title:Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit : Notes ... author:Hardy, Gene B. publisher:John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (US) isbn10 | asin:
print isbn13:9780822012863 ebook isbn13:9780822071211 language:English subject Tolkien, J. R. R.--(John Ronald Reuel),- -1892-1973.--Hobbit, Tolkien, J. R. R.-- (John Ronald Reuel),--1892-1973.--Lord of the rings. publication date:1977 lcc:PR6039.O32Z655 1977eb ddc:823 subject: Tolkien, J. R. R.--(John Ronald Reuel),- -1892-1973.--Hobbit, Tolkien, J. R. R.-- (John Ronald Reuel),--1892-1973.--Lord of the rings.
Page 1 The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit Notes by Gene B. Hardy, Ph.D. University of Illinois including Life of the Author Tolkien's Fictional World The Hobbit The Lord of the Rings Tolkien's Theme of Power History of Middle-Earth Chronology of Middle-Earth Suggested Theme Topics A Selected Bibliography INCORPORATED LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 68501
Page 2 Editor Gary Carey, M.A. University of Colorado Consulting Editor James L. Roberts, Ph.D. Department of English University of Nebraska ISBN 0-8220-1286-3 © Copyright 1977 by Cliffs Notes, Inc. All Rights Reserved Printed in U.S.A. 1999 Printing The Cliffs Notes logo, the names "Cliffs" and "Cliffs Notes," and the black and yellow diagonal-stripe cover design are all registered trademarks belonging to Cliffs Notes, Inc., and may not be used in whole or in part without written permission. Cliffs Notes, Inc. Lincoln, Nebraska
Page 3 Contents Life of the Author5 Tolkien's Fictional World6 The Hobbit12 The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring Book I19 Book II21 The Two Towers Book III 24 Book IV26 The Return of the Ring Book V 28 Book VI 32 Glossary of Names36 Tolkien's Theme of Power59 History of Middle-Earth65 The First Age66 The Second Age68 The Third Age70 A Brief Chronology of Middle-Earth73 Suggested Topics for Investigation74 Selected Bibliography75
Page 5 Life of the Author J. R. R. Tolkien was born January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein, South Africa. His father died when the boy was very young. Tolkien's mother had earlier returned home to England and Tolkien was reared and educated in Birmingham, one of the country's largest cities and, when his mother died when he was twelve, he was cared for by a Roman Catholic priest. Tolkien's university career at Oxford was interrupted by World War I, and a year after he joined the Lancashire Fusiliers, he married and served throughout the war until the Armistice was signed. He returned to college and received his M.A. degree in 1919. Always curious about languages, Tolkien was privileged to be chosen to work on the well-knownOxford English Dictionary. Afterward, he began a lifelong career of teaching and writing. His particular field of interest was Middle English and, not surprisingly, his first publications and his last focused on that area. For some twenty years, Tolkien was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College at Oxford. Eventually, he became a Fellow of the College and was also distinguished by receiving an Honorary Fellowship from Exeter College. During these years, he continued his study of medieval lore and published works on Chaucer andBeowulf.
In middle age, when he was forty-five, Tolkien published a novel for children,The Hobbit. It was an immediate success. The critics were lavish with their praise of Tolkien's "wholly original story of adventure," citing the "solidly delightful" portraits of dwarves, elves, goblins, and a dragon. The American edition was equally successful, continuing in print and growing in popularity through the years. Tolkien related in the foreword toThe Lord of the Ringsthat during
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the writing ofThe Hobbit, "glimpses" had come to him "unbidden" of matters more profound, both for good and evil, than had been treated inThe Hobbit. Though he had been working on an elvish language for many years and had provided it with a context of feigned history, he now turned to the ''discovery," as he put it himself, of the meaning of what he was beginning to envision. Thus was begunThe Lord of the Rings, which occupied him from 1936 until 1949. The first volume was not published until 1954, with the second
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