J.R.R. Tolkien-A report

Thank you for taking the time to read this piece! I know the last piece I posted was quite long, so I have decided to add this as an alternative, of sorts. This was an aspect of my writing goals, as well. Any feedback is welcome, though I would like to know how well this piece flowed, and any aspects that I can work on as a writer. Thank you!

Introduction As many already know, J.R.R. Tolkien is the author of several famous novels, a few of which being The Lord of the Rings trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King ) and its prelude, The Hobbit. He has many other accomplishments, such as translating a few books, including Sir Gawain and the Green Knight into today’s English, from that of the Middle Ages. These feats, as well as others, contribute to create the name that has won so much renown today. A brief and rather rushed description of J.R.R. Tolkien’s life: J.R.R. Tolkien was born in 1892, and lived for eighty-one years, dying in 1973, a year after his wife, Edith. His full name is John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, though in his family, he was usually known as Ronald. Until he was three years of age, he, his parents, and his younger brother by two years (Hilary) lived in Bloemfontein in South Africa. After that, the family (save the father, who died shortly after his wife and children left, planning to meet him there on a later date) moved to Birmingham, England. A year after he moved from South Africa, the young boy learned from his mother to read and to write. He attended two schools as a child, including King Edward’s and St. Philip’s, a Christian academy. He was Catholic, like his mother (Who had been raised a Baptist), and practiced the belief even after her death of diabetes. His beliefs had a great influence on his future writings, such as in The Lord of the Rings. He was raised, after he was orphaned, by Francis Xavier Morgan, a Catholic Priest who had helped care for J.R.R. Tolkien’s mother before she died. He placed both boys under the care of their Aunt Beatrice, and then later a woman named Mrs. Faulkner. She, at the time, was fostering one child other than the two boys, a girl by the name of Edith Bratt, who would later marry the famous author. Even though they did not live with him, Father Francis Xavier Morgan took an active part in J.R.R Tolkien and his brother’s upbringing. He aided them in their studies, and raised them as proper Catholics. John Ronald Reuel was skilled with tongues, even as a child, and knew the languages of Finland and what used to be Wales, among others. This fact contributed to the languages found in his books, belonging to his Elves. He graduated from Exeter College, after marrying Edith Bratt in 1916, whom he had admired from childhood. In the time following, he entered World War One as the Second Lieutenant of Britain, and also a Signals Officer (Having learned such codes while training for the war). During his time in war, he came down with trench fever, which is spread by lice, and was unable to take another active part until the time he healed, which happened to be when his first son, John Francis Reuel Tolkien was born in 1917. After the war, J.R.R Tolkien helped set up the New English Dictionary, researching origins of words, primarily those starting with the letter “w”. In 1920 (The year his second son, Michael, was born), he began to work for Leeds University, becoming a teacher in another four years (It was in this year, 1924, that his son Christopher was born). In yet another year, he transferred to Oxford University and Pembroke College. In 1929, J.R.R and Edith Tolkien’s only daughter, Priscilla, was conceived. Twenty years after he moved to Oxford, he transferred again, this time to Merton College. Here he taught the English Language and Literature. His teaching career ended fourteen years after he started at Merton College, in 1959, the year he retired. In 1971, Edith Tolkien died, and her husband followed her only a year later in 1973, in Oxford England, where he had taught and written for so many years. Books and other accomplishments: Of all his works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are probably the most well-known and popular. The Hobbit, which had been originally written as part of his hobby, was published in 1937 by the George Allen and Unwin publishing company. He had intended the piece to attract young children, never suspecting the wide range of ages that was included in his audience. In the next decade, the already famous author toiled over The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which was published during the years 1954-1955. He also worked on The Silmarillion, which was completed by his son Christopher after he died of a gastric ulcer and of chest disease. The piece was supposed to be actual mythology from England, as he thought that his country had no mythical lore that had not been influenced by other places and cultures. Along with his talents with a pen, he was also skilled with tongues, which caused him to be known as one of the world’s greatest philologists, (meaning he studied the origins of words). He had taken a hand in translating several works into modern English, including the Jerusalem Bible. He had also created several languages of his own, ever since he was a small child, playing with his cousins. His passion for words was never quenched, and it helped him to become well-known throughout the world. Family History: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s father was Arthur Tolkien, who had married his wife, Mabel, in South Africa in 1891. Arthur Tolkien and his family had been bankers, which contributed to his and his wife’s move from England. Mabel’s family had been shop-keepers since the nineteenth century, but the products they sold varied from each new generation. Arthur died of a fever in 1996, when his son John Ronald Reuel was only four, and Hilary Arthur Reuel was two. Mabel died ten years later, of diabetes.