What was J.R.R. Tolkien’s first published academic paper about the medieval poem Beowulf?

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

He delivered it at the British Academy on 25 November 1936. Tolkien argued that critics had focused too heavily on historical details and had undervalued the poem’s artistic structure, especially its treatment of monsters. His approach helped establish Beowulf as a major work of literature rather than merely a source of historical information.

The text was published in 1937 and became one of the most influential modern discussions of the poem. Tolkien’s scholarship on Beowulf also influenced his own creative writing, particularly through his interest in heroic societies, monsters, ancient languages, and the tension between fame and mortality.