'Tis but a Scratch!

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Simon Armitage

Faber and Faber

When I was an undergrad, my worst mark ever was the B+ I received in Middle English from Dr. Weldon. While I hated the professor and his pedantic approach to the texts, I loved the course material and would spend hours reading off the syllabus. I have to admit to not being a huge fan of poetry, but there is just something about verse from the Middle Ages that captures my imagination.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written around 1400. Not a lot is known about the poet and the poem itself is noteworthy in that it draws on the Old English tradition of alliteration. For those of you, um, unpoetical types, alliteration is the repetition of a particular consonant sound or leading vowel in a phrase. It sounds easy, I know, but to do it in such a way that it adds to rather than distracts from a text is quite a talent -- and the Gawain poet does it with such style.

This particular edition of the poem is a new translation by Simon Armitage. He maintains the alliteration and in my opinion, does a fantastic job with the verse. The plot is pretty simple -- a bunch of knights are hanging out with Arthur and Guinevere over the Christmas break. Suddenly, the door to the hall bursts open and in tromps a very large man all dressed in green. He issues a challenge and invites one of Arthur's company to fell him with a blow -- the caveat being that should the Green Knight live, the knight must seek him out a year hence and agree to the same terms. Gawain takes up the challenge, fails to kill the green knight (who, in fact, picks up his severed head, tucks it under his arm and rides off) and then, a year later, sets out on his own quest. Talk about a party trick! Armitage's translation gets 5 green girdles out of 5.