Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Translation by J.R.R. Tolkien

Study Guides

Additional Translations

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain's answer to the challenge of the Green Knight. When the Green Knight entered the hall, he said that any knight could strike off his head if in a year's time he could give the knight a similar blow. This edition features both a prose and poetry rendition. 128 pages, softcover.

The unknown fourteenth-century author (a contemporary of Chaucer) has imbued his work with the heroic atmosphere of a saga, with the spirit of French romance and with a Christian consciousness. It is a poem in which the virtues of a knight, Sir Gawain, triumphant in almost insuperable ordeals, are celebrated to the glory of the House of Arthur. The impact made on the reader is both magical and human, full of drama and descriptive beauty.

THE INSPIRATION FOR THE UPCOMING MAJOR MOTION PICTURE THE GREEN KNIGHT—STARRING DEV PATEL

An epic poem of honor and bravery written by an anonymous fourteenth-century poet, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is recognized as an equal of Chaucer’s masterworks and of the great Old English poems, including Beowulf.

 
It is Christmas in Camelot, and a truly royal feast has been laid out for King Arthur and his knights. And though there is plenty of good cheer to go around, the festivities hardly begin before a monstrous, axe-wielding, green-skinned knight barges in. He has come to see the famous Knights of the Round Table and offer them a simple but deadly challenge—a challenge taken on by the brave Sir Gawain—a challenge that will force him to choose between his honor and his life....

Includes a Preface by Burton Raffel
an Introduction by Brenda Webster
and an Afterword by Neil D. Isaacs