What is the name of the 1936 lecture in which J.R.R. Tolkien defended Beowulf’s literary value?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1936 lecture defending Beowulf’s literary value was titled Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics. He delivered it as the British Academy’s Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture.

The lecture challenged approaches that treated Beowulf mainly as evidence for older history, folklore, or Germanic culture. Tolkien argued that the poem should be valued as a carefully made work of art, with its monsters and themes central to its design rather than disposable remnants.

The essay became highly influential in Beowulf scholarship and helped redirect attention toward the poem’s structure, imagery, and tragic vision. Tolkien’s engagement with Beowulf also influenced his own fiction, although the lecture is a work of literary criticism, not a chapter from The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings.