Fortnightly Book, July 20

I recently came into possession of a copy of Simon Armitage's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I had thought that I had done J. R. R. Tolkien's translation as part of the fortnightly book; but apparently not, so I added that as well. Since Armitage's translation has the Middle English as well as his own translation, I'll be looking at three versions this fortnight: the original, Armitage's translation, and Tolkien's translation. Tolkien's translation also includes Pearl and Sir Orfeo.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the best known stand-alone Arthurian romances. Written in alliterative stanzas with some rhyme, it survived in a single 14th-century manuscript; the manuscript was published in 1839. Because the manuscript includes Pearl, Patience, and Cleanness, all of which are, like Sir Gawain, of high quality, and have a number of features in common (like the same dialect, North West Midlands), it is often thought that one poet wrote them all, which would put him, despite his anonymity, easily in the same league as his contemporary, Chaucer.