Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Penguin Classics)

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Although the date of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is uncertain, and we know nothing about the author, its composition is roughly contemporary with Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales in the latter part of the fourteenth century. It is a remarkably subtle and accomplished poem, in which the hero's knightly virtues of courage, courtesy and fidelity are put to the test in a strange adventure involving a huge green knight on a green horse, a winter journey, a lady in a mysterious castle and a challenge answered. It ranks as one of the greatest works of the English Middle Ages and perhaps the greatest triumph of the English alliterative tradition. Unlike The Canterbury Tales, however, Sir Gawain is written in a dialect belonging to Cheshire, Lancashire or Staffordshire, and this seems more remote to the modern reader than Chaucer's London language. The aim of this edition has been to remove unnecessary impediments while retaining the integrity of the original. Notes and a glossary have been provided to assist an informed, critical reading of the text. @GawainsWorld So listen here, some green man came to the halland wants someone to cut his head off. Some sort of dare? Could be fun, right? The deal is I cut off his head now, and he cuts off mine a year later. What a jester, doesn’t he know he’ll be dead? This goblin fellow is totally dead. All seemed fine until Ichabod Crane here fell to the floor, stood up, and picked up his head. His head, in his hands. In HIS HANDS! From Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less

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We know the "Gawain Poet" was a contemporary of Geofrey Chaucer's. He appears to have been the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Patience, and Cleanness; "he" may also have composed Saint Erkenwald. Bernard O'Donoghue is a Fellow in English at Wadham College and a noted Irish poet --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.