The Meaning from Within

Tolkien, J.R.R. Tree and Leaf. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989. Tyler, J.E.A. The Tolkien Companion.

It was when Tolkien was twelve, his mother died of diabetes. He and his brother were left to the care of Father Francis Morgan, with whom he lived for many years. Tolkien met Edith Bratt, his future wife, in 1908 when he was sixteen. He began to spend all of his time with her, igoring his studies, until at last Father Francis forbade them to see one another. Tolkien began his first term at Oxford University in 1911.

Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 30 Jan. 2014. "T.S. Eliot Biography."

Web. 26 Mar 2014. Higgins, John. “Joseph Conrad.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 11 May 2006.

Tolkien continued school and was accepted to Oxford in 1910 (Hodges 83). He graduated in 1915 with a Bachelors of Arts degree and honors in English (Parker and Kermode 741; “Tolkien, J.R.R.” 831). He obtained his Masters of Arts in 1919 (“Tolkien, J.R.R.” 831). In the time between getting his bachelors and masters, he served in World War 1 but was sent home because of a bad case of trench fever. He also ma... ... middle of paper ... ...an Diego: Thompson Gale, 2003.

Living in the West Midlands, Tolkien often moved between the urban blight of Birmingham and the idyllic countryside of Worcestershire. The harsh contrast between these two extremes, would be reflected in later works. After the death of his mother in 1904, Tolkien lived with a Catholic priest, Father Francis Morgan. At the age of 16, while still under the care of Father Morgan, Tolkien met his future wife, three years his senior, Edith Bratt. However, Father Morgan prohibited Tolkien from having any sort of relationship with her while under his care.

Tolkien, J. R. R., Humphrey Carpenter, and Christopher Tolkien. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien: A Selection. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Print.

“John Keats: Biography.” Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. ---.

24 Apr. 2014. Jones, Leslie. J. R. R. Tolkien A Biography. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2003.

When he was young both of his parents died (one from rheumatic fever, the other from diabetes) and he and his brother were raised by a Catholic priest in Birmingham (Wikipedia). Tolkien was involved in World War One and Two, first as a serviceman, then as a cryptographer (Wikipedia). Indeed he was very interested in language, learning Latin, French and German at an early age, and Finnish, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Welsh, Middle and Old English, and many others, chiefly Germanic later at school (Wikipedia). His literary career began to pick up after he returned home from the first World War and he wrote The Hobbit and the first two volumes of The Lord of the Rings during his fellowship at Pembroke College between 1925 and 1937 (Wikipedia). Although some believe that many of the events in his books were inspired by his real-life experiences in Word War One and Two, Tolkien himself states that, in regards to The Lord of the Rings, “little or nothing in it was modified by the war that began in 1939,” (The Lord of the Rings; “Forward to the Second Edition”; xvi).