J.R.R. Tolkien studied Classics at Oxford before specializing in English.
Tolkien entered Exeter College, Oxford, in 1911 and initially studied Classics, the languages and literature of ancient Greece and Rome. His academic interests soon shifted toward English language and literature, particularly the older forms of the language and its historical development.
At Oxford, Tolkien changed his course of study from Classics to English Language and Literature. He graduated in 1915 with first-class honours. His training in philology, the historical study of languages, became central to both his academic career and his creative work.
This early subject is sometimes confused with Tolkien’s later teaching field. He became a professor of Anglo-Saxon and later of English Language and Literature. Classics remained part of the intellectual background that shaped his interests, but English and philology became the main foundations of his professional life.