J. R. R. Tolkien's influences J. R. R. Tolkien's influences While highly creative, the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien was influenced by a number of sources. Tolkien was inspired by his academic fields of philology and early Germanic literature, especially poetry and mythology, as well as a wide range of other beliefs, culture, and experiences. "The Lord of the Rings" is a sequel to "The Hobbit" and so shares influences with it. At the same time, it is a novel which is much greater in scale and scope and so encompasses many other influences as well. Tolkien once described "The Lord of the Rings"
Reception of J. R. R. Tolkien Fairy Stories" is of some importance to the literary genres of fantasy or mythopoeia. His 1930 lecture "A Secret Vice" addressed artistic languages at a time when the topic was of very limited visibility compared to the utilitarian projects of auxiliary languages. His 1955 valedictory lecture "English and Welsh" expounds upon his philosophy of language, his notion of native language and his views on linguistic aesthetics (c.f. "cellar door"). Smith (2007) is a monograph on Tolkien's philosophy of language. Tolkien fandom is an international, informal community of fans of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially of the Middle-earth