Book Review: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by J.R.R. Tolkien

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by J.R.R. Tolkien

Among his other accomplishments, J.R.R. Tolkien translated many ancient and medieval texts into modern English. One project was "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." The poem survives from the fourteenth century AD and is one of the more famous Arthurian legends. Gawain is a knight of the Round Table and nephew to King Arthur. One Christmastide, the enigmatic Green Knight shows up and makes a challenge to a beheading game. Arthur gets one swing of his axe to behead the Green Knight, then in a year and a day the Green Knight will get one swing to behead Arthur. Gawain rises to the challenge, takes Arthur's place, and lops off the Green Knight's head in one blow. The Green Knight picks up his head, reminds Sir Gawain of his appointment in a little over a year, and bids him to come to the Green Chapel where payment will be taken.

Gawain then has to travel all over England in search of the Green Chapel, since it is as unknown as the Green Knight. His search takes almost a whole year. He finds a hidden castle. The castle's lord says he knows where the Green Chapel is and will have someone guide Gawain on the appointed day. At this point, the appointment is only a few days away. As Gawain prepares, a lady of the castle tries to seduce him before the encounter. Being a chivalrous knight, he resists, especially as he sees himself about to die and not wanting to commit a grave sin just before. The final confrontation with the Green Knight reveals a lot about what is going on (including the source of his supernatural powers) and brings the story to an interesting conclusion.

Gawain is a classic knight of the Round Table, embodying honor and initiative. He follows through on his promise even when it turns out quite the opposite of what he expected. He searches for the Green Chapel even though getting there has little appeal. He resists the lady even as she comes into his room in the morning to have a tete-a-tete and maybe something more. His nobility makes him an appealing character. 

The poetry has an interesting style. Rhyming isn't as important as alliteration, giving it a rolling rhythm as it runs its race. I enjoyed the creativity. The vocabulary made some vivid visuals and keeps the reader engaged. Here's a sample:

Now New Year draws near and the night passes,

day comes driving the dark, as ordained by God;

but wild weathers of the world awake in the land,

clouds cast keenly the cold upon the earth

with bitter breath from the North biting the naked. [Stanza 80]

The poem is reviewed on A Good Story is Hard to Find Podcast #378. Check it out!

The book has two other poems. "Pearl" is, at the beginning, a poem describing a man who has lost a pearl of immeasurable value. The first few stanzas immediately put a Christian in mind of Jesus's parable of the man who sold everything he had to buy a pearl of inestimable price. That parallel becomes explicit as the poem moves on from the physical jewel to a pure, unblemished woman to the very biblical reference. The praise of purity continues on as the author invokes many biblical images of perfection, finishing with a lot of the imagery from the Apocalypse of John. The poem is interesting and delightful.

The final poem, "Sir Orfeo," describes the life of an early medieval king name Orfeo whose wife is kidnapped by fairies. In sorrow, he puts himself in exile, wandering the earth and slowing growing thinner and hairier as the years go by. A chance encounter with fairy folk lets him into their kingdom where he has the opportunity to discover his love again and return with her to his kingdom that was left in the care of a steward. The story is charming, told in rhyming couplets with vocabulary that puts the reader into bygone era.

Recommended for Tolkien fans, poetry fans, and the like.