Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Found myself at a poetry group reading of the above poem. I won't go into too many details of the poem here, as there are plenty of links. However, I will clarify by saying that this reading was of the translation by Simon Armitage.



The poem makes good use of alliteration, ie lines 140 146 -



I should genuinely judge him to be a half-giant

or a most massive man, the mightiest of mortals.

But handsome too, like any horseman worth his horse,

for despite the bulk and brawn of his body

his stomach and waist were slender and sleek.

In fact in all features he was finely formed



and also uses what apparantly is called 'bob and wheel,' a two syllable line followed by a short four line rhyme. To continue from the above-



it seemed.

Amazement seized their minds,

no soul had ever seen

a knight of such a kind-

entirely emerald green.



I was most interested by the difference of other translations. (It is estimated as 600 years old.)



This kyng lay at Camylot vpon Krystmasse

With mony luflych lorde, ledez of the best. (2nd ed. Oxford 1967)



This king lay at Camelot one Christmastide

With many mighty lords, manly liegemen. (Peguin 1974)



It was Christmas at Camelot- King Arthur's court,

where the great and the good of the land had gathered (Faber & Faber 2007)



So as you see the new edition is very readable and makes the same use of alliteration, even if not using the same consonants.

I like the lines-

But each year, short-lived, is unlike the last
and rarely resolves in the style it arrived.
So the festival finishes and a new year follows
in eternal sequence, season by season.
After lavish Christmas come the lean days of lent
when the flesh is tested with fish and simple food.
Then the world's weather wages war on winter:
cold shrinks earthwards and clouds climb;
sun-warmed, shimmering rain comes showering
onto meadows and fields where flowers unfurl,
and woods and grounds wear a wardrobe of green.


There are two themes evident in the poem, the Beheading Game, found in Irish and French tales. Also the Wooing Game or test of chastity. (Gawain is found in many Arthurian tales. He seems to degenerate from the ideal hero, in early versions, to less vituous and even treacherous. In Morte d'Arthur he is 'the destroyer of good knights.')

The test of chastity has lead some to say that there is a feminist theme to the poem, as the female is in control:

It was she, the lady, looking her loveliest,
most quietly and craftily closing the door,
nearing the bed. The knight felt nervous,
lying back he assumed the shape of sleep
as she stole towards him with silent steps,
then clasped the curtain and crept inside,
then sat down silently at the side of his bed.
And awaited him wakening for a good long while.
Gawain lay still, in his state of false sleep,
turning over in his mind what this matter might mean,
and where the lady's unlikely visit might lead.
Yet he said to himself, 'instead of this stealth
I should ask openly what her actions imply'

By pure coincidence, the next day I visited Windsor Castle, where there is the names and coat of arms of all the Knights of the Order of the Garter, dating from the Black Prince of the 14th Century to present day. One of these early Knights, or a close relation, is likely to be the Pearl Poet, the unknown author of Gawain....