Gawain Poet

43. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation by Simon Armitage
OPD: 2007, Sir Gawain is a late-14th-century poem
format: 198-page paperback with Middle English and modern English translation on facing pages
acquired: April read: Jun 16 – Jul 3 time reading: 8:05, 2.6 mpp
rating: 4
genre/style: Middle English poetry theme: Chaucer
locations:
about the author: The Gawain poet is unknown but wrote in a North-West Midlands dialect of Middle English. Simon Armitage is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was the 2019 Poet Laureate, and a professor of poetry at the University of Leeds. He was born in born in Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire in 1963.

Apologies up front, I didn't fall in love with this. Scattered, hopefully useful, notes below.

Ok, some appreciation. This epic Arthurian poem makes for an interesting look at the history of English and its poetry. Armitage, in an excellent introduction, explains how the Germanic origins of the English language used alliteration, not rhyme, in the poetry. Whereas the romantic languages used rhyme. The poetry here stands between the two. It's a series of long stanzas, where every individual line is marked by alliteration. Then the stanzas close with four short rhyming lines, the first rhyming with last alliterative line.

This is a sort of adventure story, with what feels like pagan elements, and a very Christian tilt to the surface. There is some humor and romance, but also the cutting off of heads, our knight lost in the wilderness, and some dramatic hunting scenes. But the structure fronts description, not action. So we go slow, the poet happy to spend time on clothing, food, and the moment. The hunting scenes are described with relish, even if they have limited connection the overall plot. I was left with the sense that the author was happy to indulge in the language, in no rush to carry the plot anywhere.

And, maybe that's ok, considering. The plot is mild, and arguably undermines itself in its humor and conclusion. We think we're reading a story of adventure, but it turns out where actually reading a story of temptation. That's a little cute, but a little gimmicky too.

As a mostly spoiler-free plot summary, an unknown knight, glowing emerald green and on a glowing horse, comes to King Arthur's Christmas festival and challenges the knights to a competition. Sensing danger, they all remain silent. Gawain volunteers not because he is tough and brave, but because as a nephew of Arthur, he feels expendable. He is given an axe and offered one strike to cut off the green knight's head. This done, the green knight's headless body then picks up his head, laughs and gives Gawain the instructions. In a year, he must find the green knight, who will get one strike at his own head. Gawain spends a year as if it's his last, and then goes on his quest, struggling to find this mysterious, unknown knight. He lays up in a castle in the wilderness, one full of comforts, where his name is known and celebrated. He rests while the men of the castle hunt. He is offered bedding, clothes, food and the attention of the head of the castle's gorgeous wife. They spend a lot of time alone together. Eventually he finds a guide to the green knight.

The themes are Christian, but the green knight feels like a pre-Christian entity. Something mysterious and powerful from an unexplained other place. A hypbrid poem in many ways.

A note on the language: My edition has the original text side by side with the Armitage translation. I tried really hard to read the original, but I mostly failed. I tried very hard to listen to its sounds, but again, it was just very foreign feeling. The Armitage translation doesn't help, because he freely translates, meaning you can't match words or phrases together, only general meaning. The rest you need to figure out. I would like to comment on Armitage, but instead of enjoying him, I mostly used him as a comprehension life-support, which wasn't his design.

A note on why I didn't like this so much: Oddly it was not ideal to read this with Chaucer in mind. It's completely different, tying to other Arthurian themes, but lacking the extent of playful awareness found in medieval French Lais. It's poor match to Chaucer, lacking much of the joy of life in GC's work. I would recommend reading it in an isolation of a sort.

2024
https://www.librarything.com/topic/362165#8582341… (altro)

38. Pearl : A New Verse Translation by Marie Borroff
OPD: 1977, Pearl is a late-14th-century poem
format: 56-page paperback
acquired: January read: Jun 2-15 time reading: 3:09, 3.4 mpp
rating: 4
genre/style: Middle English Dream poem theme: Chaucer
about the author: The Pearl poet is unknown, but wrote in a North-West Midlands dialect of Middle English. Mary Borroff (1923-2019) was an American poet, translator, and the Sterling Professor of English emerita at Yale University, born in New York City.

Pearl is a medieval Old English poem found on only one manuscript, along with [Sir Gwain and the Green Knight], [Patience], and Purity (sometimes named [Cleanness]). The author or authors are unknown, but the poems use the same local dialect, a 14th-century northwest Midlands dialect, and they are thematically consistent and Christian.

I can't comment on the dialect, because I read this in translation. It's an interesting high-end translation. The translator was deeply into the poem and its rhythms. She replicated both the cadence and the rhymes, and it makes for easy reading. And she has nice afterward explaining some of this. It's an admirable effort and I feel very impressed by it. Of course, she changed the wording, and this means something is lost. A lot actually. If I read this again, I would like the original with notes.

Although the whole book took me three hours, I read the poem itself in an hour total. It reads quick. It's about a parent who lost a daughter and has a dream vision where he meets his daughter again. She stands across an uncrossable river, in her Christian paradise afterlife, one of 144,000 brides of the lamb Christ. She is happy. He questions the girl, and she explains paradise to him and then sends to where he can view it. It's described in the poetry. When the parent tries to cross the stream, he awakes.

The Revelations-based Christian message doesn't do much for me. Everything good to an extreme in a way that seems painfully relentless. The meeting of a lost child is, however, very meaningful. We all lose our children eventually, hopefully to their own independence. And, of course, we all fear any alternative.

Another meaning pertains to the recent novel, [30440713::Pearl by Sian Hughes], which references the poem gently. You can enjoy that book without reading this. (I loved it!) But having now read this, I can relate it to the book and the relationship adds much to both works.

But at the bottom this was an hour of reading a poem in translation. Unless I read it again, it will just slip by. I'll barely remember.

2024
https://www.librarything.com/topic/360386#8558507… (altro)

I read this as it was featured in the BBC series "The Art that made us" and I've decided to try and read all the text items contained in the series. Excellent series, btw, well worth a watch.
This features in the programme of the middle ages & the black death. It one of those that almost got away, surviving in one single manuscript. Believed to be written by the same author as Gawain and the green Knight, its contemporary with Chaucer, but written in a northern dialect. This translation is by SImon Armitage, who has also translated Gawain & the alliterative Morte d'Arthur.
I quite like alliterative poetry over the rhyme at the end of a line style, something about the rhythm of the words carries you along. Although in this case the subject of the text was distinctly less appealing. The surmise is that a jeweler is bemoaning the loss of a peal and it slowly becomes clear he is discussing a person, not a jewel. He lies down in the garden where he lost her, goes to sleep and a lot of the poem reports a dream. He is transported to a paradise and across the river he sees his lost pearl and talks to her. The first portion, about how he lost her and his grief is poignant, the middle third a bit of a lecture in religious thought and how he should accept his lot, the final third he wakes and is in the garden, but feels that he has both lost her all over again and some consolation.
For the subject matter of the middle portion detracted from the experience, as it felt overly didactic. I sill like the form of the poem, just less keen on its subject matter.
The introduction on the poem's rhyme scheme and how the author approached the translation was interesting and added to my appreciation of the structure of the work.… (altro)

Apparently, I read this book back in 2012. And I have no recollection of it. But thats okay, because this wonderful version translated by Simon Armitage and it was a delight to read. The story itself is typical for the time. There shouldn't be any unexpectedness. Sir Gawain is a good knight, but the youngest and least experienced of King Arthur's Elite. When the Green Knight barges in on Christmas and offers up a challenge, Its Gawain who takes the mantle, because he is the least important of the group and his death wilil not be a big loss to the group. The challenge is simple, the Green Knight will take one blow with an axe by a round table knight, but one from now, that knight will have to find the Green Man, and receive a blow from him. Of course, Gawain prevails, but not without difficulty.

Where the book shines is the poetry - Emotion is clear - from how important Gawain's faith is to him, to the temptation of his new friends wife. All of these tests are to prove Gawain worthy, and he passes, but is not without scars (or green girdle, in this case).

As for this version, I quite liked being able to see Middle English compared with Modern English. Its such a strange thing - I suspect if I heard it spoken, it would sound like English, but with a large chunk of gibberish thrown in. I also want to say that this specific translation has only a few pages that describe the book - how it was found, how it was received, and what the current thoughts are on the story's author. I highly recommend it.… (altro)