Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Also alliteration and a lot of it.

Simon Armitage has produced a contemporary translation of the noted 14th century Middle English poem. In so doing he has been faithful to the original work, while rendering it accessible and interesting to modern readers.

The action begins when the knights of King Arthur's Round Table are disturbed in their Christmas feasting by the arrival of a fearsome Green Knight who issues a remarkable challenge:

"if a person here present, within these premises,
is big or bold or red-blooded enough
to strike me one stroke and be struck in return,
I shall give him as a gift this gigantic cleaver
and the axe shall be his to handle as he likes.
I'll kneel, bare my neck, and take the first knock.
So who has the gall? The gumption? The guts?
Who'll spring from his seat and snatch this weapon?
I offer the axe - who'll have it as his own?
I'll afford him one free hit from which I won't flinch,
and promise that twelve months will pass in peace,
then claim,
the duty I deserve
in one year and one day.
Does no one have the nerve
to wager in this way?"

Gawain accepts the challenge, and lops off the Green Knight's head with a single swipe, only to have the Knight stand up, pick up his head, and remind Gawain to meet him at the appointed time. The ensuing quest, culminating in an ambivalent and unexpected ending, weaves together themes of chivalry and the natural, hunting and seduction, as well as Christianity and paganism. The symbolism is many layered and ushers the reader into ever deeper understandings from an ancient era.

But it is the language, the evocative delighting in words, that I most enjoyed. Here is the description of a boar hunt that takes place while Gawain fends off the amorous advances of a beautiful mistress:

"The front men stepped forward to fire a shot,
aimed arrows at him that were often on target,
but their points could not pierce his impenetrable shoulders
and bounced away from his bristly brow.
The smooth slender shafts splintered into pieces,
and the heads glanced away from wherever they hit.
Battered and baited by such bombardment,
in frenzied fury he flies at the men,
hurts them horribly as he hurtles past,
so that many grow timid and retreated a tad.
But the master of the manor gave chase on his mount,
the boldest of the beast-hunters, his bugle blaring,
trumpeting the tally-ho and tearing through the thickets
till the setting sun slipped from the western sky.
So the day was spent in pursuits of this style,
while our lovable young lord had not left his bed,
and, cosseted in costly quilted covers, there he
remained.
The lady, at first light,
did not neglect Gawain,
but went to wake the knight
and to change his mind."

Recommended reading (once you start with the alliteration it's hard to stop).

I guess in an enterprise like this - creating the nth translation of an ancient classic - distinction of a given effort comes from the balance of readability poetry, and faithfulness.

This translation hikes the "readability" parameter all the way up. Most book reviewers of this translation use the "can't put it down" cliche, and it's true. No need to discuss further: if you're looking for a heckuva read, even if you're familiar with this work, you need look no further.

As for poetry, Armitage is a distinguished poet, and clearly invested great care in the music, nuance, and language (including, yes, tons of alliteration...in most cases working off a different consonant than the original). The result stands as a work of art, hence my five stars. One can't argue with greatness.

As for faithfulness...I'm no scholar, so don't take this as more than a comment from the peanut gallery. But as I read, I'd often glance over at the Middle English text and feel dismayed to find that more liberty was taken than I'd have preferred. In many cases, the Middle English is fully intelligible and quite affecting, yet Armitage chooses quite different language. On the other hand, his method is proven by the vibrantly engaging result.

My biggest quibble is that the translation contains three or four VERY jarring instances of discordantly modern colloquialisms (without discernible reason, to my eye) that come from out of nowhere. If I'd known I'd be writing this review, I'd have noted them, but never mind; as you read, you can't help but trip on them. Each time, I'd shake my head in disbelief. But, again, they're extremely infrequent.

So if readability and poetic sweep are your preference - and why wouldn't they would be if you're reading for pleasure? - this is definitely a book to own. If you're a Middle English scholar or a knowledgeable veteran of multiple previous Gawain versions, you ought to approach with a forgiving attitude. Armitage takes pains, in the introduction, to claim a minimally invasive approach. But don't all translators say the same?

Just an aside, perhaps naive: issues of spelling seem to constitute a great deal of the original's impenetrability. I'd love to read a truly minimally invasive translation, where spelling is modernized and only crucial obsolete words are individually replaced (alliteration be damned), in order to enjoy an easier undiluted taste of The Poet's voice. I hasten to note that even if such a translation existed, Armitage's work would still sit proudly on my shelf.

The newest translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by the poet Simon Armitage is an interesting and easy to read addition to the list of translations of the fascinating Middle English poem.

Armitage decided to keep the original's alliteration and metre by taking some liberties with vocabulary. In other words, there were a lot of anachronisms, too many for my taste. But, on the other hand, the result is very readable and accessible to non-medievalists. And, for the medievalists, you can look at the original text on the right page.

Armitage clearly loves the poem and worked for a long time on the translation. He explains in the introduction that he felt called to do this, so this is not a project driven solely by a publisher's desire to capitalize on the popularity of Seamus Heaney's Beowulf translation.

First of all, note the five stars and don't read too much negativity into this review. It's just that I like the translation very much and a few missteps (as they appear to me) make me want to speak out.

It has been said elsewhere that in some places Armitage chose to stray from the original even where the original is quite natural to the modern ear and, in rare cases, he used language which is jarring and discordant. I agree.

Here is an example which, for me, was the most discordant ...

Original:
But in his honde he hade a holyn bobbe,
That is grattest in grene when greves ar bare,
And an ax in his other, a hoge and unmete,
A spetos sparthe to expoun in spelle, quo-so myght.

Translation:
but held in his hand a sprig of holly---
of all the evergreens the greenest ever---
and in the other hand held the mother of all axes,
a cruel piece of kit I kid you not

Those last two lines made me blink. This is early in the poem and I almost gave up on the translation right there but am glad I did not. Other than a few rare examples like that (and none other so glaring) I enjoyed it immensely. This is a "five star" translation. What Armitage has done in this translation is not easy and deserves respect. He manages more than mere "accessibility" for the modern reader but also maintains a natural sense of speaking along with alliteration like the "percussive hoof beats" mentioned in another review. As they say, pure poetry.

Anyway, here is my attempt at a translation of the above:

but in his hand he had a holly sprig,
that is greenest of green when groves are bare,
and an ax in his other, huge to excess,
a wicked war-ax to put into words, if one could.

Note that the first two of those lines are nearly unchanged from the original, an example of where the (almost) original reads quite naturally. I'm still not satisfied with that last line but have had my nose so close to it I can no longer see the forest for the trees so will let it stand as it is (for now).

Every age produces its own version of Arthur and Camelot. The alliterative poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is separated from us by over 600 years but by even more from any putative historical Arthur. Its imagery belongs to the late medieval period rather than anything the post-Roman Dark Ages might have looked like. The juxtaposition of Christian and mythical elements is disconcerting and the real subject of the story (quite apart from the fantastic adventure elements) is far from obvious. It is actually about the conflict between Gawain's aspiration to impossible perfection and his recognition of his frail human reality. He feels that fear for his life has made him fail in his test. Yet Arthur's court and the Green Knight see him as an exemplar of chivalry and indeed the best of knights because protecting his life and knowing fear he manages to overcome it. What makes human success valuable is the possibility of shame. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight opens a window into a time when knighthood was a living institution and courtly love was the subject of much literature.

I first read Sir Gawain many years ago in the definitive JRR Tolkien translation, more out of an interest in Tolkien, than in Sir Gawain. The original text ranges from the somewhat comprehensible (Bot Arthure wolde not ete til al were served) to the completely unintelligible (Forthi, iwysse, bi yowre wylle, wende me bihoves). The translation is therefore everything. This new and remarkable alliterative verse translation by Simon Armitage is unexpected and amazing. The preface explains that in Germanic languages (like English) the accent is usually on the first syllable of a word, while in Romance languages (French, Italian, etc) the tonic syllable falls towards, or at the end, of words. Therefore, traditionally Germanic poets highlighted the beginning of words with alliteration whereas romance poets highlight the ends of words with rhyme. The alliterative style disappeared in the English language under the influence of French (Norman) poetry and so is alien to modern readers.

Gawain, however, was written in the alliterative style and Armitage's translation maintains this approach. The result is amazing. The poem falls on the ear like the percussive of hoof beats of Gawain's steed (Spiked with the spurs the steed sped away / with such force that the fire-stones sparked underfoot... lines 670-1). Good as the translation is one need only scan the original on the facing page to appreciate the achievement of the unknown author. The alliterative metrical pattern (a a/a x) is impeccable. It may be that over the centuries our language has grown less poetic.

Armitage displays his own particular genius, however. "...so the house and its hall were lit with happiness / and lords and ladies were luminous with joy (lines 48-9)", evokes images of merriment lit by torches and flickering firelight, without actually saying any such thing. Notice also the alliteration and read the words out loud. Contrast this scene with the imagery of Gawain's winter trek: "clouds shed their cargo of crystallized rain / which froze as it fell to the frost-glazed earth (lines 727-8)". We can feel the cold in our bones.

This is a wonderful and accessible translation of Sir Gawain and a must-read for those interested in medieval poetry. I wish I could hear it chanted by a bard.

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT: A NEW VERSE TRANSLATION TRANSLATED BY SIMON ARMITAGE: In February of 2000, renowned poet Seamus Heaney published a new verse translation of the classic anonymous epic poem "Beowulf." While not a complete literal translation, Heaney's version set out to emulate the poetic style and meter of the original writers of the poem. "Beowulf" was first committed to parchment around the year 1000, up to then it had only existed as a oral poem recited to friends, families and subjects over fires, in mead halls, and by bards to many people. Heaney's translation seeks to be this version, to be read aloud to people and appreciated in its original form. Heaney's Beowulf, in a bilingual edition with the original Old English verse on the left page and his translation on the right, has gone on to become the most popular translation; selected as the version for the Norton English Literature anthology; and has been made more accessible to ordinary readers who don't have a background in medieval literature.

"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is a poem much like "Beowulf." While not as epic in scale, it was likely first written down in the year 1400 and up to that point had been recited orally. It has survived in only one form, in the original early Middle English, and now resides at the British Library. Simon Armitage, like Heaney, has employed the use of the bilingual edition, with the original Middle English on the left page and his translation on the right, allowing the reader's eyes to wander from left to right and right to left, examining the translation and enjoying the story. If anything, the translation is more visible with this version, as Middle English is just a few steps away from our modern language and many words can be easily recognized, even if the spelling is barely decipherable. Armitage admits not going for a completely literal translation, but seeking to preserve the alliterative form of the original poem, even if it means using modern words and phrasing. The result is nevertheless a magnificent story which one reads, imagining what it was like being read or reading this poem aloud over six hundred years ago.

The story begins with King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, as they enjoy a marvelous feast in each other's company. Then the party is suddenly disturbed by the entrance of a giant man dressed in a full suit of green armor; by his side he carries a gigantic axe. He then challenges King Arthur with the offer for anyone to chop off his own head with the giant axe. If he survives, then the person will return to the Green Knight's abode to suffer the same fate in one year's time. Gawain being the just, proud and humble knight that he is offers to do this job for his king. Taking the axe he makes a mighty swing and easily separates the Green Knight's head from his shoulders. The Green Knight then picks up his head and makes the deal with Gawain to do the same to him on New Year's Day one year from now.

This essentially ends the first part of the poem, with the second part focusing on Gawain's journey across the lands to find the Green Knight's home. On the way he finds a great castle where a gracious king looks after him during the terrible weather. Yet, like the Green Knight, the king challenges him, offering to go hunting each morning, while his wife offers herself to Gawain, tempting him. The deal is that whatever Gawain does, shall be dealt to the king upon his return from the hunt. They do this for three days, but Gawain is pious and just, and does not give in to the king's wife, giving the king just kisses upon his cheek. The challenge certainly opens up an opportunity for some interesting interactions between Gawain and the king should Gawain have not been so just, but such was not the case. The last part of the story is of Gawain leaving the castle, finding the Green Knight and accepting the challenge visited on him a year ago.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, again much like Beowulf, has now been translated in this clear and alliterative version, making it accessible to any reader. Apart from being an entertaining tale, it asks many questions about what it is to be just and true to your king, how easy it is to be tempted. With a solid introduction from Armitage on the history of the poem, the book sets the scene well, letting the reader imagine what life was like in the fifteenth century, and more importantly, what the people were like back then.

For more reviews, please to go www.alexctelander.com.

I fully agree with reviewers lightman and leff... this is a wonderfully entertaining rendition of the poem. I read it through at one sitting and enjoyed it thoroughly.

'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' (ca. 1400) is chivalric romance literature of the late Middle Ages. It is often thought of in conjunction with 'Beowulf' (ca. 800), but these works are nearly 600 years apart, as near to one another as 'Sir Gawain' is to our own time. It is a part of the "chivalric revival" of the Hundred Years' War period, when the old order of knights and chivalry was giving way to longbow armed peasants who could unceremoniously kill from a distance, when the three-orders of knight, peasant and priest was breaking down. In this period of rising violence, social turmoil, the Black Death, famine and other "Crisis of the 14th century", there was a nostalgia among the nobility for the old days, the romantic stories from the 11th and 12th centuries found new popularity. 'Sir Gawain' then is a continuation updated with contemporary aesthetics and sensibilities- a chivalric revival. It's this type of work that 'Don Quixote' would devastatingly satirize 200 years later, effectively putting the final nail in the coffin of the medieval romance and opening the way to a new form: the novel.

Armitage has done a great job with the translation, by keeping the alliteration intact it makes for excellent reading aloud, the tongue gets a real work-out but pretty soon the guttural Germanic accent takes over with a short, crisp, pounding rhythm. By the end you feel ready to become a good Medieval knight, or at least better understand the mindset.