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.