On September 21, 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, opens a new window was first published, and eager readers embarked on their first voyage to Middle-earth. The book’s world of Hobbits, dwarven songs, and mysterious wizards seemed ancient to its readers, but it was crafted from the singular life of its author. A medieval scholar and academic, Tolkien lived in a time of rapid change and global war, and both Tolkien’s service in World War I and his time at Oxford left deep marks on his tales of Middle-earth. Read on to learn something of the life of J.R.R Tolkien: linguist, officer, author, and visionary of times long past; and check out our collection, opens a new window to see more on his life and work!
A Red Day: Tolkien’s Early Life and World War I
J.R.R. Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892, opens a new window in Bloemfontein, South Africa. His time in South Africa was short; he left in 1895 with his mother and brother to visit his grandparents in the UK. His father, who worked as a bank manager, intended to follow them but died of rheumatic fever before he could make the journey. Without her husband’s income, Tolkien’s mother Mabel chose to settle in Sarehole, opens a new window, a rural village outside of Birmingham. Though the family lived in genteel poverty, Tolkien genuinely enjoyed his time in Sarehole and later stated, opens a new window that “I was happy running about in that country. I took the idea of the Hobbits from the village people and children.” Even Sarehole’s scenery and place names appear in the Shire; the name Bag End, opens a new window came from his aunt’s farm, and, in an early version of The Hobbit, Bilbo and Thorin first met at the Old Mill, opens a new window, which was possibly based on Sarehole’s mill.
In 1900, Tolkien’s family left his beloved Sarehole behind and moved to Birmingham, and his formal education began. He attended King Edward’s School, opens a new window in Birmingham and began to develop a strong interest in languages and literature. Tolkien’s mother converted to Catholicism in 1900, and the religion would become a major influence on Tolkien’s faith and life. Tolkien’s path through his school-age years was marked by tragedy; his mother died of what is now known as Type 1 diabetes when he was 12 (before the development of insulin), and he and his brother became wards of her priest, Father Francis Morgan. At this time, they moved to Edgbaston, a heavily industrialized part of Birmingham. It is possible that some of the landmarks there, including the “two towers” of Waterworks Road, opens a new window, inspired the tall towers in the Lord of the Rings trilogy; the smoke coming out of them is suggestive of the ominous towers of Mordor.
As Tolkien continued his studies, he began experimenting with imaginary languages, including “Animalic,, opens a new window” a language made up of animal names, and “Nevbosh,” which utilized heavily distorted Latin, English, and French words. He was also a core member of the Tea Club, Barrovian Society, opens a new window (T.C.B.S), where he began to develop an interest in poetry, and took a memorable trip through Switzerland, opens a new window in 1911 that would inspire many locations he later created in Middle-earth. 1911 was also the year he began his studies at Exeter College, opens a new window (Oxford), but his further path into the world of academe was disrupted by the onset of World War I. He was officially commissioned in July 1915, opens a new window, 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. Rob Gilson, Tolkien’s friend from the T.C.B.S, died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, opens a new window, one of 57,000 British casualties; another of his friends, Geoffrey Smith, opens a new window, died months later from being wounded in the same battle. Tolkien himself was possibly spared from the battle’s terrible death toll after contracting trench fever, opens a new window and being evacuated in November 1916, having been deemed medically unfit for general service.
Echoes Across Time: Tolkien’s Early Writings and Career
For the rest of the war, Tolkien was away from combat, living in garrisons and hospitals while recovering from the effects of trench fever. It was during this time that he wrote his first tale of Middle-earth, The Fall of Gondolin, opens a new window. The brutality of World War I had inflicted deep emotional wounds on Tolkien, and The Fall of Gondolin was shaped by his psychological scars. A tale of the fall of the hidden Elven city Gondolin to the Dark Lord Morgoth, the story has many descriptions of brutal urban warfare that echo Tolkien’s experiences in the Somme. Though it was not published in Tolkien’s lifetime, Gondolin would shape the style of Middle-earth tales that Tolkien created throughout his life.
Tolkien established his academic career after the war, first joining the University of Leeds, opens a new window in 1920 and then moving to Pembroke College, opens a new window (Oxford) in 1925. It was during his time at Pembroke that Tolkien became involved with scholarship centering on the Old English poem Beowulf, opens a new window. Tolkien 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, opens a new window. As he crafted the world of Middle-earth, Tolkien looked, opens a new window to Beowulf, deriving the names for places, creatures, and even characters from it. Notably, the character of Beorn, opens a new window from The Hobbit, a man who can change form into a bear, owes his origin to the Old English word “beorn,” which could mean both “bear” and “man of valor.” In his courage and strength, Beorn was also like Beowulf of the Old English poem.
While at Pembroke College, Tolkien suddenly began writing The Hobbit one day in the 1930s. In a letter to W.H. Auden, Tolkien noted, opens a new window 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, opens a new window the book enthusiastically on its release. Lewis and Tolkien were contemporaries at Oxford, and their literary careers were strongly linked. The two authors had become friends even before Tolkien published The Hobbit and started a literary critique group at Oxford they called the Inklings, opens a new window. The Inklings met on Tuesdays at the Oxford pub The Eagle and Child to review each other’s works and discuss texts from other authors. The group filled the niche in Tolkien’s life that the T.C.B.S. had once served and would prove pivotal in the development of Tolkien’s masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings.
The Inklings and the War of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings is such a detailed and thorough work that readers are tempted to think of it as something that Tolkien was destined to write from the moment of his birth, but the actual creation of it was long and filled with trial and error. 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. Tolkien explained, opens a new window to his publisher Stanley Unwin that his sequel had sprawled out and changed in tone to the point that it was “not really a ‘juvenile’ at all.” Even after submitting the manuscript in 1949, Tolkien still was not fully satisfied, making further edits and delaying the publication of The Fellowship of the Ring, opens a new window and The Two Towers, opens a new window to 1954 and The Return of the King, opens a new window to 1955.
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. Lewis offered his own book, Out of the Silent Planet, opens a new window, for readings by the group. Tolkien considered Lewis’ support and enthusiasm for his story during this period invaluable, later explaining, opens a new window that “but for his interest and unceasing eagerness for more I should never have brought the L. of the R. to a conclusion.” 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!, opens a new window”, which accused Tolkien of being pretentious and childish. Lewis was there to defend the work of his friend, publishing a detailed analysis, opens a new window 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, opens a new window to the Millennials, many of whom loved Peter Jackson’s films. Long after Tolkien’s fears and doubts had vanished and the critics who once assailed it faded away, Tolkien’s Middle-earth–-and the friendship with C.S. Lewis that helped drive its creation-–lives on forever in readers' hearts.
