J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous 1936 lecture “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” focused on the Old English poem Beowulf. The lecture was delivered at the British Academy on 25 November 1936.
Tolkien argued that critics had paid too much attention to the poem’s historical sources and not enough attention to its artistic structure. He defended the importance of its monsters, especially Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon, treating them as central to the poem rather than embarrassing leftovers from primitive storytelling.
The lecture became one of the most influential modern works of Beowulf criticism. It helped redirect scholarly attention toward the poem as a work of literature and shaped later understanding of its themes, balance, and tragic design.
Tolkien’s expertise in Old English also influenced his fiction. Names, languages, heroic traditions, and dragon imagery in Middle-earth reflect his deep engagement with early Germanic and English literature.