What was J.R.R. Tolkien’s academic field at Oxford University, where he became a professor?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s academic field at Oxford University was English language and literature.

Tolkien was a philologist, a scholar who studied languages and the historical development of texts. He held academic posts at the University of Leeds and the University of Oxford, where his work focused especially on Old and Middle English. His expertise in languages, medieval literature, and traditional narratives strongly influenced the construction of Middle-earth.

At Oxford, Tolkien served as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon from 1925 to 1945. He then became Merton Professor of English Language and Literature, a position he held until his retirement in 1959. His famous lecture “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics,” delivered in 1936, helped reshape modern scholarly discussion of the Old English poem.

Tolkien was also a writer of fiction, but he was not primarily an archaeologist or astronomer. His invented languages and legends grew from a professional interest in linguistic history and medieval literature.