Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (A New Verse Translation)

One of the earliest great stories of English literature after ?Beowulf?, ?Sir Gawain? is the strange tale of a green knight on a green horse, who rudely interrupts King Arthur's Round Table festivities one Yuletide, challenging the knights to a wager. Simon Armitrage, one of Britain's leading poets, has produced an inventive and groundbreaking translation that "[helps] liberate ?Gawain ?from academia" (?Sunday Telegraph?). 2 illustrations When the mysterious Green Knight arrives unbidden at the Round Table one Christmas, only Gawain is brave enough to take up his challenge . . .This story, first told in the 1400s, is one of the most enthralling, dramatic and beloved poems in the English tradition. Now, in Simon Armitage, the poem has found its perfect modern translator. Armitage?s retelling of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight captures all of the magic and wonderful storytelling of the original while also revitalising it with his own popular, funny and contemporary voice. Covers ......Page 1 Title Page ......Page 8 Contents ......Page 10 Introduction ......Page 11 A Note on Middle English Meter ......Page 19 SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT ......Page 21 Fitt I ......Page 23 Fitt II ......Page 57 Fitt III ......Page 99 Fitt IV ......Page 157 Acknowledgments ......Page 193 About the Gawain Poet ......Page 197 About the Translator ......Page 199 A poetic translation of the classic Arthurian story is an edition in alliterative language and rhyme of the epic confrontation between a young Round Table hero and a green-clad stranger who compels him to meet his destiny at the Green Chapel.