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

(Quoted in Giampaolo Canzonieri, ‘Tolkien at King Edward’s School’, Tolkien and Philosophy , ed. Roberto Arduini and Claudio A. Testi (2014), p. 149.)

August–early September 1911Ronald joins a walking tour in the Swiss Alps organized by the Brookes-Smith family, along with his Aunt Jane Neave and his brother Hilary. See note . Both he and Colin Brookes-Smith, at that time a young boy, will later recount parts of the holiday, from which the following seems a reasonable reconstruction of events. The party apparently numbers twelve at the start. The Brookes-Smiths and their guests travel from England to Innsbruck, Austria by train and boat, and from there make their way to *Switzerland. They proceed mainly on foot, by mountain paths avoiding roads, carrying heavy packs, sometimes sleeping rough in barns, sometimes staying in inns or small hotels, often cooking and eating in the open. Their route takes them from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen, Mürren, and the Lauterbrunnental, over the two Scheidegge to Grindelwald past the Eiger and the Mönch, and on to Meiringen, where they have a fine view of the Jungfrau. They then cross the Grimsel Pass to reach the Rhône and Brig.

From there (according to Tolkien, though he does not name the village) they make their way upwards again and stay at a châlet inn in Belalp at the foot of the Aletsch glacier. Ronald will later recall several incidents while in Belalp, including the fun he and others had by temporarily damming a rill that ran down the hillside towards the inn. The party venture onto the glacier a few days later, where some of the members, including Ronald, pose for a photograph ( The Tolkien Family Album , p. 31) and Ronald comes ‘near to perishing’ in an avalanche: ‘the member of the party just in front of me (an elderly schoolmistress) gave a sudden squeak and jumped forward as a large lump of rock shot between us. About a foot at most before my unmanly knees’ (letter to Michael Tolkien, after 25 August 1967, Letters , p. 393; Colin Brookes-Smith, however, will recall that an avalanche occurred when the party was returning to Arolla – see below – from a day trip to a high-altitude hut).

From Brig (according to Colin Brookes-Smith) the party travels to Visp and Stalden, over a high pass from St-Niklaus to Gruben, over the Forcletta Pass to Grimentz, and on to Haudères, Arolla, and eventually Sion. Ronald will recall ‘our arrival, bedraggled, one evening in Zermatt and the lorgnette stares of the French bourgeoises dames. We climbed with guides up to [a] high hut of the Alpine Club, roped (or I should have fallen into a snow-crevasse), and I remember the dazzling whiteness of the tumbled snow-desert between us and the black horn of the Matterhorn some miles away’ ( Letters , p. 393).

For Ronald this holiday will be a seminal experience. In later years he will often remark (like Bilbo in * The Lord of the Rings ) that he would like to see mountains again, or say that some of his experiences on his trip to Switzerland were incorporated into his writings, for instance the ‘thunder-battle’ in * The Hobbit , Chapter 4. He will also note that the Silverhorn in the Alps is ‘the Silvertine ( Celebdil ) of my dreams’ ( Letters , p. 392). The scenery around the Lauterbrunnental and Mürren almost certainly will influence how he visualizes and draws Rivendell and Dunharrow in Middle-earth, while the Alps will appear as the Misty Mountains in pictures such as Bilbo Woke up with the Early Sun in His Eyes for The Hobbit ( Artist and Illustrator , fig. 113; Art of The Hobbit , fig. 39).

17 August 1911Christopher Wiseman writes to thank Ronald for postcards he sent from Switzerland.

September 1911Ronald writes a poem, The New Lemminkäinen , in the style of the Kalevala , based on Kirby’s translation.

4 October 1911Rob Gilson as Librarian of King Edward’s School writes to Ronald, pointing out that the latter has not returned two books, including the first volume of the Kalevala , to the School library, nor has he handed over the keys to the tea closet or the fine box. He thinks it a pity that Ronald, who is to play Mrs Malaprop in a performance of The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan at King Edward’s School in December, will not return to Birmingham until 7 October, the day after T.K. Barnsley (who is to play Bob Acres) leaves, so they will not be able to rehearse together. Gilson asks Ronald to read his part with him on the evening of 9 October.

End of the second week in October 1911Ronald and L.K. Sands, another former pupil of King Edward’s School, are driven by R.W. Reynolds to Oxford in a car, then a novelty. Ronald will later recall that the weather was still hot, and everyone seemed to be dressed in flannels and punting on the river. He takes lunch at the Mitre Hotel (*Oxford and environs), and considers it a privilege to do so. Now he takes up residence in Exeter College; his rooms, no. 7 on the no. 8 staircase three flights up in a building known as the ‘Swiss Cottage’, comprise a bedroom and sitting room overlooking Turl Street. He will settle in quickly and make friends. He is one of 99 Roman Catholic students at Oxford, and one of 37 Catholics among 921 freshmen. (According to an article in the London Standard (‘Freshmen at Oxford’, 21 October 1911, p. 5), the last number is close to the Oxford average, about 200 fewer than those matriculating at Cambridge, and with fewer foreign students than usual). A new Roman Catholic chaplain, Father Lang of Brighton, has replaced the ailing Monsignor Kennard. Two second-year Catholic students, probably *Anthony Shakespeare and *B.J. Tolhurst, will take Tolkien in hand. See note .

15 October 1911Michaelmas Full Term begins at Oxford University.

17 October 1911Tolkien matriculates at Oxford.

Michaelmas Term 1911Tolkien begins to read Literae Humaniores or Classics, mainly Greek and Latin authors but also Philosophy and Classical History. During his first five terms at Oxford he will attend lectures and classes to prepare himself for his first examination, Honour Moderations (popularly ‘Hon. Mods’), which he will take in February 1913. During this term he almost certainly attends lectures by *L.R. Farnell on Agamemnon by Aeschylus in translation, a set text, on Wednesdays and Fridays at 10.00 a.m. at Exeter College, beginning 18 October. For lectures on the other books set for Honour Moderations – Demosthenes, Homer, Plato, Sophocles, Euripides, Cicero, Tacitus, Virgil – he has a wide choice. Having chosen Comparative Philology as his Special Subject, he attends lectures by Joseph Wright on Gothic Grammar with Translation of the Gospel of St Mark, at 12.15 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Taylor Institution, beginning 19 October. But he also takes advantage of other aspects of Oxford life: clubs and societies, and entertainments, sometimes to the detriment of his studies. See note .

Second half of October 1911Tolkien writes a poem, From Iffley (* From the Many-Willow’d Margin of the Immemorial Thames ), describing Oxford as seen from the river at a village south-east of the city.

31 October 1911Tolkien attends the Annual Freshman’s Wine at Exeter College. This begins at 8.45 p.m. with an entertainment, mainly of songs, and continues at 10.00 p.m. with a dance in the hall. Tolkien collects many signatures on his souvenir programme.

6 November 1911Tolkien writes a poem, Darkness on the Road .

7 November 1911Tolkien writes a poem, Sunset in a Town .