Tolkien: Middle EarthJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien is remembered for his imaginative writings and thelasting creation of Middle-earth world. However, he was also a great scholar and linguist,holding the position of the Rawlingson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at OxfordUniversity. His writings owe much of its power to his ocean of knowledge aboutEuropean languages and a deep understanding and appreciation of the art of storytellingand myths. His books have been translated into twenty-four languages and many millionsof copies have been sold worldwide. Tolkien was born in the Orange Free State, in what is now South Africa, onJanuary 3, 1892. However, his mother brought him home to England when he was four,and after his father's death his family made their home in rural Sarehole, then on the edgeof the industrial city, Brimingham. When Tolkien was only twelve, his mother passedaway, leaving him and his brother in the care of Father Francis Xavier Morgan. FatherMorgan was a very strong moral influence on young Tolkien and provided him with lovingsupport though to his years in college. Tolkien received a very good high school educationat King Edward VI School, one of the finest schools in England at the time. From therehe went up to Oxford, where he studied English at Exeter College, gaining him first classhonors. At the age of twenty-one, Tolkien proposed to his childhood sweetheart, EdithBratt, although it was against the wishes of Father Morgan, who objected to him marryingsomeone three years older than himself. However, the two were unable to wed for a fewyears because Tolkien was drafted to fight in World War I. During the war he served inthe Lancashire Fusiliers as an officer, and survived the Somme, though many of his closefriends and colleagues died. His respect for the common soldier under the great stress ofwar shows through in his later writings, where the Hobbits show strength in Mordor,previously unseen by themselv...
