The seven 'essays' by J.R.R. Tolkien assembled in this new paperback edition were with one exception delivered as general lectures on particular occasions; and while they mostly arose out of Tolkien's work in medieval literature, they are accessible to all. Two of them are concerned with Beowulf , including the well-known lecture whose title is taken for this book, and one with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , given in the University of Glasgow in 1953. Also included in this volume is the lecture English and Welsh ; the Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford in 1959; and a paper on Invented Languages delivered in 1931, with exemplification from poems in the Elvish tongues. Most famous of all is On Fairy-Stories , a discussion of the nature of fairy-tales and fantasy, which gives insight into Tolkien's approach to the whole genre. The pieces in this collection cover a period of nearly thirty years, beginning six years before the publication of The Hobbit , with a unique 'academic' lecture on his invention (calling it A Secret Vice ) and concluding with his farewell to professorship, five years after the publication of The Lord of the Rings .