Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

While the knights of King Arthur's Round Table are toasting the new year, a colossal stranger clad in green armor bursts in to deliver a formidable challenge: Any of them may strike off the intruder's head as long as he is prepared to receive a similar blow from the Green Knight in one year. Of all the gallant knights in the assembly, only Sir Gawain—brave, gallant, and true to his word—is willing to answer the dare. So begins this gem of medieval English literature, which traces Gawain's adventures as he endeavors to fulfill his pledge.
Dating from the late fourteenth century or earlier, the story blends paganistic elements with Christian ethics to celebrate the virtue of forgiveness, thus forming a classic example of the chivalric tradition. This edition presents the legend in two forms: in prose and in verse, both translated by the distinguished scholar Jessie Weston.

The inspiration for the major motion picture The Green Knight starring Dev Patel.

’Be prepared to perform what you promised, Gawain;
Seek faithfully till you find me …’

A New Year’s feast at King Arthur’s court is interrupted by the appearance of a gigantic Green Knight, resplendent on horseback. He challenges any one of Arthur’s men to behead him, provided that if he survives he can return the blow a year later. Sir Gawain accepts the challenge and decapitates the knight – but the mysterious warrior cheats death and vanishes, bearing his head with him. The following winter Gawain sets out to find the Knight in the wild Northern lands and to keep his side of the bargain. One of the great masterpieces of Middle English poetry, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight magically combines elements of fairy tale and heroic sagas with the pageantry, chivalry and courtly love of medieval Romance.

Brian Stone’s evocative translation is accompanied by an introduction that examines the Romance genre, and the poem’s epic and pagan sources. This edition also includes essays discussing the central characters and themes, theories about authorship and Arthurian legends, and suggestions for further reading and notes.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

THE INSPIRATION FOR THE 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