Product Description

Preserved on a single surviving manuscript dating from around 1400, composed by an anonymous master, "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" was rediscovered only 200 years ago, and published for the first time in 1839. One of the earliest great stories of English literature, after "Beowulf", the poem narrates the strange tale of a green knight on a green horse, who rudely interrupts the Round Table festivities one Yuletide, casting a pall of unease over the company and challenging one of their number to a wager. The virtuous Gawain accepts, and decapitates the intruder with his own axe. Gushing blood, the knight reclaims his head, orders Gawain to seek him out a year hence, and departs. Next Yuletide Gawain dutifully sets forth...His quest for the Green Knight involves a winter journey, a seduction scene in a dream-like castle, a dire challenge answered - and a drama of enigmatic reward disguised as psychic undoing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3212 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Sunday Times
'Armitage rises to the challenge of translating this mysterious tale of chivalry, supernatural forces and seduction.'

Nicholas Lezard, Guardian Paperback Choice of the Week
'It might even be the best translation of any poem I've ever seen.'

Observer
'With deceptively simple lyricism and energy the poem sings from the page.'

Customer Reviews

Fab
If you only show your children one poem, make sure it's this one. The touching and powerful Arthurian legend is brought to life miraculously in this rendition by Simon Armitage, which (unlike previous translations) will never leave you scratching your head and saying "What does that mean?" Despite retaining the strange and lovely alliterative verse of the original, the poem is lucid, accessible, fresh and modern. Here is a poem for ordinary people, not just Medievalists and English students.

Armitage adds a nice introduction, suggesting how we can find a contemporary resonance in the poem. Gawain's story is not merely an exploration of Christian morality, but also, through vivid imagery of the natural world, aims to remind us of our own relationship with our nature and with nature as we find it all around us. The Green Knight is green for a reason (he thinks).

Muscular and modern revival
A terrific book. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an early classic of English Literature - lost until the 19th century. This is a very readable, witty, bright translation with Simon Armitage's customary edge. In places: warm, funny, violent, dramatic, sexual. I've long been a big fan of Armitage - a Yorkshire writer who uses language brilliantly and has proved to be extremely versatile as poet, editor, playwright, novelist, non-fiction prose stylist and more recently translator. His Homer's Odyssey was a pleasure; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a delight. This would make a great Christmas present (much of the setting is Christmas/New Year) for anyone who enjoys literature.

Utterly compelling
Thoroughly enjoyable, muscular, vivid, exciting rendition of this wonderful poem: I first read the original at university and loved it then. But Armitage's modernisation brings the text to life for those readers who aren't ever going to need or want to tackle Middle English. I can't recommend it too highly. It is beautifully paced, extremely detailed and accessible without in any way dumbing down. I really felt as though I was in the poem, particularly in the third and fourth sections where Gawain faces a moral dilemma.

Terrific. Simon Armitage is the true Poet Laureate of Britain, bringing our literary heritage to a fresh audience.