What was J.R.R. Tolkien’s academic subject in his 1915 Oxford degree?

J.R.R. Tolkien earned his 1915 Oxford degree in English Language and Literature.

He studied at Exeter College, Oxford, after first beginning in Classics. Tolkien changed his course to the English School, where his interests in historical languages and medieval texts could develop more fully. He graduated with first-class honours in 1915.

His studies concentrated on Old and Middle English, closely related Germanic languages, and the literature of the medieval period. These subjects provided the scholarly foundation for his later work on Beowulf, Chaucer, glossaries, and historical linguistics, as well as for his invented languages and fictional histories.

A common misunderstanding is that Tolkien studied mythology as a standalone university subject. Mythology was central to his creative interests, but his formal Oxford discipline was English Language and Literature. His academic career later included major professorships in Anglo-Saxon and English language and literature.