was inspired by ancient European myths leading him to write Lord of the Rings, a prequel to The Hobbit. On September 2,1973, J.R.R. Tolkien died at the age of eighty-one.
J.R.R. Tolkien was influenced to write The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings was his extensive knowledge of northern European languages and literature, the early death of his parents, the time he served in World War I, his interest of myths and sagas, and his peers in the literature group, “The Inklings.” J.R.R. Tolkien has a background that all came together to shape his works, and it all contributed to help revive fantasy stories into modern literature. J.R.R. Tolkien had many great influences on his stories, but the greatest come from his family, World War I, and his peers at
· Urang, Gunnar. "J. R. R. Tolkien: Fantasy and the Phenomenology of Hope" Religion and Fantasy in the Writing of C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and J. R. R. Tolkien. United Church Press, 1971
This is only a small sample of the information that J.R.R. Tolkien put into his books. Not to mention songs, maps, and plenty more background information. Tolkien created a whole new world for readers with his books. Why did J.R.R. Tolkien have such an interesting life and where did all of his information come from?
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit, Or, There and Back Again. New York: Ballantine, 1982. Print
Tolkien, J.R.R.. “Now Read On…” Interview by Dennis Gerrolt. BBC Radio 4. BBC, 1971. Web. 11 Jan. 2014.
Urang, Gunnar. "J. R. R. Tolkien: Fantasy and the Phenomenology of Hope" Fantasy in the Writing of J. R. R. Tolkien. United Press, 1971