Who were the Inklings?
The Inklings were a literary discussion group that used to meet in The Eagle and Child pub to praise the value of narrative in fiction and in particular to encourage the addition of fantasy elements. The reason the Inklings became and are still famous is because two of their members were none other than JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. The group was all male and it was at one of these meetings that Tolkien’s unfinished Lord of the Rings was read and discussed. The Inklings were mostly teachers and associated with Oxford University and met between 1930 and 1960. CS Lewis played a large part in the founding of the Inklings, the name being taken from a literary society at Oxford. Tolkien, when asked about the founding of the group stated that it was
A pleasantly ingenious pun in its way, suggesting people with vague or half-informed intimations and ideas plus those who dabble in ink. 
Other famous names such as W. H. Auden, T. S. Eliot, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Roger Lancelyn Green have all been described as Inklings, but they were friends of specific members rather than part of the group itself. JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis had been at odds over the English syllabus at Oxford when first they met but this was soon forgotten once they had discovered their mutual love for Norse mythology and the Scandinavian-inspired operas of Richard Wagner. Lewis and Tolkien became firm friends and Lewis later wrote
Friendship arises out of mere Companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which the others do not share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure (or burden). The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, ‘What? You too? I thought I was the only one’.
The Inklings were largely made up of (but not completely) of Christians and the faith was a current theme that ran through the discussions. The Inklings legacy can still be found on bookshelves around the world today. The group had a profound effect on the works that would go on to becomes The Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings.
Posted: May 19th, 2008
Author: Lee
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