Second half of October 1911 Tolkien 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 1911 Tolkien 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 1911 Tolkien writes a poem, Darkness on the Road.
7 November 1911 Tolkien writes a poem, Sunset in a Town.
10 November 1911 Tolkien is granted a certificate by the University Registry, Oxford, exempting him from the preliminary examination (Responsions). He had already passed the relevant subjects in the Oxford and Cambridge Higher Certificate in July 1910. See note.
21 November 1911 Tolkien attends a Smoking Concert at Exeter College. The programme includes an orchestra playing selections by Sullivan, Tchaikovsky, Monckton, and Lehár, banjo solos, songs, and humorous recitations.
24 November 1911 Tolkien attends a Smoking Concert at Exeter College at 8.00 p.m. The programme includes the orchestra playing Sullivan, Offenbach, Bizet, Gounod, Suppé, and Hérold, songs, and a piano solo.
25 November 1911 Tolkien first borrows A Finnish Grammar by C.N.E. Eliot (1890) from the Exeter College library. Having already read the Kalevala in translation, he wants to know something of the language in which it was written. He will later recall that
it was like discovering a complete wine-cellar filled with bottles of an amazing wine of a kind and flavour never tasted before. It quite intoxicated me; and I gave up the attempt to invent an ‘unrecorded’ Germanic language, and my ‘own language’ [the Elvish language Qenya, later Quenya, which he begins to devise, see *Languages, Invented] – or series of invented languages – became heavily Finnicized in phonetic pattern and structure…. I never learned Finnish well enough to do more than plod through a bit of the original. [letter to W.H. Auden, 7 June 1955, Letters, p. 214].
He also now has access to books which help him to study the Welsh language, which has fascinated him since childhood. These interests will take up much time which Tolkien should be devoting to his classical studies, and they will be at least partly responsible for his unsatisfactory performance when he takes Honour Moderations at Oxford in February 1913. In late 1914 or early 1915 he will write in a paper on the Kalevala (*On ‘The Kalevala’ or Land of Heroes): ‘When [Honour Moderations] should have been occupying all my forces I once made a wild assault on the stronghold of the original language and was repulsed with heavy losses’ (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford). – Tolkien also borrows volume 5 of the History of Greece by George Grote (1846–56) and the English Dialect Grammar by Joseph Wright (1905).
28 November 1911 Tolkien joins the King Edward’s Horse (*Societies and clubs), a territorial cavalry regiment, similar to the Officers Training Corps. Its membership limited to colonials, Tolkien qualifies because he was born in the Orange Free State. If he has not learned to ride before, he does so now.
December 1911 Tolkien continues to play rugby football. The Stapeldon Magazine of Exeter College for December 1911 will note (p. 110) that ‘the Freshmen produced some very sound forward material…. Tolkien is a winger pure and simple and might have had some consideration had he been but one in eight.’
?Last part of Michaelmas Term 1911 Tolkien and other students, mainly freshmen, form a new society, the Apolausticks (*Societies and clubs). He is its first President. The eleven members draw up a programme of meetings for Hilary Term 1912: these will be mainly discussions of various literary figures. Later programmes will include elaborate dinners and debates.
9 December 1911 Michaelmas Full Term ends.
Early to mid-December 1911 Tolkien returns to Birmingham. Early in the vacation he spends much of his time rehearsing for the performance of Sheridan’s The Rivals to be given on 21 December by members of the King Edward’s School Musical and Dramatic Society, augmented by himself and T.K. Barnsley. Other T.C.B.S. members are also prominent in the cast and organization: Christopher Wiseman as Sir Anthony Absolute, Rob Gilson as Captain Absolute, and G.B. Smith as Faulkland. (By now, Smith has become an accepted member of the T.C.B.S.) After the dress rehearsal, the cast march in full costume up Corporation Street to have tea in Barrow’s Stores.
14 December 1911 Tolkien attends the Oxford and Cambridge Old Edwardians Society Annual Dinner at the Midland Hotel, Birmingham, eight courses plus coffee.
15 December 1911 Tolkien takes part in the Old Boys’ Debate at King Edward’s School on the motion: ‘That this house approves the principle of gratuitous public service.’ Speaking in favour, he ‘declared that he felt so deeply on the subject that he had written a brochure upon it. The House requested him to read it, but it had unfortunately been left at home. Of the few magnificent quotations which were given from memory, none have survived. The Hon. gentleman then attacked the practicability of the scheme for payment of members, and applied it by analogy to school officers. The result would be financial and moral ruin’ (‘Debating Society’, King Edward’s School Chronicle n.s. 27, no. 191 (March 1912), p. 14). Among other speakers, Rob Gilson also argues in the affirmative, and T.K. Barnsley and Christopher Wiseman in the negative. The motion fails, 12 votes to 14.
16–19 December 1911 Tolkien stays with the Gilson family at their home, ‘Canterbury House’, at Marston Green near Birmingham. See note.
21 December 1911 Sheridan’s The Rivals is performed under the auspices of the King Edward’s School Musical and Dramatic Society at 7.30 p.m. in Big School. According to the King Edward’s School Chronicle,
the performance was a thorough success both artistically and financially…. J.R.R. Tolkien’s Mrs Malaprop was a real creation, excellent in every way and not least so in make-up. Rob Gilson as Captain Absolute made a most attractive hero, bearing the burden of what is a very heavy part with admirable spirit and skill; and as the choleric old Sir Anthony, C.L. Wiseman was extremely effective. Among the minor characters, G.B. Smith’s rendering of the difficult and thankless part of Faulkland was worthy of high praise. [‘The Musical and Dramatic Society’, n.s. 27, no. 191 (March 1912), p. 10]
Christmas 1911 Tolkien probably spends part of the vacation with his Incledon relatives at Barnt Green. They have the custom of performing theatrical entertainments during the holiday, including the farce Cherry Farm. probably written by Tolkien.
1911–1912 Drawings by Tolkien from this period reveal an interest in abstract ideas. Silent, Enormous, and Immense is dated December 1911. Firelight Magic, Sleep, and a ‘male caricature’ are dated to 1911–1912. Thought (Artist and Illustrator, fig. 33; and probably also Convention on its verso) and A Wish are dated to 1912. Other drawings which probably date from this time are Before (Artist and Illustrator, fig. 30), Ark!!!, and Afterwards (Artist and Illustrator, fig. 31).