R Tolkein's fantasy world of Middle Earth, the setting for his The Lord of the Rings epic tale, seems to be much more than mere fantasy. Its roots run deep in actual history, and upon examination, the paralleling lines become clearer. Much of the historical basis for this tale dates back hundreds of years, specifically the roots of Middle Earth's languages. Although, many events of this fantasy realm may have come from more recent twentieth-century history. This theory is still unsolved, and Tolkein himself has often denied the case.
It is still debated whether the Great War of the Ring, and many other events of Middle Earth, was inspired by actual events that occurred in Tolkein's life. Tolkein himself, within the Lord of the Rings foreword, discounts these events as having direct correlation to events that happened in reality. However, some of Tolkein's personal letters seem to contradict his very own discounting of the parallelism.
Tolkein, a second lieutenant in the 11th Lancashire Fusiliers during World War I, took part in the Battle of Somme. He was also present for at least one of the disastrous stormings of the Schwaben Redoubt, a German fortification. Eventually he fell ill with severe trench fever at the end of October 1916. While in the hospital he started writing The Book of Lost Tales that eventually became The Silmarillon, the basis for most of the Lord of the Rings series' content (van Vliet). Tolkein's experiences during the Great War, and the happenings throughout his life, seem to appear in the history of Middle Earth.
Tolkein was also a lover of languages. As an academic philologist, Tolkein held the Chair of English Language and Medieval Literature at Leeds and had worked for, and contributed to, the Oxford English Dictionary, a collective project more than a century old. Specifically, Tolkein's linguistic interests were in Old and Middle English, and closely related languages such as Old Norse, Welsh and Finnish.
When writing a fantasy novel, such as The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkein, one of the main difficulties is making the story believable. ... J.R.R. Tolkein is one such author, and his novel The Hobbit, is certainly one such work. ... Tolkein thoroughly describes Bilbo, from his size, to his clothes, to the hair on his feet. ...
When writing a fantasy novel, such as The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkein, one of the main difficulties is making the story believable. ... J.R.R. Tolkein is one such author, and his novel The Hobbit, is certainly one such work. ... Tolkein thoroughly describes Bilbo, from his size, to his clothes, to the hair on his feet. ...
The Two Towers The book I read was The Two Towers, Part II of The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkein. ... Also he lives in Middle Earth and I live in present time. ... I think that the story could not take place in another time or place, because technology would be too advanced and there would not be enough forest for the story to take place. ...
Book Report January 2001 J.R.R. Tolkein, THE LORD OF THE RINGS Tolkein's Lord of the Rings is a long book in three volumes. ... This is how Tolkein captures the essence of the adventure. ... so that we know that Hobbit time is quite different to human time. ... He is helped at time of greatest need by Gandalf. ...
Around 55 BC, Romans came to the Britain for the first time. ... Later on, the buildings that Romans made were seen as "works of giants"" by Anglo-Saxons. ... In the end of the ninth century, monks in Wessex started noting the history of their time, now called Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. ... We got many poems, letters and riddles from this time. ... In order to discern Latin works from Anglo-Saxon works, their language is called Old English. ...
J.R.R. Tolkien J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of the classic book series The Lord of the Rings, was a very interesting and amazing person. Not only did he create a fictional world, he designed a language as well. I believe that Tolkien's writings are based on the very world that he lived in when h...
J.R.R. ... Tolkien made many friends at his school King Edward's, and had spent some time making up his own languages. ... While he enrolled there he spent most of his time studying classic languages such as: Old English, the Germanic languages (especially gothic), Welsh, and Finnish. ... He finished publishing "The Simarillion" and "History of Middle-Earth series." J.R.R. ...
The time period J.R.R. Tolkien was a part of helped influence the fantasy he is so well known for today. If he was not able to experience World War I or witness the environmental impacts of the Industrial Revolution, novels such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings may never have existed. Althou...
