im getting this agrégation guys

What a treat! Simon Armitage's lyrical translation of this 600-year-old medieval English poem begs to be read aloud. Bill Wallis was an inspired choice; his gruff but warm reading perfectly suits both the soaring alliteration and the more rustic, colloquial moments of the story. (His northern accent lent a special authenticity to the performance; the poem was composed in a Northwest Midlands dialect.)

Armitage's rendering of the poem sacrifices literal translation for the sake of preserving alliteration and rhyme. The result is a musical cascade that carries the reader effortlessly through the tale. The story itself is almost a satire of chivalric ideals; how can a mere man, however noble and well-intentioned, aspire to perfection? Not to mention the impossibility, as Gawain's seductress shows him, of remaining both chaste and perfectly courteous? (Suitably, Gawain, the would-be perfect knight, is far harder on himself when confronted with his failings than anyone else, including his adversary.)

As an added bonus, Wallis reads the original Middle English poem as well. It is fascinating to listen to; some lines are perfectly understandable, while others sound like some weird, lost Germanic language.

From BBC radio 4:
Set in Arthurian Britain at Christmas time with the knights of the Round Table, whose festivities at Camelot are disrupted by the appearance of a green knight.

The stranger has come to lay down a challenge - a test of courage and heart which Sir Gawain, King Arthur's nephew, accepts.

Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage's translation of the medieval verse romance is narrated by Ian McKellen.

Sir Gawain ...... Samuel West
The Green Knight/Sir Bertilak ...... David Fleeshman
Bertilak's wife ...... Deborah McAndrew
Arthur/Servant ...... Conrad Nelson

With specially composed music by Gary Yershon.

Producer: Susan Roberts

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2006.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007...

When I found out we had to read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight for a current university subject, I was a little worried. I often struggle with analysing poetry and something written in Middle English was not going to be easy. Thankfully we had to read the Brian Stone translation, which only hints at being Middle English. This is a famous 14th century Arthurian romance that is often known for the beheading game.

This is a typical quest narrative; The Green Knight exposes the Knights of the Round Table as timid and cowards when he challenges them to the beheading game. The rules are simple, one knight tries to behead the Green Knight and in a year and a day he will meet them for the returning blow. The Arthurian world is governed by a well-established code of behaviour. This code is one of chivalry, a romantic notion that is deeply rooted in Christian morality, being a beacon of spiritual ideals in a fallen world.

The beheading game is a plot device used as a test in the quest narrative, Sir Gawain is thrown into participating in the game and he is left with a choice, to be a man that lives by his code or not. A game that is meant to measure the inner worth of the knights and it does it in a big way, it exposes the Knights as cowards but Gawain steps up, sort of.

There is a whole lot of humour in this story that often gets over looked when trying to analyse this difficult text. The idea of beheading someone and them returning for a reciprocating blow should have given that away. However the supernatural elements might have made this difficult to pick up on the comedic value. The Green Knight can be interpreted as an allusion of Christ and the strong religious overtones might lead you to think that but I saw him more as a plot device to represent life’s challenges.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was a rather beautiful and interesting exploration for me. The translation I read did make it easier to understand, I don’t think I could handle learning Middle English. I had to do an assignment on this text and the quest narrative so I feel like I’ve already said plenty about this poem before sitting down to writing this review. I hope there is plenty of information here and gives the reader an idea of what to expect when reading this poem. It isn’t hard to understand if you have the right translation and is well worth reading.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2014/...

sé que no es justo valorar un libro escrito hace tantos siglos pero es que esto es pura mierda random… para leer sobre un monstruo verde en navidad me veo el Grinch adiós

Update: Read again! This time the Norton Critical edition edited and translated by Marie Borroff. It went for a more archaic feel than the O’Donoghue that replicates the high language of the Middle English. Plus, this edition includes a lot of useful and insightful supplementary essays. Recommended for the student interested in the wider context of Arthurian and/or 14th century literature.

Note: Read the Penguin edition translated by Bernard O'Donoghue

Super-duper worried for the cute talking fox in the trailer for The Green Knight. Godspeed, Reynard!

O'Donoghue's translation balances fidelity and readability well, with helpful explanatory end notes for some trickier lines. It's nice and lean - pretty just the poem, an intro, and a few notes. Nice if you just want a short text of the poem with no extra frills.

It's King Arthur, need I say more? A story about the knights of the round table, this one is about Sir Gawain. At the beginning I couldn't help but have visions of the classic British film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. By the end, I remembered why after seeing Camelot as a summer community theater production, I enjoyed these tales about Arthur and his knights so much as a tween and teen.

Sorprèn sobretot perquè malgrat saber que és una història escrita a l’edat mitjana, continua funcionant prou bé com a trama i història en general. Es nota la influència que va tenir en Tolkien i en tota la fantasia èpica que va venir després.

4.25/5

I read Tolkien's translation and it was beautiful.

I’m stunned, partly by the poetry of vivid scenes, and partly by how much I’ve understood this. This translation by Simon Armitage also addresses the little quibbles that puzzled me when reading The Death of King Arthur  . In Peter Ackroyd’s book I kind of got the sense there was a connection between chivalry and the service a knight felt they were obliged to provide to women in distress. To my modern eyes this had romantic notions, but it just clashed with the function of a knight being armed to fight, where I could not work out how the religious aspect slotted into this picture. So, reading this translation, with its sumptuous poetry, is so much better than reading crib notes or an article that explains it.

As a read, I liked this much more than I thought I would. I felt sorry for Sir Gawain, who steps in for King Arthur to take the Green Knight’s challenge because he thinks he’s the least worthy knight, only to discover it was really all a test on his knightly values. And from the first sentence I was completely captivated to the last. Maybe it was the alliteration, which enhances rather than disrupt the drama. Or maybe it’s the many moments that stand out in this novella sized poem, like in Book / Fitt II, the gorgeous, breath-taking descriptions of seasons, or how the drama is wrenched up with the Lord of the Land’s hunting intercut with lady trying to seduce Gawain in Fitt III. Also, I was surprised to find the start of the story connect itself to the ancient city of Troy and Aeneid.

This is one read I’ve put off for too long, and I’m feeling silly about this as this is a wonderful read.

moi quand le géant vert vient me défier en duel pcq j’ai pas manger mes légumes du coup je dois lui couper la tête et après je couche avec sa femme c’est ça l’histoire je crois

I suppose I finally got around to this ! rly rly love

( remember ,the boyishness of king arthur