Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Michael Smith

• Publisher: Unbound
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781783529087
• eBook ISBN: 9781783525614
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism in Poetry
• Index: Literature

It is New Year at Camelot and a mysterious green knight appears at King Arthur's court. Challenging the knights of the Round Table to a Christmas game, he offers his splendid axe as a prize to whoever is brave enough to behead him with just one strike. The condition is that his challenger must seek him out in a year and a day to have the deed returned. Sir Gawain accepts and decapitates the stranger, only to see him pick up his head, walk out of the hall and ride away on his horse. Now Gawain must complete his part of the bargain, search for his foe and confront what seems his doom… 

Michael Smith's translation of this magnificent Arthurian romance draws on his intimate experience of the North West of England and his knowledge of mediaeval history, culture and architecture. He takes us back to the original poetic form of the manuscript and brings it alive for a modern audience, while revealing the poem's historic and literary context.

The book is beautifully illustrated throughout with detailed recreations of the illuminated lettering in the original manuscript and the author's own linocut prints, each meticulously researched for contemporary accuracy. This is an exciting new edition that will appeal both to students of the Gawain-poet and the general reader alike. 

FITT 1

So, when the siege and the assault was ceased at Troy,

And that burgh broken and burned to brands and ashes,

The traitor who wrought there every trace of treason

Was tried for his treachery, the truest on earth.

Thus it was Aeneas, the lord, and his high kind, 5

Who then oppressed provinces with power to become

The wealthiest of the wealthy in the western isles.

Romulus the rich raises Rome swiftly,

And quickly begets that borough with brilliance,

And with his name he names it, which it still has; 10

Ticius in Tuscany begins to build towers,

Langobard in Lombardy lifts up homesteads,

And there over the French flood, Felix Brutus

On many banks full broad, Britain he sets†

within, 15

Where war and wrack and wonder

Have since occurred therein,

And oft both bliss and blunder

Full swift have shifted since.

And when that rich noble begat this place Britain, 20

Bold-bred they were there and lovers of battle

Who many times that came to pass brought trouble.

Famed feats have fallen in its lands more often

Than in any other that I know, ever since that very time.

But of all the kings that built here in Britain 25

The highest was Arthur, as I have heard tell.

So an adventure from here I aim to disclose,

That astounds some men still and grips them fast,

A stunning adventure from the legends of Arthur.

If you will listen to this tale but one little while 30

I shall tell it as tightly as I in turn heard it,

by tongue;

As it’s been set and cast

Into a story stout and strong;

With linked letters thus held fast, 35

In this land it’s been so long.

This king lay at Camelot upon Christmas time,

With many of his lovely lords, lads of the best,

A right royal brethren of the Round Table,

With rich revel all right and reckless mirth. 40

These top men did tourney a good many times

And jousted with jollity, these most gentle knights,

Then clip-clopped to court, carolling to make.

For there the feast was like full fifteen days,

With all the meat and mirth that men could muster. 45

Such glamour and glee, glorious to hear,

A din upon day and dancing by night,

All was happy to the highest in hall and chamber

With lords and ladies a-lifting their thoughts!

With all the wealth of the world, they wined together, 50

The best-known knights in all Christendom

And the loveliest ladies that ever have lived,

And he, the comeliest king that court had beheld.

For all this fair folk were in their first prime and

more still, 55

Were the happiest under heaven,

Their king the highest man of will;

It is hard now to imagine

More so hale as on this hill.

And then the realm ran forth, reaching for presents,

Seized their gifts on high and held them by hand;

While New Year was yet that it was just new born, 60

The doughty that day were doubly served on the dais.

For the king was coming with his knights to the hall,

And the chanting in the chapel had chuckled to an end;

Loud cries were cast there from clerics and others,

‘Noel’ announced anew, named full often. 65

And then the realm ran forth, reaching for presents,

Seized their gifts on high and held them by hand;

And about those gifts, the debate was busy!

Ladies laughed full loud – even those that lost –†

And he that won, he was not woeful; that you can believe! 70

All this mirth they made till mealtime;

When they had washed as due, they went to sit,

The best nobles high above, as so best it seemed.

Then Guinevere, full gay, graced their midst,

Dressed on the dais, adorned all about 75

With small silks besides, below a bright canopy

Of tried Toulouse and choice Tharsian tapestry,

Embroidered and bejewelled with the very best of gems –

No mere pennies were spent on those precious jewels

that day! 80

But the best ones on that queen?

The glint of her eyes grey.

Such similar can rare be seen

So many men do say.

Then Guinevere, full gay, graced their midst,

Dressed on the dais, adorned all about

With small silks besides, below a bright canopy

Of tried Toulouse and ch...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• The Survival of the Poem
• A Note on This Translation
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Notes
• Glossary of General Terms
• Glossary of Armour
• Arthurian Characters and Saints
• In Search of Hautdesert
• In Search of the Green Chapel
• Some Further Reading
• Acknowledgements
• A Note on the Author
• Supporters
• Copyright