The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Volume 1: Chronology. Christina Scull

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      At least 23–30 August 1914 Tolkien stays at The White House, Northgate, Warwick. While there he writes to his Aunt May Incledon on 23 August, and to a Mrs Stafford in Oxford on 30 August, the latter to say that he would be coming up for October term at least. Possibly Tolkien stays in Warwick beyond 30 August, to be near Edith.

      Late September 1914 Tolkien visits his Aunt Jane Neave and his brother Hilary at Phoenix Farm, Gedling. By this time, Hilary has enlisted in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Tolkien having decided to finish his studies at Oxford before himself enlisting, he faces considerable family disapproval. See note. It is probably during this visit that he makes an undated drawing of Phoenix Farm in the same sketchbook that he used in Cornwall.

      24 September 1914 While at Phoenix Farm, Tolkien writes the poem The Voyage of Éarendel the Evening Star (*Éalá Éarendel Engla Beorhtast), inspired by the word or name Earendel in the Old English Crist. The mariner Éarendel (later Eärendel, Eärendil) will become a key figure in the mythology or legendarium (*‘The Silmarillion’) whose invention and revision will occupy Tolkien for the rest of his life. When, however, at some time in the autumn or early winter 1914, Tolkien shows his poem to G.B. Smith, he will admit that he does not yet know what it is really about, and will promise to ‘try to find out’ (quoted in Biography, p. 75). This may take him some time, as shown by an early attempt to recast the poem in a classical setting with ‘Phosphorus’ replacing ‘Éarendel’ as the protagonist. The poem is the germ from which the mythology evolved, rather than the first consciously written poem of the mythology.

      11 October 1914 Michaelmas Full Term begins.

      Michaelmas Term 1914 When Tolkien returns to Oxford, he finds that many of his friends have chosen to enlist. The Examination Schools having been commandeered, lectures are given elsewhere. Tolkien attends A.S. Napier’s lectures on Pearl on Tuesdays at 12.00 noon in the Ashmolean Museum, beginning 20 October, and on Beowulf on Thursdays and Saturdays at 12.00 noon in the Ashmolean, beginning 15 October; lectures by *Sir Walter Raleigh, the Professor of English Literature, on Chaucer and His Contemporaries on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11.00 a.m. at Magdalen College, beginning 13 October; and W.A. Craigie’s lectures on the Völsunga Saga on Thursdays in the Taylor Institution, beginning 15 October – at 5.00 p.m., according to the Oxford University Gazette, but Tolkien records it in a manuscript schedule for Michaelmas Term as from 2.00 to 4.00 p.m. This schedule suggests that Tolkien is no longer attending Kenneth Sisam’s classes (during the war, held at 40 Broad Street) or repeating those he had already attended; but he has weekly tutorials with Sisam, on Mondays for an hour at midday, at each of which he is to read an essay. If he has not done so already in Trinity Term 1914, he possibly attends lectures by Sir John Rhys on Welsh: The Mabinogion (White Book Text) on Tuesdays and Fridays at 5.00 p.m. at Jesus College, beginning 16 October. – Tolkien and Colin Cullis, the latter prevented from enlisting by poor health, decide to live in ‘digs’ rather than in college, and find rooms at 59 St John Street (see note).

      Mid-October 1914–June 1915 Although there will be no conscription until late in the war there is considerable pressure on all young men to join up, and great disapproval of those who do not. Tolkien is therefore pleased to discover the existence of a scheme by which he can prepare for the Army with the Officers Training Corps at Oxford while continuing to study, and need not go on active service until he has taken his degree. In this context, Tolkien drills in the University Parks from 9.00 to 10.00 a.m. on Mondays, 9.00–10.00 a.m. and 2.00–4.30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays, and 2.00–4.30 p.m. on Saturdays. He also usually attends one lecture per week, and classes in signalling and map-reading on free afternoons.

      Mid-October 1914 At about this time, Tolkien begins to retell the story of Kullervo from the Kalevala ‘somewhat on the lines of [William] Morris’s romances with chunks of poetry in between’ (letter to Edith Bratt, [October 1914], Letters, p. 7; see *Kalevala). He briefly drafts variant outlines of the story, then writes in full, filling just over twenty-one sides of foolscap paper; but when the story is about three-quarters complete he leaves it unfinished and drafts its conclusion only in outline. (Later Tolkien will transform the story of Kullervo into the tale of Túrin Turambar, one of the most important episodes in his mythology; see *‘Of Túrin Turambar’.) Among these papers, on the opposite side of a sheet containing a rough re-working of one of the poems in his Story of Kullervo, is the earliest extant version of Tolkien’s poem May Day, already considerably developed; but see entry for 20–21 April 1915.

      19 October 1914 At a meeting of the Stapeldon Society a hearty vote of confidence in all Exonians serving with His Majesty’s Forces is enthusiastically passed. When the issue of electing representatives for the Central Committee is raised, Tolkien points out that their election by the Stapeldon Society is, strictly speaking, out of order, but as there is no larger body left in the College due to the war the Society should arrogate to itself the right. The members discuss the redecoration of the Junior Common Room, and Tolkien is deputed to refer the matter to Reginald Blomfield, architect of the scheme.

      c. 23 October 1914 Despite occasionally having to drill in the rain and to clean his rifle afterwards, the extra duty suits Tolkien. He writes to Edith: ‘Drill is a godsend. I have been up a fortnight nearly, and have not yet got a touch even of the real Oxford “sleepies”’ (quoted in Biography, p. 73).

      27 October 1914 Tolkien is very active at a meeting of the Stapeldon Society, proposing a vote of censure, reporting a talk he had with the Sub-Rector concerning entertainment, and giving a warning to prospective officers. The Rector and Dr R.R. Marett lead a discussion of ‘Superman and International Law’ to which Tolkien also contributes. See note.

      3 November 1914 At a meeting of the Stapeldon Society Tolkien gives the House interesting statistics from a pamphlet entitled A Bathman’s Memoirs. Three members of the Society, including Tolkien, recount the narrow escapes they have had from a freshman on a cyclometer. In a debate that follows, Tolkien proposes the motion: ‘This House approves of spelling reform.’ The motion carries, 7 to 6.

      5 November 1914 Britain declares war on Turkey.

      10 November 1914 At a meeting of the Stapeldon Society Tolkien tells a story, according to the minutes, ‘which could not possibly have offended the tender feeling of the House. It also had the merits of being true’ (Exeter College archives). In a debate that follows he speaks against the motion: ‘This House deprecates an ideal of nationalism.’ The motion carries, 12 to 7. – Christopher Wiseman writes to Tolkien, asking him to set aside a few days in the Christmas vacation to stay with him in London, when Gilson and Smith will also be able to come.

      11 November 1914 Tolkien again borrows A Finnish Grammar by C.N.E. Eliot from the Exeter College library, presumably in conjunction with the essay he will read on 22 November, or with his work on The Story of Kullervo.

      Before 15 November 1914 Tolkien writes to Wiseman, commenting on the power of the T.C.B.S. to shake the world.

      15 November 1914 Wiseman writes to Tolkien, expressing a fear that the members of the T.C.B.S. – some now at Oxford, some at Cambridge – have been growing apart and no longer have the same interests. Nevertheless he does not think that either institution ‘can really have destroyed what made you and me the Twin Brethren in the good old school days before there was a T.C.B.S. apart from us and V[incent] T[rought].’ He is unhappy, but not judgemental, that Tolkien still has not told his friends the name of his fiancée.

      16 November 1914 Tolkien writes an eight-page letter to Wiseman. He has read parts of a letter from СКАЧАТЬ