Biography of J.R.R Tolkien
Karl Schwarzkopf
Research Paper Part One
The English author J.R.R. Tolkien if often regarded as one of the most popular and influential authors of all time. Although Tolkien is best well known for his work The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, he has written many other pieces. He was born in 1892 and experienced many life altering events such as two world wars and the Cold War. His unique writing style was influenced by events affecting him throughout his life.
The years of and around World War One greatly affected the life and lifestyle of Tolkien in his first years as a young adult. When England entered World War One in 1914, Tolkien decided not to immediately enlist in the military. Instead he went to Oxford University to study Philology and in 1915 went on to receive a degree in English Language and Literature. After acquiring his degree Tolkien went to serve with the British army in the Battle of Somme. Upon his departure from England he became motivated to write the poem, The Lonely Isle (Garth 89). Earlier that year, before Tolkien enlisted in the military, he married a woman named Edith Bratt, whom he met when he was only 16 years old. The time of war was particularly difficult on Bratt who feared each day that door knockers would bring news of her husband’s death. Tolkien’s cases of Trench Foot and Trench Fever may very well have saved his life, because thy forced him to be taken out of combat for rehabilitation. Tolkien was once quoted in saying, “It seems now often forgotten that to be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than to be involved in 1939 and the following years. By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead” (qtd in Garth 91). Some of whom were his friends from Oxford, Rob Gilson and Geoffrey Bache Smith, who were members of a club called the “Tea Club and Barrovian Society” with Tolkien (Garth 91).
Tolkien’s writing was also influenced by a group founded while he worked as an English professor at
Research Paper Part One
The English author J.R.R. Tolkien if often regarded as one of the most popular and influential authors of all time. Although Tolkien is best well known for his work The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, he has written many other pieces. He was born in 1892 and experienced many life altering events such as two world wars and the Cold War. His unique writing style was influenced by events affecting him throughout his life.
The years of and around World War One greatly affected the life and lifestyle of Tolkien in his first years as a young adult. When England entered World War One in 1914, Tolkien decided not to immediately enlist in the military. Instead he went to Oxford University to study Philology and in 1915 went on to receive a degree in English Language and Literature. After acquiring his degree Tolkien went to serve with the British army in the Battle of Somme. Upon his departure from England he became motivated to write the poem, The Lonely Isle (Garth 89). Earlier that year, before Tolkien enlisted in the military, he married a woman named Edith Bratt, whom he met when he was only 16 years old. The time of war was particularly difficult on Bratt who feared each day that door knockers would bring news of her husband’s death. Tolkien’s cases of Trench Foot and Trench Fever may very well have saved his life, because thy forced him to be taken out of combat for rehabilitation. Tolkien was once quoted in saying, “It seems now often forgotten that to be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than to be involved in 1939 and the following years. By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead” (qtd in Garth 91). Some of whom were his friends from Oxford, Rob Gilson and Geoffrey Bache Smith, who were members of a club called the “Tea Club and Barrovian Society” with Tolkien (Garth 91).
Tolkien’s writing was also influenced by a group founded while he worked as an English professor at