Years later, as an Oxford professor, he was an instrumental figure in the Inklings literary group. The loose collection of academics, writers and literary enthusiasts met for conversation, readings of works-in-progress and drinking in The Eagle and Child pub.<\/p>\n

There, Tolkien would have tested out chapters from The Lord of the Rings <\/em>to an encouraging audience, not least his friend CS Lewis.<\/p>\n

It was in such groups that a younger Tolkien demonstrated his exemplary talents for language and philology. He had a natural skill for picking up languages, and a passion for inventing his own. Tolkien loved the sounds of words, whether in Greek or Gothic, Welsh or Finnish, Old Norse or Anglo-Saxon. He read greedily, but nothing struck him as much as a couplet in the Old English poem the Crist of Cynewulf: \u201cHail Earendel brightest of angels, above the Middle Earth sent unto men.\u201d These words formed the cornerstone for much of his early writing as he conceived his own Middle Earth.<\/p>\n

Despite hours spent writing or inventing languages, socialising or studying (he did too little of the latter in his first years at Oxford), Tolkien eagerly counted the days until his 21st birthday. After nearly three years apart, he intended to write to Edith to renew their relationship.<\/p>\n

As midnight struck on 3 January 1913, he put pen to paper: \u201cHow long will it be before we can be joined together before God and the world?\u201d<\/p>\n

But when he got her reply, it seemed Edith had moved on. She was engaged to someone else. \u201cI began to doubt you Ronald and to think you would cease to care for me,\u201d she wrote, but added that had changed now she received Tolkien\u2019s letter. With the hope of winning her heart again, he travelled to Cheltenham on 8 January. The two walked and talked for hours, and by the end Edith had pledged to break off her engagement and marry Tolkien.<\/p>\n

The woman he loved was back in his life. She converted to Catholicism and moved to Warwick for him, while he switched from studying classics to English language and literature so as to better suit his interest in philology.<\/p>\n

JRR Tolkein\u2019s tales for the ages<\/h2>\n
Tolkien couldn\u2019t be described as the world\u2019s most prolific author, but his books enjoy long-lasting and constantly renewing love.<\/p>\n
He began work on what would become The Silmarillion<\/em> during World War I, but it would still not be finished at the time of his death at the age of 81 on 2 September 1973. He published The Hobbit<\/em> two years before World War II, and it took another 17 years after that for his long-awaited sequel, The Lord of the Rings<\/em>, to hit the shelves.<\/p>\n
While he accomplished extraordinary things with his writing, Tolkien led an ordinary life in many ways, even after becoming a world-famous author. He tried to respond to as many fan letters as he could, and initially his number remained in the telephone directory \u2013 so fans from across the globe would ring at all hours to ask him for details about the minutiae of his mythology.<\/p>\n
And with son Christopher publishing his father\u2019s work ever since \u2013 not to mention Peter Jackson\u2019s blockbuster movies \u2013 there\u2019s an enduring fascination in these great works of fantasy and Middle Earth.<\/p>\n
The Hobbit<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Bilbo the hobbit reluctantly joins an expedition to retrieve the fabulous treasure of the dwarves being hoarded in the Lonely Mountain by the dragon, Smaug. The party of dwarves was led by the wizard Bladorthin and the chief dwarf Gandalf; they were the original names of Gandalf the Grey and Thorin Oakenshield respectively. The Hobbit<\/em> was developed from stories Tolkien told to entertain his children and the book launched him to fame when first published in 1937. It sold out quickly and had to be swiftly reprinted, this time with several coloured illustrations from Tolkien himself.<\/p>\n
Read more | Dragons: from mythological beasts of history to the fire breathers of fantasy<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
The Silmarillion<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
Tolkien considered this, not The Lord of the Rings<\/em>, to be his masterpiece. The Silmarillion<\/em> charts the creation of the Universe and the ancient peoples of the First Age, but he never finished tinkering and rewriting over the five decades from its inception. There were so many versions to correlate \u2013 and conflicting, confusing details to rectify and craft into a narrative \u2013 that Tolkien never knew how to complete the book. It fell to his son Christopher to take on the job after his death and was eventually published in 1977.<\/p>\n
The Lord of the Rings<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
Usually divided into three volumes, Tolkien meant The Lord of the Rings<\/em> to be a single work that followed the quest to destroy the One Ring and see the King of Gondor return at the end of the Third Age.<\/p>\n
In a sign that they didn\u2019t think it would sell well, publishers George Allen & Unwin offered Tolkien a half-share in profits once production expenses had been paid off, and split the novel in three to boost sales. Such caution was not needed as The Lord of the Rings<\/em> became a bestseller.<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
Most of his men were wiped out, and more distressing news came when he heard that two of his closest friends from his school club, the TCBS, had been killed. Just before Geoffrey Smith was hit by a shell, he wrote to Tolkien the poignant words: \u201cMay God bless you, my dear John Ronald, and may you say the things I have tried to say long after I am not there to say them, if such be my lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tolkien took this to heart and decided it was time \u2013 that he had gathered enough \u2018leaf-mould\u2019 \u2013 to write a grand mythology on which to ground his invented languages. This marked the beginning of what has since been called his \u2018legendarium\u2019 (works relating to Middle Earth and the broader world) and the beginning of the book he would never complete, The Silmarillion.<\/em><\/p>\n
Ongoing illnesses prevented Tolkien from returning to the Western Front, so time was spent writing or with Edith, by now pregnant with their first child, John. They would have two more sons, Michael and Christopher, and a daughter, Priscilla. When Tolkien was stationed in Hull in 1917, they went for a walk in the woods near Roos and, stopping in a grove filled with hemlock, Edith danced for him. He never forgot that moment as it inspired his beloved romance of Beren, a man, and L\u00fathien, an elf. Those names can now be seen on the headstone Tolkien and Edith share.<\/p>\n

The Lord of the Rings took Tolkien a full 12 years to write <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
After the war, Tolkien worked on the New English Dictionary \u2013 concentrating on the letter W \u2013 and as professor in English Language at Leeds. He returned to Oxford in 1925 as professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College, specialising in Old and Middle English. Until his retirement in 1959, he worked tirelessly: tutoring undergrads, preparing classes, and giving lectures, most notably his seminal talk on Beowulf<\/em><\/a>. His academic publication record was far from impressive, but he was more focused on his teaching. He was required to give at least 36 lectures a year, but he did not feel that covered the subject adequately so, in one year, he gave 136.<\/p>\n
JRR Tolkien and The Hobbit<\/em><\/h2>\n
Tolkien was sitting in his study at home on Northmoor Road, marking an examination paper, when he came across a blank page. Without thinking, he scribbled down the line, \u201cIn a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit\u201d. He didn\u2019t know what a hobbit was, or why it lived in a hole, but he wanted to know more.<\/p>\n
He jotted down a story that he thought his children would enjoy, and that became an embryonic manuscript of The <\/em>Hobbit<\/em>. It got passed around his friends in the Inklings until a copy found its way to an employee of George Allen & Unwin publishers named Susan Dagnall, who immediately saw its potential and passed it to Stanley Unwin. From there, it went to Unwin\u2019s savvy son, Rayner.<\/p>\n
$\"""\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>