Comparing Beowulf: The Hobbit And The Lord Of The Rings

J. R. R. Tolkien was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor who is best known as being the author of famous stories like The Hobbit and “The Lord of the Rings”. However despite these accomplishment growing up Tolkien was fascinated by Old English which was a Germanic language spoken in the area now known as England between the 5th and 11th centuries. Tolkien had learned Old English at an early age began reading the poem “Beowulf”. In the the article the author writes Tolkien would declaim passages of it to the private literary club that he had founded with his schoolmates. (Acocella, Joan. 1). In the 1920’s he began his journey into translating Beowulf from Old English into more Modern English. Upon finishing it in 1926,

1). The paper was titled, “ ‘Beowulf’:The Monsters and Critics.” In this essay Tolkien argues that the meaning of the poem had been ignored in favor of archeological and philological study. What Tolkien means by this is that the ongoing debate of Beowulf about how much was fact and how much was fiction was overshadowing the poem’s true subject which is death, defeat, which come not only to Beowulf but to his kingdom and every Kingdom according to the article.(Acocella, Joan. 1). In the article it says, “According to Tolkien, “Beowulf” is not an epic or a heroic lay, which might need narrative thrust. It was just a poem-an elegy. Light and life hasten away.” (Acocella, Joan. pg.7) This quote meant that Beowulf is not an epic or heroic lay it is just simply a poem expressing sorrow and

Most of them can barely refer to it.(Acocella, Joan. pg.7) This means that Old English is a very complex language and for Tolkien to have translated at a young age shows a lot about his character and the determination and perseverance that compels one to spend six years translating a poem that only a few people can read. Beowulf was not the only poem that Tolkien translated. He translated poems and stories like the “Pearl” and “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”. This shows that Tolkien not only could read Old English but that he could implement his knowledge of the language and translate it into his century of English which is impressive and extraordinary thing to