Important Arthurian Legends: Sir Gawain & the Green Knight

image from British Literature to 1800 blog Many of the tales associated with Arthurian legend aren’t actually stories featuring Arthur. One of the most famous is that of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It originated as a 14th-century Middle English poem. Its original author (sometimes known as “The Pearl Poet”) is unknown, but it has been retold in many forms. The essence of the story is that of a knight on a quest. A mysterious green knight appears at Camelot during a feast sometime around Christmas or New Year’s and offers up a challenge to the knights present. Sir Gawain takes up the challenge and chops off the head of the green knight. However, the knight then picks up his head, puts it back on, and informs Gawain that his half of the deal will be due in one year. The green knight then gets his turn to drop the axe on Gawain’s neck.

True to his word, Gawain sets out the next fall to find the Green Chapel, the home of the green knight. He has several adventures, but the most notable is meeting up with Lord Bertilak who puts Gawain up in his castle and promises to show him to the Green Chapel when the time is right. Gawain’s chivalry is tested by the lord’s tempting wife. Gawain passes the test which leads to him surviving the confrontation with the green knight. It turns out the green knight is actually Bertilak. The tale is relevant to Otter and Arthur in that Gawain’s confrontation with the green knight – and a search for the Holy Grail – provides the inspiration for the as-yet unwritten third book in the series. Resources: Anonymous the original poem, as edited by J.R.R. Tolkien and E.V. Gordon (late 14th century) A.S. Kline’s translation of the original poem (2007) Michael Morpurgo (author) and Michael Foreman (illustrator): adapted into an illustrated children’s book Shmoop.com: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: In a Nutshell Jessie L. Weston’s prose translation of the original poem Wikipedia.org: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

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Important Arthurian Works: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Arthur

The Fall of Arthur is an unfinished poem by J.R.R. Tolkien which was written in an Old English alliterative style. Think Beowulf. The poem comprises about only about a fourth of the book, which is mostly an in-depth analysis of the work, and the works which inspired it, as dissected by Tolkien’s son, Christopher. This is a book for fanatics, be they fanatics of anything Tolkien wrote and/or or anything related to the history of Arthurian literature. Evidence suggests the poem was abandoned in 1937, the year The Hobbit was published. However, in a letter as late as 1955, he talked of his hope of finishing it someday, but alas, that time never came. Christopher Tolkien shows how his father’s work linked to Thomas Malory’s famous Le Morte d’Arthur, the alliterative Morte Arthure, and the French Mort Artu. Christopher also shows how this work related to Tolkien’s pre-Hobbit work, The Silmarillion.

As for the abandoned story and its influences, the primary concern here is the demise of King Arthur. As Arthur and Sir Gawain fight oversees, Arthur’s nephew, Mordred, swoops in and takes over Camelot. The kingdom is further undone by the affair between Arthur’s wife, Guinevere, and his best knight, Lancelot. The poem, the manuscript notes, and Christopher Tolkien’s comments also reveal the intent of the poem to dissect how the ever-loyal Gawain confronted Lancelot and how Mordred and Arthur’s battle at Camlaan would lead the latter to Avalon to recover from mortal wounds. Resources: Amazon.com The New York Times “Legend Retold” (21 June 2013). Written by Andrew O’Hehir. TolkeinGateway.net

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