“In the deep places he gives thought to music great and terrible; and the echo of that music runs through all the veins of the world in sorrow and in joy; for if joyful is the fountain that rises in the sun, its springs are in the wells of sorrow unfathomed at the foundations of the Earth.”

English writer and academic philologist

J. R. R. Tolkien was an English writer and academic philologist. He is best known for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, two works that helped define modern high fantasy. Tolkien wrote both books in the middle of the 20th century, with The Hobbit appearing in 1937 and The Lord of the Rings published in 1954 and 1955. His work is closely associated with invented worlds, languages, and epic storytelling, and his influence on fantasy literature remains enduring.