What is the title of J.R.R. Tolkien’s academic lecture that became an influential essay on Beowulf?

Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics is the title of J.R.R. Tolkien’s influential lecture and essay on Beowulf.

Tolkien delivered the lecture at the British Academy in 1936. He argued that earlier scholars had paid too much attention to using Beowulf as evidence about history, archaeology, or Germanic society and had undervalued the poem as a work of literature.

The lecture defended the poem’s monsters, especially Grendel and the dragon, as central to its artistic structure rather than embarrassing distractions. Tolkien’s argument helped change modern approaches to Beowulf and encouraged readers to take its imaginative design and symbolism seriously.

The essay became one of the most important works of twentieth-century Beowulf scholarship. Tolkien’s expertise in Old English informed both his criticism and his creative writing. His engagement with Beowulf also helped shape features of The Hobbit, including its dragon, treasure hoard, heroic atmosphere, and echoes of Old English legend.