The Inklings were the Oxford writers’ group that met with C.S. Lewis for literary discussions at The Eagle and Child pub. Their meetings generally involved reading drafts aloud, debate, and conversation about myth, language, and faith.
Important members included J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and Lewis’s brother Warren. The group was informal rather than a society with membership rules, and attendance varied over the years.
The Eagle and Child was nicknamed the Bird and Baby. Although the Inklings are strongly associated with that pub, they also met in Lewis’s rooms at Magdalen College. Their discussions helped Tolkien and Lewis test ideas that later appeared in major works of fantasy and literary criticism.