J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous lecture “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” concerned the Old English poem Beowulf.
Tolkien delivered the lecture in 1936, and it was published in 1937. He argued that critics had focused too heavily on using Beowulf as historical evidence and had undervalued its artistic unity. Tolkien defended the poem’s monsters—especially Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon—as central to its meaning rather than embarrassing leftovers from an earlier age.
The lecture became highly influential in Beowulf scholarship. Tolkien’s expertise in Old English came from his academic work, and his close attention to language, structure, and imaginative effect helped change how the poem was read in universities.
The Wanderer, The Battle of Maldon, and The Dream of the Rood are also important Old English poems, but they are separate works. Tolkien studied and taught a broad range of early English texts; the title of this landmark lecture specifically names Beowulf.