The Greene Knight
Encyclopedia
The Greene Knight is a late medieval rhyming romance, found in the Percy Folio
Manuscript. The storyline effectively parallels the more famous Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
in describing the dealings of Gawain
, King Arthur
's nephew, with the Greene Knight
.
The text was edited by Thomas Hahn for the Camelot Project. Key differences adduced by Hahn from the longer poem include rapid pacing, more explicit character motivations, and a rhyme scheme more suitable for popular recitation. Hahn concludes "In many ways, in fact, The Greene Knight, as the later poem, seems almost a summary or guide in its determined spelling out of motives and events, its domestication of the challenging and mysterious, and its explanation of marvels and ambiguities." Hahn writes, "The language of The Greene Knight suggests that it was originally composed about 1500 in the South Midlands. It is marked for two fitts (perhaps indicating performance sessions), and falls into eighty-six tail-rhyme stanzas, running aabccb."
Percy Folio
The Percy Folio is a folio book of English ballads used by Thomas Percy to compile his Reliques of Ancient Poetry. Although the manuscript itself was compiled in the 17th century, some of its material goes back well into the 12th century...
Manuscript. The storyline effectively parallels the more famous Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative romance outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. In the poem, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green, from his clothes and hair to his...
in describing the dealings of 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...
, 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 nephew, with the Greene 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"...
.
The text was edited by Thomas Hahn for the Camelot Project. Key differences adduced by Hahn from the longer poem include rapid pacing, more explicit character motivations, and a rhyme scheme more suitable for popular recitation. Hahn concludes "In many ways, in fact, The Greene Knight, as the later poem, seems almost a summary or guide in its determined spelling out of motives and events, its domestication of the challenging and mysterious, and its explanation of marvels and ambiguities." Hahn writes, "The language of The Greene Knight suggests that it was originally composed about 1500 in the South Midlands. It is marked for two fitts (perhaps indicating performance sessions), and falls into eighty-six tail-rhyme stanzas, running aabccb."
External links
- "The Greene Knight", edited by Thomas Hahn. From the Camelot Project.