JRR Tolkien Biography

When we hear the name John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, the first thing we recall is his fantasy works. He was an English writer best known for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series. He was also a poet, philologist, and academician.

JRR Tolkien death on 2 September 1973 at the age of 81. While Tolkien wrote several other long and short works in his lifetime, he gained massive recognition and critical acclaim for his high fantasy works, namely- The Lord of the Rings series and the Hobbit.

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These ingenious works were converted into movie adaptations and generated a massive fandom for both the books and the movies. The Lord of the rings series is divided into six parts, with two domains combined in one book.

The Hobbit is a singular piece of work that has been broken down to be adapted into three movies showing a steady flow of the story. Both Hobbit and LOTR are dense reads and are considered to be classics in literature.

JRR Tolkien Early Life

He was born on 3rd January 1892 in South Africa. At the tender age of four, his father passed away due to rheumatic fever, and he moved to Birmingham, England, with his mother and younger brother.

In 1900 Tolkien's mother converted to Roman Catholicism, and this is where Tolkien's faith originated. Tolkien himself was a devout practitioner of Roman Catholicism.

The most important aspect of JRR Tolkien biography is Mabel Tolkien, JRR Tolkien's mother, who taught both her pupils at home in an engaging way. Tolkien was keen on learning and picked up botany and immersed in the pleasure of nature at a young age.

In JRR Tolkien’s early life,  he liked to draw landscapes and trees but most enjoyed lessons in languages such as Latin, which his mother taught him from a young age.

Tolkien read children's books like Treasure Island, Pied Piper, etc., and was also enthusiastic about reading other works like the fantasy works of George MacDonald.

A few years after the JRR Tolkien death his father, his mother also passed away due to diabetes, and he and his younger brother became the wards of a catholic priest.

Tolkien attended the King Edward school in Birmingham and later went to Exeter College, Oxford, for his BA and MA. During the First World War, he was drafted and experienced military action in Somme.

After the end of the First World War and the signing of the armistice, he did a brief stint at the new Oxford English Dictionary, then known as the New English Dictionary.

JRR Tolkien: Career and Middle Life

Tolkien taught the English language and English literature as a job for most of his adult life. He specialized in Old and Middle English at the University of Leeds from 1920-1925 and Oxford from 1925-1959.

As an academic and examiner, he produced some leading scholarly works like the standard edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with E.V Gordon (1925).

He also produced an influential lecture on Beowulf known as Beowulf: The monsters and the Critics,1936; however, this was published posthumously along with the class notes Tolkien gave on the subject.

Tolkien worked as the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, and Merton Professor of English Language and Literature, Oxford.

Along with fulfilling his rigorous academic duties, Tolkien found pleasure in writing. He powerfully wrote fantasy stories with epic world-building and a dark theme.

His writing style depicted his love for fantasy, middle-earth, and the influence of myths and legends on his mind. For his children's entertainment, Tolkien also wrote lighter, less-drama, and humorous works like Hobbit.

During his work period in Oxford, Tolkien wrote Legendarium, which later became his beloved work The Silmarillion, where the world of elvish language was created.

JRR Tolkien early life and marriage

After the death of his mother, Tolkien's guardianship was given to Father Francis, a close friend of his mother's. A few years under his guardianship, Tolkien fell in love with another orphan, Edith Bratt, his future wife.

Both orphans and in need of love, Tolkien and Edith fell in love in the summer of 1909; however, Tolkien's guardian found it unfortunate that Tolkien was involved with an older, Protestant woman.

Father Francis prohibited Tolkien from keeping any contact with Edith till he was 21 years old or face the prospect of his university studies being suspended, which Tolkien adhered to.

On the eve of Tolkien's 21st birthday, he wrote to Edith proposing marriage. Edith, however, had already accepted the proposal of one George Field as she felt that Tolkien didn't have any feelings for her.

The letter from Tolkien changed her mind, and after a brief courtship, the two married in Warwick at a Roman Catholic Church as on Tolkien's insistence, Edith has agreed to convert to Catholicism.

The couple has four children, namely John Francis, Michael Hilary, Christopher John, and Priscilla Anne.

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JRR Tolkien Works

Many more lists of academic and other works that JRR Tolkien had penned; however, two book series- The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Series have garnered the most attention and acclaim.

The Hobbit: or There and Back Again

Published in 1937, The Hobbit is a coming of age, fantasy story About a hobbit who prefers comfort over adventure but ends up joining a quest for a dragon treasure.

The book was initially published for children, came along with pictures, and became so popular that demands for its sequel were rising each day.

The Hobbit, meaning someone with a shorter size than a man, depicted the trials and adventures of a single Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, who wins a dragon's treasure quest.

The Hobbit was later adapted into a film series consisting of three films starring Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ian McKellen, and more.

The Lord of the Rings Series

Demands for a sequel of the Hobbit took shape seventeen years later with the publication of The Fellowship of the Ring, the first installment of the Lord of the Rings series.

This series depicted the trials of Frodo Baggins, the grand-son of Bilbo Baggins, who goes on a quest to conquer the 'One Ring' of the dark Lord Sauron, which has the power to rule the world.

Some characters from the prequel the Hobbit were included in this series, like the central guiding figure Gandalfwho.

The three-book series divided into six parts depicts the enthralling trials a group of hobbits experiences to take the dark Lord's Ring to his castle of Mordor, where lies the only way to finish it.

The book is highly influenced by myths, legends, and fantasy ideas like elves, elvish languages, and more. Tolkien has penned an immersive world of mythical creatures and absolute beauty.

Facts About JRR Tolkien

A spider bit him in his childhood. However, his memory of the even was so faint that Tolkien harbored no striking fear of spiders.

Tolkien was prohibited from engaging with the love of his life and from being wife by his surrogate parent as she was older and a Protestant.

Tolkien fought from Britain in the First World War.

His work on Beowulf was legendary and is considered to have steered the direction of its criticism.

The Hobbit is a children's book.

Most of his works were published posthumously. 

JRR Tolkien was an English poet, writer, and academician who worked at some of today's most influential and well-known universities. His best include The Hobbit and the three-book series Lord of the Rings. Tolkien gained recognition and accolades for these two books; however, academically, many of his works were highly influential.