What is the name of J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1936 lecture later published as a landmark Beowulf essay?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1936 lecture was titled Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.

Tolkien delivered the lecture at Oxford on 25 November 1936. It challenged approaches that treated Beowulf mainly as a historical document or a collection of mythological clues, arguing that the poem should be valued as a carefully shaped work of literature.

His discussion emphasized the artistic importance of Beowulf’s monsters, especially Grendel and the dragon. Tolkien argued that removing these figures would damage the poem’s central structure and meaning.

The lecture became one of the most influential modern studies of Beowulf. It was published in 1937 and helped redirect scholarly attention toward the poem’s artistry. It is distinct from Tolkien’s later essay On Fairy-Stories, which discusses fantasy and the purposes of fairy tales.