The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again Allusions and Cultural References

General Influences

There are no direct references in The Hobbit. Nowhere does Tolkien say, "Check out Beowulf! I like it and it's good!" But there are many, many texts that have influenced The Hobbit. We mention several in "In a Nutshell." We also highly recommend Douglas A. Anderson's Annotated Hobbit and Tom Shippey's The Road to Middle-earth for more.