A Brief Introduction to J.R.R. Tolkien
& The Hobbit
TOLKIEN BIOGRAPHY
 John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-
1973)
Spent a happy childhood in the English
countryside
His sensibility to the rural landscape
can clearly be seen both in his writings
and in his pictures.
Sample Tolkien Drawings…
TOLKIEN BIOGRAPHY
 Ronald was twelve when his mother died
He and his brother became wards of a kindly priest.
 They both attended Kind Edward's School,
Birmingham
 Ronald achieved distinction in Classics, and also
encountered Anglo-Saxon and Middle English.
 At this time also, he began to develop his linguistics
abilities by inventing languages which he related to
'fairy' or 'elvish' people.

TOLKIEN BIOGRAPHY
 He was also commissioned in the Lancashire
Fusiliers and served in the battle of Somme
(World War I, 1916)
 Two of his three closest friends were killed.
TOLKIEN BIOGRAPHY
 After the war, he obtained a post on the New
English Dictionary, and began to write the
mythological and legendary cycle which he
originally called "The Book of Lost Tales“
 This book eventually became known as The
Silmarillion.
TOLKIEN BIOGRAPHY
 In 1920 Tolkien was appointed as Reader in the
English Language at the University of Leeds


This post was converted to a Professorship four years later.
He distinguished himself by his lively and imaginative
teaching, and in 1925 was elected Rawlinson and Bosworth
Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford

Meanwhile, his family, now numbering four children, encouraged
Tolkien to use his mythological imagination to deal with more
homely topics.
TOLKIEN BIOGRAPHY
 For his children, Tolkien wrote and illustrated The
Father Christmas Letters, and to them he told the
story of The Hobbit published some years later in
1937
 At first, Tolkien applied himself only unwillingly to
the requests for sequels to The Hobbit


However, soon he was inspired, and what meant to be another
book for children grew into The Lord of the Rings, truly a
sequel to the Silmarillion than to the Hobbit.
This huge story took twelve years to complete, and it was not
published until Tolkien was approaching retirement.

When it did reach print, its extraordinary popularity took him by
surprise.
TOLKIEN BIOGRAPHY
 After his wife's death in 1971, Tolkien returned to
Oxford and died after a very brief illness on 2nd
September 1973.

He left his great mythological legendary cycle The Silmarillion
to be edited for publication by his son.
The Hobbit
The Hobbit
 J.R.R.Tolkien's fantasy classic, originally told to his
children.
 The Hobbit is Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit of substance
and somewhat sedentary habits.



One day he is visited by a wizard, Gandalf, and a gaggle of
dwarves.
By supper time he has accepted a challenge to go on an
expedition to steal back a fortune from a live dragon, and
liberate the ancient home of his companions.
Fire and swords lie before him - but, fortunately, he doesn't
know that…