--J.R.R. Tolkien--

     John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, or better known as J.R.R. Tolkien, is a greatly admired author. His two most popular stories, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, offers readers a chance to escape to another world inhabited by magic creatures. His life followed the classic rags to riches pattern. He began on the upside of poverty and ended life rich and well-known.
    J.R.R. Tolkien was born January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein, South Africa to an English couple. After his father, Arthur Reuel Tolkien, died February 15, 1896, Tolkien, his brother Hilary and their mother Mabel moved to England. In 1900, Mabel decided to be part of the Roman Catholic Church. As a result, her boys grew to be strong Catholics. Mabel passed away from diabetes November 14, 1904. Her boys stayed at a boarding house and were taken care of  by the parish priest, Father Francis Morgan. At the age of sixteen, Tolkien met his future wife, Edith Bratt, at the boarding house. Father Francis disallowed him to have any contact with Edith until he reached the age of twenty-one. When Tolkien was nineteen, he studied at Exeter College, Oxford, quitting the Classics course after finding he was more suited for the English language and Literature courses. Instead of admitting himself for service at the beginning of World War I, he studied more, earining a first-class degree in June of 1915. Eventually, he entered the war as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers. After finding he needed to fight in France, he married Edith. Four months later in France, he contracted "trench fever" and had to return to England. Tolkien and Mabel had four children together and lived a happy life in England. He held jobs as a professor, a tutor, a philologist, a poet, and an author. He lived until September 2, 1973. He is buried with his wife in Oxford.
     Tolkien published many works over his life. This includes Mr. Bliss, The Father Christmas Letters, The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, The Hobbit, Smith of Wootton Major, and The Lord of the Rings among others. The Lord of the Rings brought him fame and wealth. People would visit his house and call him asking questions about the story. It got to where he had to change his address and take his phone number out of the directory. Tolkien and his wife finally had to move to Bournemouth to get away from the attention.
     Tolkien was one of the founders of the Inklings, a group of friends who lived in Oxford. They met to visit and discuss their unfinished literary works. Some of the members include Neville Coghill, Hugo Dyson, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams, and C.S. Lewis.
     J.R.R. Tolkien was a brilliant writer who could stimulate the imaginations of others. He had a special talent that many people don't have. He employed it by using words to transport people to another world that didn't exist. His stories are enjoyed now just as they were then and will still be loved for generations more.