What was J.R.R. Tolkien’s profession at Oxford University?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s profession at Oxford University included serving as Professor of Anglo-Saxon. He held the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford from 1925 to 1945.

In 1945, Tolkien became Merton Professor of English Language and Literature, a position he held until his retirement in 1959. His academic work focused on languages, philology, and medieval texts, especially Old English and Middle English.

Tolkien’s scholarly career directly influenced his fiction. His expertise in historical languages helped him construct invented languages such as Quenya and Sindarin. His 1936 lecture “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” also helped reshape modern academic discussion of the Old English poem Beowulf.