Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a 14th century tale of which only one manuscript still exists today. It has been translated by many authors over the years, including the great JRR Tolkien.

The story concerns the adventure of the knight Sir Gawain, who accepts the challenge of a mysterious green skinned knight who arrives at King Arthur’s court during the Yuletide festival. The “Green Knight” offers to take a single blow with his axe, if the challenger will accept a return blow a year and a day later. The young and inexperienced Gawain accepts the challenge, in order to prove his worth. He strikes once, beheading the green warrior, who promptly picks up his own head and leaves, reminding the stunned Gawain to find him at the appointed time. Gawain leaves, determined to meet the knight as he encounters other tests and challenges along the way.

I remember reading a children's version of this as a child, as my parents donated a copy to the school library when I left. Sadly I don't remember much about how I felt about it, but I have been longing to read Simon Armitage's translation for some time now.

Sir Gawain is a tale of chivalry, loyalty and honour in the face of adversity. The writing style is Middle English verse, which takes some getting used to, but I found the story very enjoyable and accessible all the same. In fact the only part of the story that I rushed over was the hunting scene, depicted in all its glorious and gory detail, which for a vegetarian and animal lover like myself was a little much, so I skimmed those lines much quicker. The rest of the prose however, was worth savouring, especially the seduction scenes, which were playful and suggestive, but never detailed. The descriptions of court too were delightful, and I often felt myself transported there (needless to say I'm very excited about out Mediaeval Spectacular in August!!).

On the whole, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read for anyone who delights in mediaeval or Arthurian literature, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. Though whether Sir Gawain met his opponent and survived the final challenge, I will that leave for you to discover!

The accompanying essays in this edition, although differing from those of the first edition in some respects are nevertheless excellent and a brief introduction to the context of the poem and to my particular interest, some questions that arise about the origins of the story, the Green Man and the archetypical celtic themes, melded as they are with the issues of courtly virtue. ( )

I'm not too into this dated kind of literature because I don't do things like go hunting with noblemen or wander around on horseback looking for shit that can easily kill me. Still, it's an excellent translation that reads smoothly, and is an inestimable find as a contribution to the colorful, if rather morbid and two-dimensional, early English literature. ( )

I remember reading a summary of this story in middle or high school, but it is nice to sit down with a classic and let it tell its tale. This is a very good story and its age only makes it more endearing. A simpler story from a different time. ( )

This Folio Society Edition is very nice with huge thick pages and some lovely illustrations. It is Simon Armitage’s translation but it does not have the dual language format, just the new verse.

The story is good, at least for being centuries and centuries old. There are some misogynistic themes in the end unfortunately, but the overall message of cowardice and valor was rewarding in my opinion.

I do not know much about old English translation, but I enjoyed the work that Mr. Armitage did with the alliterations. I'm sure it must have been difficult to compose while staying to true to the meter and meaning of the original.

I was also interested in this story's contribution to the Arthurthian myth. Armitage's translation posits Uther as Arthur's father and Morgan as his mother but also as the wife of the Green Knight. There are strong Christian words used to describe the green chapel where the Green Knight abides: Satan, evil, ect. But once the ruse is up, Morgan's witchcraft seems tolerable and almost necessary as Gawain's test. I wonder if this tolerance is so apparent in the original text. If so, how indicative of the times when it was written. Was “magic”, despite its non Christian origins, tolerable or maybe even just something to be reckoned with?

This was book was pleasure to hold, admire, and read aloud. It might become one of those Christmas books that gets read every year to the family. ( )