Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Overview
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
alliterative
Alliterative verse
In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of alliterative verse are those found in the oldest literature of many Germanic...
romance outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain
Gawain
Gawain is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend's development. He is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as the greatest knight, most notably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...
, a knight of King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
's Round Table
Round Table
The Round Table is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his Knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of...
. In the poem, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green, from his clothes and hair to his beard and skin, save for his red eyes. The "Green Knight
Green Knight
The Green Knight is a character in the 14th-century Arthurian poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the related work The Greene Knight. His true name is revealed to be Bercilak de Hautdesert in Sir Gawain, while The Greene Knight names him "Bredbeddle"...
" offers to allow anyone to strike him with his axe if the challenger will take a return blow in a year and a day
Year and a day rule
The year and a day rule has been a common traditional length of time for establishing differences in legal status. The phrase "year and a day rule" is most commonly associated with the former common law standard that death could not be legally attributed to acts or omissions that occurred more...
.
Unanswered Questions
Quotations
Allas! I leste hyr in on erbere;Þurз gresse to grounde hit fro me yot.I dewyne, fordolked of luf-daungereOf þat pryuy perle wythouten spot.
Alas! In a garden I lost it, letIt go to the ground on a grassy plot.Bereft of love, I am racked by regretFor Pearl, my own Pearl without a spot.
In þe founce þer stonden stoneз stepe,As glente þurз glas þat glowed and glyзt,As stremande sterneз, quen stroþe-men slepe,Staren in welkyn in wynter nyзt.
Dazzling stones shone in the deepLike glint through glass, glowing and bright;As streaming stars, when dalesmen sleep,Flare in the welkin on winter night.
Luf lokez to luf & his leue takez,For to ende alle at onez & for euer twynne.By forty dayez wern faren, on folde no flesch styryed.
The lover and his lady looked their last farewell,Ending everything for all time, for ever parting.When the forty days were finished, no fleshly thing moved.