Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 25, 2022

J. R. R. Tolkien drew on Beowulf when creating the fictional world he called Middle-earth for The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien (pictured), a fantasy author, linguist, and philologist, took many elements from the Old English poem Beowulf, including names, monsters, and heroic-age customs and beliefs. He emulated its style, creating an impression of depth and adopting an elegiac tone. Tolkien admired the way that the poem, written by a Christian looking back at a pagan past, used symbolism without becoming allegorical. The names of races, including ents, orcs, and elves, and placenames such as Orthanc and Meduseld, derive from Beowulf. The Riders of Rohan are distinctively Old English. The werebear Beorn in The Hobbit has been likened to the hero Beowulf himself; both names mean "bear" and both characters have enormous strength. Scholars have compared some of Tolkien's monsters, including Gollum, the trolls, and the dragon Smaug, to those in the poem.