What was J.R.R. Tolkien’s final academic lecture at Oxford, delivered in 1959?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s final academic lecture at Oxford in 1959 was his valedictory lecture.

The lecture marked Tolkien’s retirement from the Merton Professorship of English Language and Literature. A valedictory lecture is a formal farewell given at the end of an academic appointment, so the term describes the occasion rather than a fictional work or a general essay about fantasy.

Tolkien had already delivered several influential lectures. “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics,” given in 1936, became especially important in Old English scholarship. “On Fairy-Stories” originated as a lecture and was later published in expanded form, while “English and Welsh” was delivered in 1955.

These titles are easy to confuse because Tolkien’s academic prose circulated in books and collections as well as in lecture form. The 1959 event is specifically associated with his retirement and farewell to Oxford teaching.