J.R.R. Tolkien Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

J.R.R. TolkienMerely mentioning the name J.R.R. Tolkien conjures up fantasies. Though his trilogy The lord of the Rings is well known, not much else is known about the man who was a student before anything else. It is, in fact, the cult scale popularity of the trilogy that obscures the many accomplishments that marked his life. He won an exhibition, or a middle class merit scholarship, to Oxford University in 1911. By the time he attained his bachelors degree, he was conversant in seven-spot languages and had created another. His definitive translations of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the spirt Knight are still used in colleges today. In the end, though, it will be the popularity of the trilogy for which Professor Tolkien will be remembered.John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born(p) in South Africa to a rather well to do banker. His early life was comfortable if middle class, just it lasted only a some years. His fix died before he was five, and Tolkien spent the majority of his rem aining life in what he called genteel poverty. His linguistic genius emerged around the age of eight age his mother was tutoring him in Greek and Latin. It was around this time that Tolkien began devising a language of his own which would later develop into Elvish--a language complete with poetry and history, but not yet a people. In 1904, his mother died, leaving him and his brother orphaned and in the charge of a Catholic priest in Birmingham. by dint of this priest, the direction of his life would emerge. He met his future wife in the embarkation house where the priest had him and his younger brother lodged. Also while in the boarding house he merited a scholarship to King Edward VI High School with the recommendation of the same priest. In high school, h... ...e form of the Lord of the Rings. The bulk of the trilogy was written during the war, though it wasnt finished until 1949.For the greater portion of his days Tolkien was a respected philologist, a dedicated professor an d tutor, and a scholar above all else. In his field, he will continue to be remembered for his influence on a generation of philologists and for his contributions such as his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Outside that rather small circle most people will remember him as the author of a wonderful story a few more for the language and mythologies he created.Work CitedGrotta-Kurska, Daniel. J.R.R. Tolkien Architect of Middle Earth. Philidelphia Running Press, 1976.Yeats, William Butler. The Second Coming. Modern poems A Norton Introduction. Eds.Richard Ellman, Robert OClair. New York WW Norton & Company,1989. 83.