This course offers a deep analysis of Tolkien’s seminal essay “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics,” which truly changed the course of scholarship on the most important text in Tolkien’s Cauldron of Story. The essay began as Tolkien’s 1936 Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture to the British Academy and was published that year. Thanks to “Beowulf and the Critics” (2002) published by Michael D.C. Drout we have a wonderful edition of the early drafts. Tolkien’s essay brings to the fore the powerful achievement of the Beowulf poet in crafting an expression of celebration and defiance, of heroism and death. In this fun SPACE course, we will explore Tolkien’s attitudes and assumptions on the poem in greater detail. Students will gain a greater appreciation for the essay and for Tolkien’s legendarium.