J.R.R. Tolkien’s major 1936 lecture about the Old English poem Beowulf was titled “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.”
Tolkien delivered the lecture as the Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture at the British Academy. It was published in 1937 and became one of the most influential modern discussions of Beowulf. Tolkien argued that the poem should be valued as a work of art, not merely as evidence for reconstructing Germanic history or language.
He defended the poem’s monsters, especially Grendel, his mother, and the dragon, against scholars who treated them as distracting folklore. Tolkien saw the conflict between Beowulf and the monsters as central to the poem’s design and meaning.
The lecture also influenced fantasy criticism. Tolkien’s attention to mythic structure, heroic tragedy, and the dragon’s role helps explain why his own fiction gives monsters serious narrative and moral importance.