 Incidents in both "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" are similar in narrative and style to the novel, and its overall style and imagery have been suggested as an influence on Tolkien.Tolkien was inspired by early Germanic, especially Old English, literature, poetry, and mythology, which were his chosen and much-loved areas of expertise.These sources of inspiration included Old English literature such as "Beowulf", Norse sagas such as the "Volsunga saga" and the "Hervarar saga", the "Poetic Edda", the "Prose Edda", the "Nibelungenlied", and numerous other culturally related works.