Introduction

Have you ever heard about the Lord of the rings? The Hobbit? The Silmarillion? Even a Leaf by Niggle? If you’ve heard of any of those books then you had definitely heard of the great J.R.R Tolkien.

Growing up/early life

Tolkeins parents grew up in Birmingham but before Tolkien was born they immigrated to South Africa. J.R.R  was born in Bloemfontein an Afrikaans-speaking area of South Africa on the third of January 1892. Three years later Tolkien‘s brother was born in 1895 that same year him, his brother, and his mum moved back to Birmingham to be with their grandparents. They never saw their father again as he died of rheumatic fever 1896. The family settled at five Gracewell cottage now known as 264 Wake Green Road, a cottage in Sareholle Village. They moved several times throughout the next few years. Mabel converted to Catholicism in 1900 but some of the family disagreed and withdrew financial help for her and her kids. To save them money they enrolled in oratory school Saint Phillips. Mabel and her sister coach Tolkein and because of this he was able to win a scholarship to King Edward school to start in 1903. When he started attending the school, he got into the rugby team and was a member of the debating society. In 1904 Mabel developed diabetes and back then there was no treatment, so she ended up passing away that same year. She appointed a priest from oratory to the boys guardian. In December 1904 the brothers moved in with one of his uncles and aunties. January 1905 Hillary started at King Edwards and for the next few years they both lived at their aunt Beatrice‘s house. Beatrice was the widow of Mabel’s younger brother who also passed away in 1904. The kids moved to a lodge where Tolkien ended up meeting his wife Edith, they  would go out to cafes together and sometimes go on bike rides but Father Francis Morgan (The priest Mabel appointed) disapproved. They moved lodges again in 1910. At King Edward school he gained a scholarship to attend Exter college at Oxford University to study classics in Birmingham in 1911.

University

Tokien began studying Finnish and became a member of the College club after a while of being at university. Tolkien reached out to Edith on his 21st birthday and they ended up getting engaged. Soon after she gets accepted into the Catholic Church. Tolkien started writing his first ever identifiable middle-earth fragment ‘The Voyage of Èarendel the Evening Star’ and later on started writing ‘The Story of Kullervo’. J.R.R later revised the poem ‘The Horns of Ylmir’, writes ‘You and me and the Cottage of Lost Play’ and ‘kôr’. Tolkien ended up gaining a first honours degree.

After university

After university Tolkien wrote the poems ‘A Song of Aryador’, ‘Korition Among the Trees’, ‘Goblin feet’ which is published in Oxford poetry, and ‘Over Old Hills and Far Away’, featuring Tinfang Warble. 22nd of March 1916 Ronald and Edith got married before he had to go to fight in the army. During the war, Tolkien travelled to France on a boat, and on that boat he wrote ‘the lonely isle’ poem. In this war, Tolkien was a battalion signalling officer, but Tolkien got trench fever so he ended up having to go back to England. The next things he writes is ‘The Book of the Lost Tales’, The first version of ‘The Cottage of Lost Play’, ‘the Fall of Gondolin’ all before getting admitted to hospital, and in hospital he wrote ‘The Tail of Tinuvel, ‘The Grey Bridge of Tavrobel’, and a lexicon  and grammar of Gnomish language. He eventually gets to go home. 16th of November 1917 Tolkien’s oldest son was born, after that he started working on ‘The Tale of Turambar’. Tolkien was remitted to the hospital in July 1918 and got out in September. After getting out tolkien returns to Oxford and obtains employment with the new English Dictionary (Oxford English Dictionary). He began to write the first version of ‘The Music of the Ainur’. As well as working on the dictionary he was also a freelance tutor. During this time, he writes the early version of the ‘Changing of Melko’ ‘The Coming of the Elves and the Making of Kôr’, ‘The Theft of Melko’ and ‘The Darkening of Valinor’. He began working as a reader in the English language at Leeds university before Michael, Tolkien’s second son was born on 22 October 1922. Weeks later his family moved up to join him in Leeds, and once they were all settled down, he started writing an alternative poetic version of ‘The Children of Húrin. Late August 1921 Toliken and E.V Gordon began their work on the addition of ‘Sir Gawin and the Green Knight’. Tolkien wrote the poem ‘The Nameless Land’ before he was appointed as a professor of English language at Leeds university. Christopher, Tolkien’s third son was born 21st of November 1925, before he started working on the alternative poem ‘The Flight of the Noldoli From Valinor’. 23rd of April 1925 Tolkien and E.V Gordon’s  edition of ‘Sir Gawin and the Green Knight’ is published by the Claredon press. The next pieces Tolkien wrote was the poem ‘Light as a Leaf on the Lindentree’, ‘The Lay of Leithian’, ‘Roverandon’, And he started a club called the Kolbítar Club where they would read and translate the Eddas and Sagas (literary works written in Iceland in the 13th and 14th centuries). The first known meeting of this club was on 11th of May 1926 where Tolkien meet Jeremy and they soon became friends. Autumn of 1926 was when Tolkien first lectured on the old English exodus. Tolkien’s next pieces are ‘The Sketch of Mythology’, the first version of ‘Farmer Giles of Ham’, a new glossary of the dialect of Huddersfield with Tolkiens’ forward, ‘Cantos IV-IX of the Lay of the Leithian’, and ‘Mr bliss’. 18th of June 1929. Tolkien’s only daughter and youngest child was born, she was named Priscilla. Tolkien composed a lot of the fall of Arthur in 1930.

The hobbit and lord of the rings

Summer 1930 Tolkien wrote the first line of ‘The Hobbit’ “In a hole in the ground. There lived a hobbit”. Late 1932. Tolkien lended the typescript of ‘The Hobbit’ with C.S Lewis which at this time ends with the death of Smaug, however 1936 Susan Dagnall read the unfinished manuscript of ‘The Hobbit’ and urged him to finish the narrative and it was accepted for publication. 21st of September 1937 ‘The hobbit’ was published and because of its success Stanley Unwin urged tolkien to write a sequel which he began. This was the start of ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Tolkien ended up and banning his work on the ‘Quenta Silmarillion’ to start working on “the new hobbit” in December 1937. August 1938 the narrative has reached the seventh chapter ‘The Hobbits Arrival and at the Prancing Pony’ 1940 Tolkien made a reason for Gandalf’s delay in reaching the bag end. 29th of July 1954 ‘The Fellowship of the Ring, Lord of the rings’ was finally published, on November 1954 ‘The Two Towers’ was published and finally 20 October 1955. ‘The Return of the King is’ published. 17 years later on 2 September Tolkien passed away from a stomach ulcer.

Conclusion

Tolkien was a great man who wrote many outstanding pieces and has definitely left a big legacy behind. He will always be remembered.