Tolkien, obviously, has a way with words, and the way he kept the alliteration and the beautiful word dynamic in these translated texts was superb.

Rating: ?? stars

Tolkien may have translated these poems for his “modern” reader, but I will translate it for the super modern reader, in that being the one with no attention span who gets bored of a video is longer than 15 seconds. (I find it humorous to retell ancient texts in a modern way, but if you find that sacrilegious, then please move on to the next review as the following content may offend.) So here we go:

All the people from Monty Python and the Holy Grail are having Christmas dinner. Then this dude comes in all in green (every suit of armour in this poem is rigorously described) and says to the table, "anyone can cut me anywhere with my axe, and then next year come and find me and I will do the same blow to you." No one immediately volunteers, so Gawain steps up and just lobs the guy's head off, probably thinking "yeah, try doing that to me in a year". But to everyone's surprise, the dude just picks his head back up and says "cool, see you next Christmas" and leaves.

Because of knight honour and chivalry and stuff, the next year Gawain goes to find the Green Knight as promised. On his way he stays at some other court, and the Lady there tries to seduce, but he says "no, I love Jesus" and so she leaves without sexy times, though does manage to kiss him. But then (plot twist) Gawain goes and kisses her husband the next day, so that somehow makes it better (because apparently that makes Jesus okay with it and it doesn't count as cheating). This seducing thing happens more times, and Gawain just keeps saying no to sex, before kissing the wife and then kissing the husband the next morning. They also go hunting and it is rather explicitly described, so maybe they should have a vegan edition where they cut out those scenes, or mow some grass instead or something.

Then Christmas comes and Gawain goes to get his head cut off, because he is still bound by knightly duty and things. He meets the Green Knight/Headless Horseman, but just as Gawain is about to lose his head, the knight stops and is like "yo, those were some mighty fine kisses, mate" because (dun dun dun) it is the Lord from the court! He is so impressed that Gawain didn't give in to his wife's advances, (which were his idea) that he generously sends Gawain back to Arthur in one peace. The end.

There are also two other poems in this collection, one is called Pearl and is about a dude who is so sad about losing his pearl that he falls asleep and has a fever dream where the pearl is alive and is talking to him (I'm pretty sure that's what happened, but reading that back it does sound a bit strange), and the other is called Sir Orfeo, which is kind of a Celtic retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice were a king loses his wife to a fairy dude and is really sad about it (but I don't think he plays any music).

This slim volume, put together by Christopher Tolkien, collects three translations done by J.R.R. of 14th-century British poems, together with writings by Tolkien Sr. on the poetry.

'Gawain and the Green Knight' is the classic, and not surprisingly, the best. Originally written in an alliterative style, Tolkien reflects that style in his translation, but the verse-form is such that it is not distracting to the story - it's very readable.
The story is, of course, that of one of Arthur's knights who agrees to a (rather foolish contest) with a strange, fey knight of mysterious powers. Bound by his word to seek out the knight (and, undoubtedly, his own death) the next year, he wanders in search of the knight and his appointed meeting - but encounters the hospitality of a merry lord and his all-too-seductive wife....

'Pearl' didn't do it for me, I have to admit. The narrator encounters the ghost of his dead daughter, who tells him, at great length, about how the dead are with god and the living have to accept it, blah blah blah religious dogma blah blah.

'Sir Orfeo,' however, is a very interesting poem, especially considering how old it is. It's a very intentional 'updating' of the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, making the characters a British lady, and her lord, who seeks her when she has been taken under the hill by Faerie. Pretty cool that we can see that in the 14th century, people were adapting stories to their own mythologies (as they've always done, of course)

Chivalry and Christian morals. Green actually equals good. My brain hurts.

Awesome

This is JRR Tolkien’s translation of a 14th century medieval poem about Gawain, a Knight of the Round Table and nephew of King Arthur himself, being put to the test in a deathly wager. I had already seen the  movie version,  but now I’ll probably need to give that another look.

Naturally, there is much more going on beneath the surface of this story that cannot be appreciated from a single cursory read, but there follows an illuminating lecture by Tolkien which is fascinating and marvelous. It’s extraordinary to be able to experience what it might have been like to have attended one his Oxford classes on medieval literature and learn from the genius himself. The knowledge and insight he displays is truly masterful.

Tolkien helps to explain the depth of the moral quandary that Gawain faced. He carefully disentangles the issues of morality from those of the code of honor. Tolkien believes that the poem’s anonymous author understood that the code of chivalric honor and the Christian law of virtue were not exactly synonymous, and the poem cuts to heart of the matter like a double-edged sword piercing even to the division soul and spirit.

Highly recommended.

I think I had read parts of this in high school or college, so I'm marking this as a 2024 reread. But it was lovely to finally read the entire poem with some commentary. Like reading Chaucer or Shakespeare, one only vaguely knows what's going on (I definitely looked up a summary at the end to find out what I had missed). But Tolkien did a marvelous job with the translation into beautiful language.

Thanks to Amy for gifting me a gorgeous hardcover edition.

JRR Tolkien gets the plot lost in the sauce but man was this tasty… I’ll read the armitage translation later but for now…. Man…. Arthurian legends and something about the beauty of such powerful stories/ideas being preserved and passed down through the long hard ages, just for little old me to read it for the first time and know the text for myself.

I was so excited to learn that I could study the Middle Ages and read Tolkien at the same time! It really is amazing how so many different works of literature are tied together somehow. I had been studying Arthur and his knights, and had read Tolkien's biography separately, to prepare myself to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In that biography I learned about Tolkien's interest in Middle-English as one of his favorite languages, and also of his enduring commitment to the Catholic faith and all its doctrines. I believe those two things are both explanations for why he chose to focus on these three poems by an anonymous 14th century author, whose work can be compared to that of Chaucer.
Of these poems, Sir Gawain follows the Arthurian tradition in many aspects, except that of courtly love (which, let's face it, the Round Table would have been better off without). As evidenced in each of the three poems, this author's morality bound him to promote only that which he believed was honorable in the sight of God. That said, Sir Gawain (a very different Gawain than the one I encountered in The Once and Future King, by the way) still managed to be imperfect by making one "not-so-exalted" judgment, which benefited the story greatly. The "twist" at the end was very clever, and the alliterative style of the poetry itself was enjoyable. I understand, having read about Tolkien's insatiable perfectionism, why this translation must have been so difficult to submit to a publisher, and why his son Christopher ultimately had to finish editing it so it could be shared with the world. It represents what must have been a tremendous amount of work, but it turned out marvelously.
Pearl was also quite interesting, but in a different style and over very different subject matter. A man who loses his 2-year-old daughter has a "revelatory" dream where his daughter, now a "queen" in Heaven, explains many of the mysteries of life in Christ to her father. The doctrine is very blatantly Catholic in areas, with large portions reflecting a belief in Transubstantiation and the perpetual sacrifice of Christ, as well as the exaltation of Mary. However, much of the poem is directly based on Scripture (Revelation and the gospels, mostly) and offers some truly insightful thoughts that border on exposition. Someone might posit that this poem is really just a theological treatise "dressed up," but, even if it is, I really did find it stimulating and enjoyable, and even edifying. The style was different from "Sir Gawain," which did not rhyme except for a couplet now and then. I actually think I enjoyed the purely alliterative style of "Sir Gawain" better than "Pearl"'s alliteration-plus-rhyming. All the same, I'm sure this poem was a dream-come-true for Tolkien, since it would have had both academic and spiritual importance for him.
Sir Orfeo was short and sweet--its rhyming style was again different from the other two, but with the common thread of attention to alliteration, which was enjoyable. The tale was simpler than the others, with less development, but it was still a worthwhile read, emphasizing loyalty both within marriage and also to those in authority.
I think these poems are an excellent choice for a logic-stage student studying the middle-ages; there is much to be learned about the period, about its morality (and our own), and also about the art of poetry.

Sir Gawain - Epic poem about a knight in King Arthur's court and the Green Knight. I also went through a course from the House of Humane Letters that was 5 videos on this poem. It was very helpful to understand the medieval references and understandings.
Pearl - I liked this but not as much as Sir Gawain. Many reflections on heaven.
Sir Orfeo - a great retelling of the Orpheus myth. This might have been my favorite of the 3.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a short translation by Tolkien of an old (like Age-of-Arthur old) poem. J.R.R. Tolkien was mesmerized by old fantasy myths and legends, devoting a good deal of his life to translating, preserving, and writing them down in organized fashion so generations to come could enjoy them in their own language. Beowulf and Sir Gawain were two of his great contributions to preserving literary history. I definitely identify, and appreciate, aspects of this poem in particular for the inspiration it gave Tolkien for so much of his work. And while Tolkien is possibly my favorite author, so I have to appreciate the inspiration it gave him, this poem was just kind of there for me. It didn't spark anything magical and deep in my soul. I think I actually liked Beowulf a good deal more.

Also, this book heading lists Pearl and Sir Orfeo which I'm not reviewing at this time. I'll review those separately when I'm finished with the book. I just couldn't find a book heading solely for Sir Gawain by Tolkien (there are translations by other authors) on Goodreads.

I'd rate this a PG for some episodes of peril and some weirdly unsettling flirtation from the Green Lady.

Decent translations.