Editing The Lord of the Rings (section)

=== Background ===

{{further|Tolkien's legendarium}}

Although a major work in itself, ''The Lord of the Rings'' was only the last movement of a much older set of narratives Tolkien had worked on since 1917 encompassing ''The Silmarillion'',<ref name="Doughan 2006">{{cite web |last=Doughan |first=David |url=http://www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/biography.html |title=J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biographical Sketch |publisher=TolkienSociety.org |access-date=16 June 2006|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060303050751/http://www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/biography.html |archive-date=3 March 2006}}</ref> in a process he described as ''[[mythopoeia]]''.{{refn|Tolkien created the word to define a different view of myth from C. S. Lewis's "lies breathed through silver", writing the poem "[[Mythopoeia (poem)|Mythopoeia]]" to present his argument; it was first published in ''[[Tree and Leaf]]'' in 1988.<ref name=HammondScull620>{{cite book |last1=Hammond |first1=Wayne G. |author-link=Wayne G. Hammond |last2=Scull |first2=Christina |author2-link=Christina Scull |year=2006 |title=The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: II. Reader's Guide |title-link=The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |pages=620–622 |isbn=978-0-00-821453-1}}</ref>|group=lower-alpha}}

''The Lord of the Rings'' started as a sequel to Tolkien's work ''[[The Hobbit]]'', published in 1937.<ref name="genesis">{{harvnb|Carpenter|1977|pp=187–208}}</ref> The popularity of ''The Hobbit'' led George Allen & Unwin, the publishers, to request a sequel. Tolkien warned them that he wrote quite slowly, and responded with several stories he had already developed. Having rejected his contemporary drafts for ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', putting ''[[Roverandom]]'' on hold, and accepting ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]'', Allen & Unwin continued to ask for more stories about [[hobbit]]s.{{sfn|Carpenter|1977|p=195}}