Exploring Tolkien’s Beowulf with Dr. Shippey

It was some time ago that I discovered this three-part lecture series by Dr. Tom Shippey on Tolkien’s translation of Beowulf, and it has been on my mind to share it with you.  Dr. Shippey is a respected Tolkien scholar, specializing, like Tolkien, in Old and Middle English language and literature.¹  His lectures are always clear and concise and remarkably easy to follow, despite being highly academic.  This specific lecture was hosted by Signum University and the recordings were posted on YouTube, which I will link below.

The first lecture focuses on Tolkien’s essay, “Beowulf: The Monster and the Critics.”  Dr. Shippey describes the structure of Beowulf as a poem and considers the difficulty the writer of Beowulf had in reconciling pagan myth with his Christian beliefs—a problem Tolkien had himself.  Listen specifically from 52:00 to 53:35 to hear a remarkable parallel between Beowulf and The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

In Part 2, Dr. Shippey lectures on the origins of England in light of Tolkien’s translation of Finn and Hengest.  Part of the tale of Finn and Hengest is relayed in Beowulf.²  Also, more on what Dr. Shippey calls the “Granny Problem” and the challenge of legitimising fairies and elves in Christian mythology.

In the third and final part, Dr. Shippey covers Tolkien’s translation of Beowulf and discusses some of the errors and confusions made by the scribes who recorded Beowulf.  He also explains the history surrounding the legend of Scyld Scefing, the king whose funeral is held at the beginning of Beowulf.

This series of recorded lectures is well worth watching if you are interested in Beowulf at all, especially as a work in itself.  They are very technical³ and rather long (about 1.5 hours each, mostly because—joy of joys!—Dr. Shippey answers all the students’ questions at the end), but Dr. Shippey offers wonderful insight into the world, history, and culture of Beowulf, which in turn lends perspective to some of Tolkien’s own work.

Related posts about Beowulf:
Beowulf:  Seamus Heaney vs. J.R.R. Tolkien: Comparing the two translations
Yet Another Translation of Beowulf: On John Lesslie Hall’s translation

Notes:

¹Dr. Shippey is perhaps one of the few (if not the only) Tolkien scholars left who knew Tolkien personally.  Dr. Shippey also held the Chair of English Language and Medieval English Literature at the University of Leeds, a position once held by Tolkien himself.

²Lines 867-951 in Tolkien’s translation; lines 1070-1158 in Heaney’s translation.

³Even more so than “The Feminine Principle in Tolkien,” which I shared with you earlier.