Beowulf and the CriticsThe most important essay in the history of Beowulf scholarship, J.R.R. Tolkien's "Beowulf: the monsters and the critics" has been much studied and discussed. But scholars of both Beowulf and Tolkien have to this point been unaware that Tolkien's essay was a redaction of a much longer and more substantial work, Beowulf and the critics, which Tolkien wrote in the 1930s and probably delivered as a series of Oxford lectures. This critical edition of Beowulf and the critics presents both unpublished versions of Tolkien's lecture, each substantially different from the other and from the final, published essay. The edition included a description of the manuscript, complete textual and explanatory notes, and a detailed critical introduction that explains the place of Tolkien's Anglo-Saxon scholarship both in the history of Beowulf scholarship and in literary history. |
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Page 37
... less and different we may assume in ancient days , we still cannot dismiss the author and thrust him back into the tribal genius . The ancient legends mention no less the particular fame of the maker of verse such as Heorrenda than the ...
... less and different we may assume in ancient days , we still cannot dismiss the author and thrust him back into the tribal genius . The ancient legends mention no less the particular fame of the maker of verse such as Heorrenda than the ...
Page 114
... less esteemed the other heroes unless of course they are merely counting the heads of slain in the spirit of the game - hunter . ― The heroic lay may have dealt in its own way , more brief and vigorous perhaps , though perhaps also at ...
... less esteemed the other heroes unless of course they are merely counting the heads of slain in the spirit of the game - hunter . ― The heroic lay may have dealt in its own way , more brief and vigorous perhaps , though perhaps also at ...
Page 120
... less learned than the days of Eadgar and Æthelred II , but more learned and certainly not less two - sided . The accidents of survival , which have left so little of the native tradition , should not obscure this fact . Not all the ...
... less learned than the days of Eadgar and Æthelred II , but more learned and certainly not less two - sided . The accidents of survival , which have left so little of the native tradition , should not obscure this fact . Not all the ...
Contents
Seeds Soil and Northern | 1 |
Beowulf The Critics A | 31 |
Beowulf The Critics B | 79 |
Copyright | |
5 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
Ælfric allegory allusions ancient Anglo Anglo-Saxon battle Beowulf Cain century Chambers Christian Christopher Tolkien criticism Danes dark death deeds dragon Earle edition England English Literature epic fate Fight at Finnsburg Folio folk-tale Footnote Text Frisian Geats Germanic Godes gods gold Grendel Guthlac heathen hell Heorot hero Heroic Age historical document Hroðgar Hrothgar Hygelac Icelandic Ingeld inserted J. R. R. Tolkien Jusserand King Klaeber language later Latin leaf left margin extends legend literary London Lord main text manuscript medieval metod monsters mythology Northern Old English Old Norse original Oxford pagan passage Paulinus Paulinus of Nola pencil line poet poetic poetry praise quotation reference Saga Saxon says sceal scholars Scyldings Shippey square bracket story tale Teutonic theme things Thorkelin top margin tradition trans translation University Press verse verso Virgil Völuspá W. P. Ker Widsith words written wyrd þæt