J.R.R. Tolkien taught for much of his academic career in Oxford. He held academic posts at the University of Oxford and remained closely associated with the city for decades.
Tolkien became a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford in 1925, taking the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship. In 1945 he moved to the Merton Professorship of English Language and Literature, a position he held until his retirement in 1959. His academic specialties included Old English, Middle English, and historical linguistics.
Oxford was also the setting for important friendships and literary conversations. Tolkien belonged to the informal group known as the Inklings, which included C.S. Lewis and other writers. They discussed works in progress and often read drafts aloud.
His scholarly career and creative writing were closely connected. Tolkien’s knowledge of languages, medieval texts, and mythic storytelling shaped his invented languages and fictional histories. His Oxford life therefore influenced not only where he worked, but also how he built Middle-earth.