December's WRW: Dec 14-15th
Read a short classic this December alongside the WRW community!
In a month filled with evergreen, tinsel, carols, and cheer, Well-Read-Weekenders will find themselves in a more archaic Christmastide this year as we harken back to Arthurian halls and read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Just as Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is filled with ghosts, so too does the narrative poem of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight give us a Christmas ghost, albeit of another kind. On New Year’s Eve—during Christmastide (the twelve days of Christmas)—a Green Knight appears in the court of King Arthur, challenging any man to strike him with an axe if he will take a strike back himself in one year and a day. Sir Gawain accepts the challenge but when he strikes a fatal blow against the Green Knight, he is not prepared for what happens.
Written in Middle English during the 14th century by an unknown author (often referred to simply as the Gawain Poet or Pearl Poet,) this poem is a well-loved classic of virtue, vice, and legendary heroes.
Your Well-Read Weekend starts December 14-15th!
Translations
While you’re more than welcome to read the original text in Middle English, I don’t recommend doing so without a background in the language. Below are a few translations to consider reading:
J.R.R. Tolkien’s translation can be purchased or borrowed from a local library.
Evan Mantyk’s free translation can be downloaded from the Society of Classical Poets’ website.
Simon Armitage’s translation can be purchased or borrowed.
There are many more translations, but these should get you started. Choose the one best available to you, and join in on the Well-Read Weekend!
I am going to read the actual poem starting tomorrow. But have been doing research all about the poem and am so excited and intrigued by it all. It amazes me to see over time what has stuck around and why within the world of writing but also so exciting to see poems and writings like Sir Gawain get saved and then taken up and loved by other years later.
Excited for this read!