John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, known as J.R.R. Tolkien is one of the pioneers of fantasy literature. It is hard to find a man today who does not know his book "The Lord of the Rings" - or rather the whole trilogy of adventures of heroes living in Middle-earth. What other works did Tolkien write? Were there also poems in his oeuvre? How did the author's work change the literary world? Check out J.R.R. Tolkien, who popularized fantasy literature.
J.R.R. Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein, in what is now South Africa. Tolkien's father, Arthur, worked there as a clerk in one of the banking branches. Interestingly, according to history researchers, Tolkien's name may come from the town of Tolkynen - today's Tołkina, located in Masuria, Poland. Numerous studies confirm that the great-great-grandfather of the famous writer was born in Gdańsk, so the history of the formation of Tolkien's name seems very likely.
In 1895, J.R.R. Tolkien traveled with his brother Hilary and mother Mabel to Birmingham, England. Young Tolkien's mother did not tolerate the African heat badly, and the climate was not very good for her health. Meanwhile, Tolkien's father died, suffering from internal bleeding. So Mabel was left all alone with her two children, falling into serious financial trouble. She decided to move to Sarehole Mill, located on the outskirts of the city. It was an area completely unspoiled by industry. Young Tolkien grew up joyfully and carefree here with his brother for the next four years. It was this rural oasis that inspired Tolkien to create the famous hobbit land, the Shire - an idyllic part of Middle-earth from "The Lord of the Rings"
Mabel Tolkien raised her sons in the Christian religion, which, moreover, had a strong impact on the writer's later works. Tolkien's mother taught her children not only to read and write but also to communicate in French and Latin. Young J.R.R. Tolkien was very fond of learning. He liked to draw and read. From 1900 to 1902, Mabel Tolkien systematically moved with her sons around Birmingham, looking for a suitable home for her family. Due to the regular change of place of residence, Tolkien also had to change schools frequently. J.R.R. Tolkien was especially fond of foreign languages, mainly thanks to his mother. No wonder then that in one of the schools he became interested in the history of the English language and the use of ancient English words.
When J.R.R. Tolkien turned twelve, his mother died after several weeks of a diabetic coma. This event strongly influenced the character of the future writer. J.R.R. Tolkien and his brother found themselves under the care of a priest who was friends with their mother. Then they went to one of the aunts, and later to the hostess of the guesthouse, who was friends with Mabel. It was there that Tolkien began his affair with Edith Bratt, which sparked a scandal among religious people caring for boys. Tolkien had to stop seeing his beloved until he was twenty-one. The tragic love story probably made Tolkien decide to write his famous novel "The Silmarillion".
J.R.R. Tolkien was getting deeper and deeper into philology, as well as learning languages. He also read the outstanding works of Old English literature, which fascinated him so much that he decided to transfer every novel he read to his own world. Therefore, Tolkien began to create his own language, extracting phrases read in Old English literature and mixing them with different languages (e.g. Spanish and Gothic). In time, Tolkien became so familiar with Gothic and Old English that he was able to communicate fluently in these languages. Young Tolkien discussed more and more passionate about literature, which became for him a springboard from everyday life. He and his friends even founded an association whose members met in the library and discussed the works they had read. It was during this time that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote his first poems.
In 1911, Tolkien began studying Classical Linguistics at Oxford but grew bored with Greek and Latin. Instead, he became interested in comparative linguistics and took up the Welsh language seriously. Soon after, he also became interested in learning Finnish, from which he then drew ideas to create his own, artificial language. It was the Finnish language that influenced Tolkien's creation of the Quenya language - the language of elves, which was used by the elves living in Middle-earth. On the Internet, you can find the entire history of the origin of the Quenya language, as well as a list of the most important words in Elvish speech.
In 1916, J.R.R. Tolkien finally married his beloved Edith Bratt. However, the man was drafted into the army and took part in the Battle of the Somme. Tolkien returned quickly from the front as he was infected with trench fever. After he recovered in England, he found out about the death of his friends from the literary society. Tolkien, under the influence of strong emotions, began to write a collection of works, which only after his death, were published by the son of the novelist, Christopher John Reuel (born in November 1924). All texts written by his father were collected by Christopher, completed, and published as "The Silmarillion". It took Tolkien a lifetime to write this work - while he was writing, he took breaks to create other works (such as "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings"). The author wanted to re-edit the collection of stories "The Silmarillion" before his death, but he did not have time to do so.
During the creation of "The Silmarillion", the writer began to fall ill a lot. He was first sent to a sanatorium and then to a military signaling school. When J.R.R. fell ill again and was sent to the hospital for officers. Meanwhile, Tolkien's first child, Francis, was born. In the following years, Michael, Christopher, and daughter Priscilla were born. Unfortunately, the writer was still ill and again wandered from hospital to hospital. After he managed to stabilize his health, he took a job as a junior lexicographer at Oxford. J.R.R. Tolkien moved there with his family. It was an extremely happy period in the life of the writer, who then wrote a great number of poems. The list of the most important of them is easy to find on the Internet.
It is not known when J.R.R. Tolkien began working on his famous novel "The Hobbit". This date is estimated at the beginning of the 1930s. The book grew into successive chapters, and Tolkien readily read them at literary meetings. The first edition of The Hobbit was published in 1937. The publishing house shortly thereafter asked Tolkien to continue the novel. Tolkien then decided to break through with his sketches, among others The Silmarillion. To the writer's disappointment, people preferred to read about the further adventures of the hobbits, so the publishing house rejected the writer's texts.
So the writer resumed writing a story about the adventures of the Hobbits. In 1938, J.R.R. However, Tolkien decided that the next book would not be for children, as originally intended, but for more mature fans of literature. This is how the continuation of "The Hobbit" - the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy was created, appearing in three parts in the years 1954-1955.
Tolkien moved with his wife to the city of Poole. There he continued to work on "The Silmarillion", but never managed to finish the work - as we already know, however, Tolkien's son did. Edith died in 1971, so Tolkien decided to return to Oxford and devote himself fully to philology - for which he was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1972 and then an Order of the British Empire of the second degree.
On September 2, 1973, J.R.R. Tolkien died at the age of 81 as a result of severe pneumonia. The Tolkien couple were buried in the Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford. Interestingly, their tombstones bear not only their initials, but also the names of the heroes of Middle-earth mythology in love - Beren and Luthien - as a symbol of eternal love.
Bibliography:
- Humphrey Carpenter: Tolkien. Biography, W.A.B. Publishing House, Warsaw 2006
- Michael White: Tolkien. Biography, Rebis Publishing House, Poznań 2004
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