J.R.R. Tolkien had a three official professions in his life; military member, teacher, and writer. Tolkien faught on the western front of France during World War I. He saw action at the Battle of Somme and was injured. When World War II rolled around he was aproached to become a codebreaker and even went as far as taking classes in London. Ultimately he was told that he would not be needed.

Tolkien's first job after the war was to work on the Oxford English Dictionary where his specialty was working on words of Germanic origin. In 1924 he became a profesor at the University of Leeds. Here he and a collegue worked on a new edition of Sir Gaiwan and the Green Knight, a version that is still considered one of the best editions today. He then moved back to Oxford where he became the Profesor of Anglo-Saxon. It was here that he wrote the Hobbit and the first two portions of the Lord of the Rings. The rest of his career is defined by his relationship with C.S. Lewis and the furthering of Middle Earth mythology.

Tolkien has 5 blue plaques commemorating places associated with him and his writing. Four of them are in Birmingham and one is in Oxford.

Works Cited

- Rogers, Debra Webster. "J.R.R. Tolkien" In Twayne's English Authors Series Online, New York: G.K. Hall & Co. Online, 1999.

- "About J.R.R. Tolkien", http://www.lord-of-the-rings.org/author.html, 2009

Biography

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was bor in South Africa in 1892 to Arthur Tolkien, a banker, and Mabel Suffield Tolkien. John moved to England when he was three, and after his father's death just a year later, was raised by his mother, along with his brother Hilary, on a farm. Their mother taught them many things (of which Tolkien enjoyed Latin and drawing) until her passing when John was twelve years old. He fell under the care of his mother's priest Father Francis Xavier Morgan. By the time Tolkien finished school he was able to marry his long time sweet-heart Edith Bratt, but their time together was cut short when England was plauged by World War I.

Tolkien was sent to France in the spring of 1916. There he was exposed to the many horrers of the war and was eventually sent home when he contracted trench fever. Even though he was spared the physical harshness of the war he, like all soldiers, would retain the psychological effects of the war for the rest of his life. After the war ended Tolkien got a job working on the New English Dictionary. He then moved his family to Leeds for a time where he taught in the English Department. Tolkien finally moved his family to Oxford where he met C.S. Lewis, another prominent British author that would become his long time friend.

Tolkiend and Lewis would often meet together. During these meetings each writer thoroughly influenced each others work. Tolkien helped bring Lewis back to christianity, which would be the basis of the rest of Lewis' work, and Lewis gave high praise to the excerpts Tolkien would read from "The Silmarillion", "The Hobbit", and "The Lord of the Rings". Tolkien publishd the Lord of the Rings in 1948 and, after some reprinting issues, Tolkiens popularity took off. Britians and Americans couldn't get enough of his work, to which Tolkien continued to expand his vast LOTR universe for the rest of his life. Tolkien's fame grew and grew from his retirement in 1959 to his death in 1973, at times a little bit to much, especially to the idol-like praise that he was receiving from the American 'hippie' movement. John and Edith eventually passed living a quiet life in Bournemouth.

Works Cited:

- Rogers, Debra Webster. "J.R.R. Tolkien" In Twayne's English Authors Series Online, New York: G.K. Hall & Co. Online, 1999.

Link

- Doughan, David "Who was Tolkien", www.tolkiensociety.org, web. 2006

Link

Tolkien Symbol: Source