Which 1936 J.R.R. Tolkien lecture became a landmark study of the Old English poem Beowulf?

Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics is the 1936 lecture by J.R.R. Tolkien that became a landmark study of Beowulf.

Tolkien delivered the lecture at Oxford on 25 November 1936. He argued that critics had focused too heavily on using the poem as historical evidence and had neglected its artistic unity. In his view, the monsters were not embarrassing interruptions but central to the poem’s design and meaning.

The lecture was published in 1937 and greatly influenced later Beowulf scholarship. Tolkien’s expertise in Old English shaped his understanding of the poem, while his attention to monsters and heroic tragedy also connects with themes in his fiction. It is distinct from On Fairy-Stories, Tolkien’s 1939 lecture about fantasy, fairy stories, and imaginative world-building.