Many people may not associate one of the most remarkable story tellers of the twentieth century, J.R.R. Tolkien, with Beowulf, the first great heroic poem in English literature, but as a Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, he probably taught it every year of his working life, culminating with his sea-changing and supporting paper, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics. Through this essay, Tolkien not only demonstrated an erudite understanding of Beowulf, but also clearly revealed just how much he cherished it. Knowing it intimately as he must have, it is not surprising then to learn that Tolkien's imagined world of Arda owes something of it's creation to Beowulf, if only to fertilise a burgeoning imagination destined to blossom. Tolkien himself acknowledged that:

'Beowulf is among my most valued sources ...'           (Letters, no.25)

Tolkien was a unique story-teller, and an exceptional linguist, but first and foremost he was a lover of language. It's this attribute that shines and reflects through all his creativity.

What follows is two tables that contain almost fifty Anglo-Saxon words or phrases from Beowulf, with both definitions and references, that can be found throughout the works of Tolkien. These tables make up part of a lengthy essay that, beginning with Tolkien's early years, sets out to explore just how influential Beowulf was to Tolkien's own mythic vision.