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

Marie Borroff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1967 | ISBN-10: 0393097544 | ISBN-13: 978-0393097542 | Edition: 1St Edition

In translation from the West Midland dialect (sorry, prose was best I could find.)

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marie Borroff is Sterling Professor of English, Emeritus, at Yale University. Her verse translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was first published in 1967; it appeared together with her translations of Patience and Pearl in 2001. The Gawain-Poet: Complete Works, including her translation of Cleanness and St. Erkenwald, is scheduled for publication in 2010. She is the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Stylistic and Metrical Study and of Traditions and Renewals: Chaucer, the Gawain-Poet, and Beyond (Yale University Press, 1962, 2003). --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 62 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; 1St Edition edition (April 1967)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393097544
• ISBN-13: 978-0393097542
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #708,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, A Gem of Romantic Literature, February 8, 2001

By 

"netchild" (Lubbock, TX. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (A New Verse Translation) (Paperback)

Gaiwan would be worth the purchase if only for the story line alone. However Marie Borroff's amazing translation adds that beauty and eloquence which only a master translator can produce. Borroff uses an alliterative meter which will get you tongue tied if you try and read it out loud. For example the first line is "Since the siege and the assault was ceased at Troy." She also gives us beautiful rhymes at the end of each stanza, like in lines 1236-1240: "My body is here at hand,/ Your each wish to fulfill;/ Your servant to command/ I am, and shall be still/." The story is full of symbolism, and confronts us with a tough philosophical question. You have to read the book to find out what that is however. The book also deals with the problems inherent in the institution of chivalry, and especially courtly love. Overall I thought the story was wonderful, the translation impeccable, and the underlying message profound.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For verse-lovers, January 27, 2011

By 

Minor Fifth (Tempe, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (A New Verse Translation) (Paperback)

I'll be honest: I haven't read any other verse translation all the way through. Why? I can't get over this one.

"And then the season of summer with the soft winds,

When Zephyr sighs low over seeds and shoots;

Glad is the green plant growing abroad,

When the dew at dawn drops from the leaves,

To get a gracious glance from the golden sun.

But harvest with harsher winds follows hard after,

Warns him to ripen well ere winter comes;

Drives forth the dust in the droughty season,

From the face of the fields to fly high in air.

Wroth winds in the welkin wrestle with the sun,

The leaves launch from the linden and light on the ground,

And the grass turns to gray, that once grew green.

Then all ripens and rots that rose up at first,

And so the year moves on in yesterdays many,

And winter once more, by the world's law,

draws nigh.

At Michaelmas the moon

Hangs wintry pale in sky;

Sir Gawain girds him soon

For travails yet to try."

Just, come on. That's awesome.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Hony Soyt Qui Mal Pense", September 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (A New Verse Translation) (Paperback)

"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is considered one of the finest Arthurian romances in English. It belongs to the so-called Alliterative Revival: the organizing device of the line is alliteration, the beginning of several words with the same sounds ("foemen fled"). Unlike most Arthurian romances, which deal with the end of Arthur's life and his death, in "Sir Gawain," Arthur is still a youth, and the court is in its springtime. The main plot belongs to a type folklorists classify as the "Beheading Game," in which a supernatural challenger offers to let his head be cut off in exchange for a return blow. The poem is chock-full of games and exchanges.

Dr. Borroff studied under E. Talbot Donaldson, who translated "Beowulf" to prose during the same period at Yale. Her translation is a joy and great fun to read.