The medieval poem Tolkien discussed in his influential 1936 lecture was Beowulf.
Tolkien delivered the lecture “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” in 1936. He argued that scholars had undervalued the poem by concentrating too heavily on its historical details and treating its monsters as secondary material. Tolkien instead presented the poem as a carefully shaped work of art.
His lecture helped change modern Beowulf criticism. He emphasized the structural importance of the poem’s two great enemies, Grendel and the dragon, and described the poem as a balanced composition concerned with courage, mortality, and the passing of heroic societies.
The lecture was published in 1937 and became one of the most influential essays in Old English studies. Tolkien’s approach also helps explain why mythic creatures and heroic legend mattered so greatly in his own fiction.