J.R.R. Tolkien published Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics in 1936.
The work originated as a lecture delivered at Oxford on 25 November 1936. Tolkien argued that Beowulf should be valued as a work of literature, not treated merely as historical evidence about Germanic society. He placed the poem’s monsters, especially Grendel and the dragon, at the center of its artistic design.
Earlier scholarship often focused heavily on reconstructing historical information from the poem. Tolkien’s lecture redirected attention toward structure, theme, tone, and the relationship between the poem’s episodes. It became one of the most influential modern studies of Beowulf.
The essay also matters for understanding Tolkien’s fiction. His appreciation of heroic legend, monsters, layered history, and archaic language appears throughout his creative work. The date 1936 precedes The Hobbit’s 1937 publication by one year.