J.R.R. Tolkien translated and edited Beowulf for the posthumous 2014 book Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary.
Tolkien was a major Beowulf scholar, and the poem influenced both his academic writing and his fiction. His famous 1936 lecture “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” helped redirect scholarly attention toward the poem’s artistic structure and its monsters, especially Grendel and the dragon.
The 2014 volume, edited by Christopher Tolkien, presents Tolkien’s prose translation together with commentary derived from his teaching and lectures. It also includes “Sellic Spell,” a related creative work based on Beowulf material. Tolkien’s translation was not published during his lifetime, so the 2014 edition made this important part of his scholarship available to general readers.
Beowulf is an Old English heroic poem about the warrior Beowulf, who fights Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and a dragon. It is not a Tolkien novel, although its monsters, heroic themes, and northern atmosphere strongly illuminate his imaginative work.