An Appreciation of Tolkien
We all know the tales J.R.R. Tolkien wrote in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings many times, over many years. There is even more detailed accounts of his creation in The Silmarillion , Unfinished Tales, and Children of Hurin . He created his own world - language, culture, history, myth...everything. Unknown to the common reader who may be more (or only) familiar with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , he was also a Professor at Oxford, and gave many lectures on subjects of Old English, Anglo Saxon, and others. He also translated and gave his own accounts on various poems over during his academic career. Some of these were abandoned in favor of writing The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings , and is entirely possible that he may not have created those works in favour of more poems. For instance, The Fall of Arthur could have been fully completed if he had not been so busy at the time preparing The Hobbit for publication. Suppose Tolkien never wrote The Hobbit : instead, ...