What was J.R.R. Tolkien’s Oxford position from 1945 to 1959?

J.R.R. Tolkien was Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford from 1945 to 1959. He held the position at Merton College after leaving the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College.

The Merton post covered a broader field than Tolkien’s earlier chair. His teaching and scholarship continued to involve historical linguistics, medieval literature, and the development of English. Tolkien retired from Oxford in 1959, although he continued writing, revising, corresponding, and working on his legendarium.

This appointment is sometimes confused with Tolkien’s earlier Oxford professorship because both were highly influential in his career. Tolkien also taught at the University of Leeds from 1920 to 1925. His academic expertise helped him analyze texts such as Beowulf, while his invented languages and stories developed alongside that scholarly work rather than replacing it.