Tolkien, Beowulf, and Middle-Earth - an online study-day with Dr Sam Newton

Title-picture above: Sutton Hoo Barrow 6 (©Dr Sam Newton 15th May 2019). The rich red flowering sorrel grass covering the barrow recalls the little white flowers, simbelmynë, 'ever-mind', or 'forget-me-not', that grow on the barrows in The Lord of the Rings. Like the barrows that they adorn, they stand for “the preservation of the memory of ancient deeds and heroes in the expanse of years” (Tom Shippey, The Road to Middle-Earth [Harper-Collins 2005] p. 142).

Tolkien, Beowulf, and Middle-Earth - an online study-day with Dr Sam Newton FSA

Date: Friday 27th June 2025, from 10.15 - 11.15, 11.45 - 12.45, & 13.45 - c.15.00

An online study-day with Dr Sam Newton FSA on the ways in which Beowulf influenced the main literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Tolkien's lifelong love and study of the great Old English poem Beowulf became a major source of inspiration for episodes in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. We shall explore how Beowulf helps to amplify the significance of middle-earth itself and the depth of its history, the awesome reality of a dragon, the true majesty of an Old English king in his golden mead-hall, the power of ring-giving, the authenticity of the names of people and places, and the moving use of elegiac poetry.

Above: Gandalf in the Library of Minas Tirith (©H. Wynne, with kind premission).

Some Suggestions for Optional Background Reading

• Alexander, M. (tr.), The First Poems in English (Penguin Classics 2008).
• Carpenter, H., J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography (Allen and Unwin 1977).
• Clark, G., & D. Timmons (eds), J.R.R.Tolkien and his Literary Resonances: Views of Middle-earth (Greenwood Press, Westport & London 2000).
• Flieger, V., & C.F. Hostetter (eds), Tolkien’s ‘Legendarium’: Essays on ‘The History of Middle-earth’, Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction & Fantasy 86 (Greenwood Press, Westport & London 2000).
• Fulk, R. (ed.), Interpretations of Beowulf: A Critical Anthology (Indiana University 1991)
• Garmonsway, G., & J.Simpson, Beowulf and Its Analogues (Dent Everyman 1968, 1980).

• Lee, S., & E. Solopova, The Keys of Middle-earth: Discovering Medieval Literature through the Fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien (Palgrave Macmillan 2005).

• Shippey, T.A., J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century (Harper Collins 2000).
• Shippey, T.A., The Road to Middle-Earth: How J.R.R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology (revised and expanded edition, Harper Collins 2003).

• Tolkien. J.R.R., Finn and Hengest: The Fragment and the Episode, ed. Alan Bliss (Allen & Unwin, 1982).
• Tolkien, J.R.R., Tree and Leaf, Smith of Wootton Major, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son (Unwin London 1975).
• Tolkien, J.R.R. (tr. ), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Sir Orfeo, ed. C.Tolkien (Allen & Unwin 1975).
• Tolkien, C. (ed. & tr.), The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise (Nelson, London 1960).
• Shippey, T.A. (ed.), The Shadow-walkers: Jacob Grimm’s Mythology of the Monstrous (Brepols 2005).

• Tolkien, J.R.R., (ed. C. Tolkien), The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays (Allen & Unwin 1983).
• Tolkien, J.R.R., (ed. C. Tolkien), The Lost Road and Other Writings, The History of Middle-earth 5 (Unwin Hyman, London 1987).
• Tolkien, J.R.R., The Lord of the Rings (Harper Collins, 1995, or another edition)
• Tolkien, J.R.R., The Hobbit (Harper Collins, 1999, or another edition).
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (tr.), Beowulf – A Translation and Commentary, ed. C. Tolkien (Harper Collins 2014).Some Suggestions for Optional Background Reading

Highly recommended is Tom Shippey’s three-part special seminar series on J.R.R.Tolkien and Beowulf with Signum University, which Signum University have kindly made available online on YouTube:

1. The Monsters and the Critics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPBt05KUfzg

2. The Origins of England: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x98UBKDfl0E

3: The Glamour of Poesis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl8-pYYLNFQ

n.b. There is some slight technical awkwardness on some of these recordings, but still well worth following.

If readers find these links as useful as I have, you can make a donation to Signum University at https://signumuniversity.org/fund/

About Dr Sam Newton FSA

Sam Newton was awarded his Ph.D at the University of East Anglia in 1991. He published his first book, The Origins of Beowulf and the pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia, in 1993, and his second, The Reckoning of King Rædwald, in 2003. He has also published several papers, some of which are available on his website or on Academia.

He has lectured widely around the country and abroad for over thirty years and has contributed to many radio and television programmes, especially Time Team (now back in business as Time Team Digital). He is Director of Wuffing Education and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

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