Born on the third of January of 1892 in Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State of South Africa, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien moved with his brother and mother to England in 1896 at the age of four shortly before the death of his father. Better known as the author J.R.R. Tolkien of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, available in a box set, Tolkien enjoyed a countryside childhood in a rural area outside of Birmingham, a detail reflected in the settings of his books ("Biography"). Although his memories of his early experiences in Africa are few, a frightening incident with a huge hairy spider vividly remained in his mind, another element reflected in his writing (Doughan).
At the age of twelve in 1904, Tolkien became a ward of a local priest after his mother died. As a child, he created numerous languages for his personal enjoyment. Tolkien attended King Edward's School in Birmingham where he excelled in writing and linguistics and later graduated from Oxford with a First in English Language and Literature. While at Oxford, Tolkien became interested in poems from his course in Old English studies, especially the piece Crist by Cynewulf:
Eálá Earendel engla beorhtast
Ofer middengeard monnum sended
Hail Earendel brightest of angels
Over Middle Earth sent to men
Tolkien was fascinated by the ancient idiom for the world between Heaven and Hell, middengeard, which, along with a shining Earendel, later appeared in his own writings ("Biography"; Doughan). Instead of merely creating a fictional world, Tolkien applied aspects of the past into his stories.
When Tolkien was sixteen, he met a young woman, three years his senior, named Edith Bratt with whom he commenced a friendship. By request of his guardian, Tolkien neither visited nor corresponded with Edith until the age of twenty-one after which their relationship deepened. The couple was married on the twenty-second of March of 1916. Eventually, Tolkien and Edith bore four children: John, Michael, Christopher, and Priscilla (Doughan).
While enlisted as a second lieutenant during World War I, Tolkien began creating the story of Eärendil the Mariner, who became a star, a tale included in The Silmarillion. Tolkien returned home after developing "trench fever", a typhus-like infection due to unsanitary conditions in the trenches of the war, until sufficient recovery (Doughan). War themes between good and evil are evident throughout all of his writing as a result of his experience in World War I.
Because of reoccurring symptoms, he was only able to perform home service during periods of remission and was eventually promoted to lieutenant. The inspiration for the tale of Beren and Lúthien, another story in The Silmarillion, occurred in 1918 while he was stationed with his wife at Hull when he and Edith strolled through a nearby woods where she danced for him in a thick grove of hemlock (Doughan). Much of his writing originates from actual experiences, adding an air of believability and a possibility of another world like Middle-Earth.
After the war, Tolkien wrote for his family and told his children the story of The Hobbit ("Biography"). First published in 1937, The Hobbit simply began, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." Tolkien developed this straightforward introduction into a description of hobbits and hobbit holes and the journey of a respectable hobbit named Bilbo Baggins who, until his friendship with a wizard known as Gandalf the Grey and a band of dwarves, never did anything adventurous or extraordinary (Doughan; "The Hobbit").
The Hobbit was an instant success for Tolkien and has been included on recommended reading lists for children since publication ("The Hobbit"; Doughan). An account of wizards, hobbits, dwarves, dragons, elves, legend, magic, and adventure, The Hobbit is much more than just a mere children's story. Contained within the tale of Bilbo are elements of ambition, reluctant heroism, resourcefulness, allegiance, unlikely friendship, and good versus evil, all timeless essentials of great literature.
After the vast success of The Hobbit, Tolkien was urged by his publisher to develop a sequel, which eventually consisted of six parts in a three-book collection entitled The Lord of the Rings (Doughan). Due to paper shortages after World War II, only one-third of the epic story was printed until popularity and success were ensured. The Fellowship of the Ring was first published in 1954 followed by The Two Towers and The Return of the King in 1955.
In Great Britain alone, sales of just hardback copies of The Lord of the Rings exceeded the breaking point after first publication. However, when a pirated paperback version was released in 1965, millions of Americans, especially the "Alternative Society" for which the novel became a sort of religious text, purchased and read The Lord of the Rings (Doughan).
With much of the same appeal as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings quickly became a classic and treasured tale after first publication and gained renewed interest in the late 1960's through the 1970's. A third resurgence of attention occurred in 2001 with the release of the film version of The Fellowship of the Ring, again in 2002 with The Two Towers, and finally in 2003 with The Return of the King, in which new readers explored the world of Middle-Earth and previous enthusiasts re-examined the great piece of literature.
Like The Hobbit and containing many of the same timeless elements, The Lord of the Rings is much more than just an exciting adventure story. As Frodo, at times rather reluctantly, along with help of Sam strives to destroy the Ring of the evil Sauron, The Lord of the Rings is an account of good versus evil. Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Merry, Pippin, and countless other characters also ambitiously endeavour against the evil of Middle-Earth. With the revival of forgotten allegiances, such as the dead of the mountain with Aragorn and Rohan with Gondor, good conquers evil in the end, an important concept in great literature and for humankind. Thus, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings box set deserves a definite position on a deserted island.
"Biography." Tolkien.co.uk. 2002. Harper Collins Publishers. 4 Sep. 2004. <http://www.tolkien.co.uk/frame.asp>
Doughan, David. "Who Was Tolkien?" 2002. The Tolkien Society. 6 Sep. 2004. <http://www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/biography.html>
"The Hobbit." Tolkien.co.uk. 2002. Harper Collins Publishers. 7 Sep. 2004. <http://www.tolkien.co.uk/books/hobbit.asp>
"The Lord of the Rings." Tolkien.co.uk. 2002. Harper Collins Publishers. 7 Sep. 2004. <http://www.tolkien.co.uk/books/lotr.asp>