Master of Languages, Master of Middle- Earth: Tolkien as a Creative

Is it even possible not to consider a master of languages, creator of his own languages, and writer of legendary fantasies as creative? I think not. Is it even possible to not consider a creator of new worlds, new time periods, and new creatures as creative? Definitely not. Is it possible to use the own meaning of your name as an oxymoronic occasional writing pseudonym and not be creative? Um, no. Was J. R. R. Tolkien a creative? Absolutely he is. Born as John Ronald Reuel Tolkien in 1892 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Both sides of his family were English down to every last drop of blood, and after the death of his father in 1896, his mother and younger brother returned home to England.

The earliest recorded beginning of Tolkien's creative journey begins as a school aged boy when he saw coal trucks passing by his home with names of destinations that he found fascinating. After his mother tragically died from diabetes when Tolkien was 12, him and his younger brother were helped greatly by a family friend, Father Francis and later moved to be raised with their aunt. By this young age, Tolkien had already become a master in both Latin and Greek and was learning a myriad of other both ancient and modern languages as well and making up his own languages based on his knowledge of others.

Fast forward to 1917, after Tolkien had served in war and was now married, he continued his creativity into real life as well, considering him and his wife to each be a character from an early story of Tolkien's "Beren and Luthien." Tolkien then took on several roles as assistant and main professor at the University of Leeds and Oxford University, respectively. These universities are where he began to collaborate, much like Stravinsky did in creating his and ballets and other masterpieces. While his academic career was not marked with such legend as his storytelling career, he did publish several articles and lectures that changed the way readers viewed certain subjects, such as his essay called "English and Welsh" which is still used today.

What we all know Tolkien to be wildly famous for is the "Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings." This man was so creative that his entire journey through founding Middle Earth began while grading students' exams on which on student left a blank page and for no reason, even curious to himself, Tolkien wrote the words, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."

I need not say much more about his works involving Middle Earth, and if you don't know them, you probably are not a friend of mine, nor do I want you to be. But to tie this in with another well known creative, not only was Tolkien similar to Stravinsky in the way that he collaborated with colleagues to create the best outcome, but only to his own liking, Tolkien was also not accepted by many of his colleagues, the English Literature establishment, or even by his readers. But in my opinion, if you cannot at the very least appreciate the works of either of these creative geniuses of men, you do not have a creative bone in your own body.

https://www.tolkiensociety.org/author/biography/