J.R.R. Tolkien Webquest Worksheets PDF

Who Was J.R.R. Tolkien? 1. Where did Tolkien study? ________________________________________________________________________ 2. Tolkien published The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy while teaching where? ________________________________________________________________________ Early Life an...

Who Was J.R.R. Tolkien? 1. Where did Tolkien study? ________________________________________________________________________ 2. Tolkien published The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy while teaching where? ________________________________________________________________________ Early Life and Family 3. Where was Tolkien born? ________________________________________________________________________ 4. When was Tolkien born? ________________________________________________________________________ 5. Of what did Arthur Tolkien die? ________________________________________________________________________ 6. After Arthur Tolkien’s death, where did the family settle? ________________________________________________________________________ 7. How old was Tolkien when his mother died? ________________________________________________________________________ 8. After the death of their mother, who assumed the guardianship of Tolkien and his brother? ________________________________________________________________________ The original purchaser of this document is granted permission to reproduce the pages in needed quantities for the purchaser’s classroom only. Duplication for other classes or by other teachers or for use in wide distribution as within a school district or on the Internet in any form is strictly forbidden. Violations are subject to the penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. copyright © 2021 — Class Act Press — 3 Riverdale Ct. — Henderson, KY 42420 4 9. While in college, in what three areas did Tolkien specialize? ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ World War I 10. In WWI, Tolkien enlisted in as a lieutenant in what group? ________________________________________________________________________ 11. In what battle did Tolkien fight? ________________________________________________________________________ 12. Why was Tolkien released from military duty? ________________________________________________________________________ 13. When did Tolkien and Edith Bratt marry? ________________________________________________________________________ 14. At what university did Tolkien first work? ________________________________________________________ 15. Where did Tolkien become a professor? ________________________________________________________ 16. Besides Tolkien, name two other members of the Inklings. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 17. At Oxford, Tolkien spontaneously wrote a short line about what? ________________________________________________________________________ Books: ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ 18. The Hobbit is about the adventures of whom? ________________________________________________________________________ 19. When was The Hobbit published? ________________________________________________________________________ 20. In addition to writing The Hobbit, Tolkien also created more than 100 _____ for the book. ________________________________________________________________________ The original purchaser of this document is granted permission to reproduce the pages in needed quantities for the purchaser’s classroom only. Duplication for other classes or by other teachers or for use in wide distribution as within a school district or on the Internet in any form is strictly forbidden. Violations are subject to the penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. copyright © 2021 — Class Act Press — 3 Riverdale Ct. — Henderson, KY 42420 5 21. The Lord of the Rings was partially inspired by what? ________________________________________________________________________ 22. When was The Fellowship of the Ring released? ________________________________________________________________________ 23. After The Fellowship of the Ring, what are the next two parts of the trilogy? ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 24. Who is a wizard in The Lord of the Rings trilogy? ________________________________________________________________________ 25. Who is a dwarf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy? ________________________________________________________________________ Death 26. When did Tolkien retire from professorial duties? ________________________________________________________________________ 27. What is the title of Tolkien’s essay and poetry collection? ________________________________________________________________________ 28. What fantasy tale did Tolkien publish after he retired? ________________________________________________________ 29. When did Tolkien’s wife die? ________________________________________________________ 30. When did Tolkien die? ________________________________________________________ 31. How many children survived Tolkien? ________________________________________________________________________ The original purchaser of this document is granted permission to reproduce the pages in needed quantities for the purchaser’s classroom only. Duplication for other classes or by other teachers or for use in wide distribution as within a school district or on the Internet in any form is strictly forbidden. Violations are subject to the penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. copyright © 2021 — Class Act Press — 3 Riverdale Ct. — Henderson, KY 42420 6 Legacy and New Adaptations 32. How many copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings have been sold? _________________________________________________________ 33. Who edited The Silmarillion and The Children of Húrin? _________________________________________________________ 34. The Art of the Hobbit celebrated the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit by presenting what? _________________________________________________________ 35. Tolkien’s life was the feature of the biopic Tolkien, which was steeped with references to what? ________________________________________________________________________ The original purchaser of this document is granted permission to reproduce the pages in needed quantities for the purchaser’s classroom only. Duplication for other classes or by other teachers or for use in wide distribution as within a school district or on the Internet in any form is strictly forbidden. Violations are subject to the penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. copyright © 2021 — Class Act Press — 3 Riverdale Ct. — Henderson, KY 42420 7 Philologist, author, mythmaker and creator of “Middle Earth” 1. Of what was Tolkien a professor at Oxford University? ________________________________________________________________________ Early Life 2. What does the J.R.R. in Tolkien’s name stand for? ________________________________________________________________________ 3. When Tolkien was three, where did his mother bring him and his brother? ________________________________________________________________________ 4. After Tolkien and his brother were made wards of a priest, they first lived with aunts and then they lived where? ________________________________________________________________________ 5. In Tolkien’s later works, a dichotomy would be felt strongly between what two areas? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Education 6. In what two areas did Tolkien excel while attending King Edward’s School? ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 7. What five subjects did Tolkien study while attending Exeter College at Oxford? ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 8. When Tolkien quickly demonstrated an aptitude for philology, what did he begin to create? ________________________________________________________________________ 9. Where was Tolkien’s poem “From the many-willow’d margin of the immemorial Thames” first published? _________________________________________________________ The Great War 10. When did Tolkien complete his degree at Oxford? _________________________________________________________ The original purchaser of this document is granted permission to reproduce the pages in needed quantities for the purchaser’s classroom only. Duplication for other classes or by other teachers or for use in wide distribution as within a school district or on the Internet in any form is strictly forbidden. Violations are subject to the penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. copyright © 2021 — Class Act Press — 3 Riverdale Ct. — Henderson, KY 42420 10 11. During the time before Tolkien saw active duty in WWI, he wrote “Gobin Feet,” which was published in what book? ________________________________________________________________________ 12. For whom did Tolkien write “Gobin Feet”? ________________________________________________________________________ 13. In the Somme offensive, what happened to almost all of Tolkien’s closest friends? ________________________________________________________________________ 14. How long did Tolkien spend in and out of the trenches? ________________________________________________________________________ 15. Why was Tolkien sent back to England? __________________________________________________________ Academic Career 16. In Tolkien’s first job, what did he help to draft? __________________________________________________________ 17. When was Tolkien’s A Middle English Vocabulary published? __________________________________________________________ 18. During the early 1920s, Tolkien began serious work on creating languages that he imagine had been spoken by whom? ________________________________________________________________________ 19. The languages Tolkien created were based primarily on what two other languages? ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 20. What Tolkien work was a mythic history of men, elves, and other creatures? ________________________________________________________________________ 21. Tolkien made the first public presentation of his tales when he read “The Fall of Gondolin” to an appreciative audience where? _______________________________________________________________________ _ The original purchaser of this document is granted permission to reproduce the pages in needed quantities for the purchaser’s classroom only. Duplication for other classes or by other teachers or for use in wide distribution as within a school district or on the Internet in any form is strictly forbidden. Violations are subject to the penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. copyright © 2021 — Class Act Press — 3 Riverdale Ct. — Henderson, KY 42420 11 22. At the University of Leeds, Tolkien became of a professor of what? ________________________________________________________________________ 23. With whom did Tolkien collaborate for an edition of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”? ________________________________________________________________________ 24. When did Tolkien leave the University of Leeds? ________________________________________________________________________ 25. While at Leeds, Tolkien contributed to various magazines and books. Name two of the magazines or books that Tolkien contributed to while he was at Leeds. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Tolkien at Oxford 26. At Oxford, one of Tolkien’s most influential works was what lecture? ________________________________________________________________________ 27. What was the name of the Oxford group that met for conversation, drinks, and readings from their works-in-progress? __________________________________________________________ 28. What religion was Tolkien? __________________________________________________________ 29. What two topics did Tolkien and C. S. Lewis frequently debate? ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 30. What did Tolkien firmly believe about myths and fairy tales? ________________________________________________________________________ “In a hole in the ground . . .” 31. Where did Tolkien scribble the note “In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit”? ________________________________________________________________________ 32. Tolkien began to build a story about a short creature who inhabited a world with what name? ________________________________________________________________________ 33. Tolkien’s story grew into a story he told whom? ________________________________________________________________________ The original purchaser of this document is granted permission to reproduce the pages in needed quantities for the purchaser’s classroom only. Duplication for other classes or by other teachers or for use in wide distribution as within a school district or on the Internet in any form is strictly forbidden. Violations are subject to the penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. copyright © 2021 — Class Act Press — 3 Riverdale Ct. — Henderson, KY 42420 12 34. When it was published, what title did the publishing firm give the story? ________________________________________________________________________ Lord of the Rings 35. Stunned by the success of The Hobbit, what did the publisher ask for? _________________________________________________________ 36. What was the new title of Lost Tales? _________________________________________________________ 37. What did the sequel draw heavily on? ________________________________________________________________________ 38. How long did it take Tolkien to finish The Lord of the Rings? ________________________________________________________________________ 39. While writing The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien often left off his actual writing to hash out what two problems? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 40. What three areas did critic Philip Toynbee deplore about The Lord of the Rings? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 41. What three areas did W. H. Auden and C. S. Lewis laud about Lord of the Rings? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Tolkien’s Legacy (Note the misspelling of the word obscure in the second line.) 42. The author of this article says that The Lord of the Rings is unabashedly antimodern and cites that it is written in an almost _____ form, is packed with strange _____ and obscure historical details and lacks the modern emphasis on ______ . ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ The original purchaser of this document is granted permission to reproduce the pages in needed quantities for the purchaser’s classroom only. Duplication for other classes or by other teachers or for use in wide distribution as within a school district or on the Internet in any form is strictly forbidden. Violations are subject to the penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. copyright © 2021 — Class Act Press — 3 Riverdale Ct. — Henderson, KY 42420 13 43. The author of this article says that the melancholy _____ and fully realized _____ world in The Lord of the Rings are very modern. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 44. Tolkien denied any interpretation of The Lord of the Rings being an allegory and said it was a story to be taken how? ________________________________________________________________________ 45. The author of this article says the appeal of The Lord of the Rings lies in its beautifully realized world and in what three themes? ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Middle-earth after J.R.R. 46. When was The Silmarillion published? ________________________________________________________________________ 47. How many volumes are in The History of Middle-earth series? ________________________________________________________________________ The original purchaser of this document is granted permission to reproduce the pages in needed quantities for the purchaser’s classroom only. Duplication for other classes or by other teachers or for use in wide distribution as within a school district or on the Internet in any form is strictly forbidden. Violations are subject to the penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. copyright © 2021 — Class Act Press — 3 Riverdale Ct. — Henderson, KY 42420 14