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Chris Straub

Mrs. Bratt

AP English Lit

February 1, 2019

Response to Tolkien’s Essay on Boewulf

In Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics J.R.R Tolkien gives his literary criticism on the

Old English poem Beowulf. The first point made by Tolkien is that the original meaning of the

work has been lost to interpretations crediting the book as something it is not. For example, he

says since the poem has mainly been identified as a historical document and was believed to be

“something that it was not – for example, primitive, pagan, Teutonic, an allegory (political or

mythical), or most often, an epic…” Tolkien provides an allegory with a story of a man who uses

some of the stones he inherited to build a tower in a field, leaving the rest where they lay. Years

later when people found the remaining stones which are older than the tower, they tear down the

tower to look for hidden messages.

Tolkien’s next main point is a presentation of his view on the work. He believes the poem

to be a story of a lone “man at war with the hostile world, and his inevitable overthrow in Time.”

He also notes the story contains a tragic element with the brevity of the man’s mortal life.

Tolkien identifies something which makes Beowulf different from epics such as The Odyssey is

the dragon and Grendel are both identified to be enemies of a Christian God, with the same God

assisting Beowulf, unlike the monsters in Greek or Roman poetry. Tolkien acknowledges one

can see the book as a Christian quest, with the protagonist “hemmed in a hostile world” doomed

to succumb to “an ancient theme: that man, each man and all men, and all their works shall die.”
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The author also speaks about the structure of the poem, saying, “It is essentially a

balance, an opposition of ends and beginnings. In its simplest terms it is a contrasted description

of two moments in a great life, rising and setting; and elaboration of the ancient and intensely

moving contrast between youth and age, first achievement and final death.” He notes that where

the beginning of the poem begins with a comparison of Beowulf to Hrothgar and the story of

Heorot, the end of the poem gives a recount of the tragedy of Beowulf.

I mostly agree with Tolkien’s thoughts and opinions on Beowulf, as it seems he does a

good job of removing biases and identifying possible sources of influence. Most of his main

points seem grounded in what has already been agreed upon or is identifiable in the text, without

making reaches too big to be plausible.