What was the title of J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1936 essay on Beowulf?
Answer
Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics
J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1936 essay on Beowulf was titled “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.”
Tolkien first delivered the work as a lecture at the British Academy in 1936. The essay challenged scholars who had concentrated heavily on historical information in the poem while treating its supernatural elements as secondary. Tolkien argued that the monsters were not ornamental distractions but essential to the poem’s design.
His argument helped establish Beowulf as a major literary artwork rather than merely a source of information about Anglo-Saxon society. Tolkien examined the poem’s balance, symbolism, and tragic movement, especially the contrast between youthful victories and the final dragon fight.
The title is sometimes shortened in casual references, but the complete published title is “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.” It is an essay of literary criticism, not a fictional story by Tolkien.