What was J.R.R. Tolkien’s academic field at Oxford when he became Merton Professor of English Language and Literature?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s academic field at Oxford was English language and literature when he became Merton Professor of English Language and Literature.

Tolkien held the Merton Professorship from 1945 until his retirement in 1959. Merton College, Oxford, was his academic home during this period. His work combined language history, medieval literature, philology, and literary criticism, rather than treating imaginative writing as separate from scholarship.

Before joining Merton, Tolkien had been Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1945. He then moved to the Merton chair, whose title reflects the broader scope of English studies. His lectures and essays on works such as Beowulf influenced generations of students and scholars.

Tolkien’s fiction grew alongside this academic career. His knowledge of Old and Middle English, Germanic languages, and medieval poetry contributed to the names, themes, and narrative traditions of Middle-earth.