A Biographical Look into the Influences
Of
JRR Tolkien

Travis A. Roller

Arcadia Middle School- Seventh Grade

January 24, 2008

There were many great writers in the Twentieth Century, but JRR Tolkien was very influential. He was the author that reopened the world of fantasy. Tolkien’s most famous works were The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. JRR Tolkien’s past was very influential in his writing including a “scary encounter with a large, hairy spider”(Tolkien, 2008). JRR Tolkien was born in South Africa on January 3, 1892 to Arthur and Mabel Tolkien. His memories of Africa were few but livid since he moved to England with his mother and brother, Hilary, at age three. His father who had remained in Africa died soon after so the family remained. At age seven, Tolkien was taught Latin and Greek by his mother which spurred his interest in language which in turn was the reason Tolkien used Old and Middle English in his later writings and also creating languages such as Elvish that was used in his writing. As one can now tell, Tolkien’s past was very influential to his literary works another influential place was Oxford. Oxford helped shape his literary works in many ways. One of the many ways Oxford affected Tolkien’s writing was the further study of language which enabled his characters to speak Middle English fluently. Another reason is “The Inklings” which was a group of mostly Oxford friends who gathered to converse, drink and