Beowulf's Mark on Middle-earth
By Madison Shaw
J.R.R. Tolkien, author of “The Lord of the Rings and “The Hobbit,” built the world of Middle-earth by reimagining medieval myths. That creative process was the focus of University of Colorado Boulder teaching associate professor Avedan Raggio’s lecture “Beowulf and Tolkien: Source Criticism and Examples” on Thursday, Oct. 9, at the Meadows Library in Boulder.
Raggio, who teaches in CU Boulder’s Nordic program in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, explored how Tolkien drew from sources such as Norse sagas, folklore and the Old English epic “Beowulf” to shape his stories. Raggio explained that studying these influences helps readers better understand Tolkien’s work and shows how creative writing often builds on earlier traditions.
“The functional definition of source criticism is that it lets us interact with the author, what they studied, what they brought from those studies to their work, and what they wanted to challenge or correct,” Raggio said.
Raggio emphasized Tolkien’s belief that “Beowulf” should be appreciated first as poetry rather than treated only as a historical document. Tokien criticized scholars who focused narrowly on extracting historical facts while overlooking the poem’s monsters and imaginative elements. Tolkien compared that approach to dismantling a stone tower to examine its materials while ignoring that the tower was built to offer a view of the sea.
Raggio also highlighted how Tolkien adapted elements from older texts into his own characters and narratives. Smaug, the dragon in “The Hobbit,” shares traits with both the dragon in “Beowulf” and Fafnir from the Norse “Saga of the Volsungs.” Tolkien took those influences and made something new by giving his dragon a voice, personality and clear motive. “Smaug is a combination of Fafnir and the Beowulf dragon,” Raggio said.
Raggio pointed to another example in “The Two Towers,” where Tolkien reimagined the “challenge at the gates” scene from “Beowulf.” Instead of a triumphant welcome, Tolkien created a tense confrontation between Gandalf and King Theoden’s corrupted court. “Gandalf comes with help, but his help is hope,” Raggio said, noting that Tolkien portrayed heroism as the restoration of courage rather than reliance on physical strength.
For Boulder resident Rusty Osborne, the talk changed how he views creativity. “There’s so much emphasis on originality and not taking from others,” Osborne said. “Hearing how Tolkien repurposed stories to make them modern and meaningful really stuck with me. It makes it easier as an artist to feel okay about using old things and recycling them in new ways.”
Osborne described himself as a lifelong Tolkien fan and said he plans to approach the author’s work “in a different light” as he rereads “The Silmarillion” and finally tackles “Beowulf.”
Raggio ended the lecture by encouraging the audience to read the original texts that shaped Tolkien’s writing, including “The Saga of the Volsungs” and “The Poetic Edda.” She encouraged attendees to see source criticism as a tool that deepens understanding rather than diminishes it. “Acknowledge Tolkien’s work as art first,” she said. “Then let source criticism enrich what you already love.”