What was the title of J.R.R. Tolkien's 1936 lecture that reshaped Beowulf studies?

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

Tolkien delivered the lecture as the Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture at the British Academy on 25 November 1936. It was published in 1937 and became one of the most influential modern discussions of the Old English poem Beowulf. Tolkien argued that critics had focused too heavily on historical sources and incidental details while undervaluing the poem as a work of art.

A central part of his argument was that the monsters—especially Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon—are not distractions from the poem's serious themes. They help organize its structure and explore mortality, courage, and the limits of human power. The lecture's title is sometimes shortened informally to “The Monsters and the Critics,” but the full published title begins with Beowulf.