false 1056805 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036m/1056805.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036s/1056805.jpg A spellbinding poetic translation of this six hundred year-old Arthurian story of beheading, romance, and the supernatural.

"Promises to drive the green force of the old poem through the Armitage fuse and set it a-buddin' and a-bloomin' for the new millennium."—Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate, best-selling translator of Beowulf

Composed in the late fourteenth century by an anonymous author in the English provinces, this remarkable epic has enchanted readers for generations. The work itself is an unparalleled masterpiece of alliteration and rhyme, beginning at Christmastime in Camelot, when the festivities of the Round Table are interrupted by the sudden appearance of a fearful stranger, green from head to foot. A young knight, Gawain, rises to the challenge. What follows is a test of nerve and heart as Gawain travels north to meet his destiny at the Green Chapel in a year's time. Following in the tradition of Seamus Heaney, Simon Armitage, one of England's leading poets, has produced a virtuoso new translation that resounds with both clarity and verve.]]> 3049 31 2954048 1390 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Signet Classics) total:4738|5:893|4:1610|3:1617|2:516|1:102| 4738 16890 5998 217 1436 3.78 71766 7509 117631 3.89 506 108 29901531 629344 1056805 0393060489 9780393060485 46 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036m/1056805.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036s/1056805.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1056805.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight_A_New_Verse_Translation 3.77 183 A spellbinding poetic translation of this six hundred year-old Arthurian story of beheading, romance, and the supernatural.

"Promises to drive the green force of the old poem through the Armitage fuse and set it a-buddin' and a-bloomin' for the new millennium."—Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate, best-selling translator of Beowulf

Composed in the late fourteenth century by an anonymous author in the English provinces, this remarkable epic has enchanted readers for generations. The work itself is an unparalleled masterpiece of alliteration and rhyme, beginning at Christmastime in Camelot, when the festivities of the Round Table are interrupted by the sudden appearance of a fearful stranger, green from head to foot. A young knight, Gawain, rises to the challenge. What follows is a test of nerve and heart as Gawain travels north to meet his destiny at the Green Chapel in a year's time. Following in the tradition of Seamus Heaney, Simon Armitage, one of England's leading poets, has produced a virtuoso new translation that resounds with both clarity and verve.]]> 1390 4 5 false Wed Nov 05 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Aug 11 19:35:08 -0700 2008 Wed Nov 12 19:02:15 -0800 2008 1 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ever since I read Gillian Bradshaw's Hawk of May. I was reminded when I read Gawain and Lady Green by Anne Eliot Crompton. I loved both of these books. I loved the story of Sir Gawain. But somehow I didn't get to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...more...]]> 22436618 1017488 1056805 0393060489 9780393060485 46 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036m/1056805.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036s/1056805.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1056805.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight_A_New_Verse_Translation 3.56 4738 A spellbinding poetic translation of this six hundred year-old Arthurian story of beheading, romance, and the supernatural.

"Promises to drive the green force of the old poem through the Armitage fuse and set it a-buddin' and a-bloomin' for the new millennium."—Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate, best-selling translator of Beowulf

Composed in the late fourteenth century by an anonymous author in the English provinces, this remarkable epic has enchanted readers for generations. The work itself is an unparalleled masterpiece of alliteration and rhyme, beginning at Christmastime in Camelot, when the festivities of the Round Table are interrupted by the sudden appearance of a fearful stranger, green from head to foot. A young knight, Gawain, rises to the challenge. What follows is a test of nerve and heart as Gawain travels north to meet his destiny at the Green Chapel in a year's time. Following in the tradition of Seamus Heaney, Simon Armitage, one of England's leading poets, has produced a virtuoso new translation that resounds with both clarity and verve.]]> 1390 5 3 false Sat May 17 11:31:17 -0700 2008 Sat May 17 11:34:44 -0700 2008 more...]]> 54091559 845910 57631 0375709924 9780375709920 17 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170475346m/57631.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170475346s/57631.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57631.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight 3.71 114
It is the height of Christmas and New Year’s revelry when an enormous knight with brilliant green clothes and skin descends upon King Arthur’s court. He presents a sinister challenge: he will endure a blow of the axe to his neck without offering any resistance, but whoever gives the blow must promise to take the same in exactly a year and a day’s time. The young Sir Gawain quickly rises to the challenge, and the poem tells of the adventures he finds—an almost irresistible seduction, shockingly brutal hunts, and terrifyingly powerful villains—as he endeavors to fulfill his promise.

Capturing the pace, impact, and richly alliterative language of the original text, W. S. Merwin has imparted a new immediacy to a spellbinding narrative, written centuries ago by a poet whose name is now unknown, lost to time. Of the Green Knight, Merwin notes in his foreword: “We seem to recognize him—his splendor, the awe that surrounds him, his menace and his grace—without being able to place him . . . We will never know who the Green Knight is except in our own response to him.”


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 1390 2 1 false Sun Apr 26 22:42:42 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 26 22:42:42 -0700 2009
I imagine if you’re interested in quests and bravery and peril this poem is pretty top notch.

Quests, bravery and peril are not my cup of tea.

I wanted more supernatural drama with the Green Knight and less courtship and hunting (though like a creep I...more...]]> 47472849 1131783 1056805 0393060489 9780393060485 46 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036m/1056805.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036s/1056805.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1056805.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight_A_New_Verse_Translation 3.56 4738 A spellbinding poetic translation of this six hundred year-old Arthurian story of beheading, romance, and the supernatural.

"Promises to drive the green force of the old poem through the Armitage fuse and set it a-buddin' and a-bloomin' for the new millennium."—Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate, best-selling translator of Beowulf

Composed in the late fourteenth century by an anonymous author in the English provinces, this remarkable epic has enchanted readers for generations. The work itself is an unparalleled masterpiece of alliteration and rhyme, beginning at Christmastime in Camelot, when the festivities of the Round Table are interrupted by the sudden appearance of a fearful stranger, green from head to foot. A young knight, Gawain, rises to the challenge. What follows is a test of nerve and heart as Gawain travels north to meet his destiny at the Green Chapel in a year's time. Following in the tradition of Seamus Heaney, Simon Armitage, one of England's leading poets, has produced a virtuoso new translation that resounds with both clarity and verve.]]> 1390 5 1 false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 25 06:25:55 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 25 06:26:34 -0800 2009 more...]]> 12752223 795030 23613 0261102591 9780261102590 15 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167428401m/23613.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167428401s/23613.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23613.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight 3.74 697 1390 3 1 false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1986 Thu Jan 17 09:08:33 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 29 18:18:01 -0800 2008 more...]]> 9599002 147203 1056805 0393060489 9780393060485 46 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036m/1056805.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036s/1056805.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1056805.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight_A_New_Verse_Translation 3.56 4738 A spellbinding poetic translation of this six hundred year-old Arthurian story of beheading, romance, and the supernatural.

"Promises to drive the green force of the old poem through the Armitage fuse and set it a-buddin' and a-bloomin' for the new millennium."—Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate, best-selling translator of Beowulf

Composed in the late fourteenth century by an anonymous author in the English provinces, this remarkable epic has enchanted readers for generations. The work itself is an unparalleled masterpiece of alliteration and rhyme, beginning at Christmastime in Camelot, when the festivities of the Round Table are interrupted by the sudden appearance of a fearful stranger, green from head to foot. A young knight, Gawain, rises to the challenge. What follows is a test of nerve and heart as Gawain travels north to meet his destiny at the Green Chapel in a year's time. Following in the tradition of Seamus Heaney, Simon Armitage, one of England's leading poets, has produced a virtuoso new translation that resounds with both clarity and verve.]]> 1390 4 1 false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Nov 27 08:18:07 -0800 2007 Tue Nov 27 08:21:01 -0800 2007
What I particularly loved about Armitage's work is his devotion to alliteration throughout the work. As he explains in his preface, the Gawain poet was writing in a form tha...more...]]> 41354865 1043816 5206073 0393334155 9780393334159 2 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255753644m/5206073.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255753644s/5206073.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5206073.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight_A_New_Verse_Translation 3.33 12 "Compulsively readable....Simon Armitage has given us an energetic, free-flowing, high-spirited version."—Edward Hirsch, New York Times Book Review, front-page review

lready a classic of modern translation, this fresh, vibrant work by dynamic British poet Simon Armitage updates the late fourteenth-century poem for a new generation. The story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in its depiction of Arthurian landscapes, dreamlike castles, and violent winter journeys, demands a peerless storyteller, and, "like the Gawain poet [himself], Armitage is some storyteller" (The Guardian). The work is an unparalleled masterpiece of alliteration and rhyme, and "[Armitage's] version inventively recreates the original's gnarled, hypnotic music...but also has a free-flowing, colloquial twang that allows the poem to partake of the energies of contemporary speech" (Financial Times).]]> 1390 4 0 false Tue Dec 30 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 30 19:14:02 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 30 19:29:25 -0800 2008
I very much enjoyed reading...more...]]> 39372072 1689786 75190 0921149921 9780921149927 9 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170873853m/75190.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170873853s/75190.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75190.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight_ 3.84 58 The fourteenth-century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the greatest classics of English literature, but one of the least accessible to most twentieth-century readers. This new edition of the poem offers the original text together with a facing-page translation; editor James Winny provides a non-alliterative and sensitively literal rendering in modern English, as well as explanatory and textual notes, a further note on some words that present particular difficulties, and two contemporary stories, The Feast of Bricriu and the Knight of the Sword, which provide insight on the poem.

"This is the best translation of Sir Gawain. It... makes the remote world of Arthurian romance immediate to the reader." --Gordon Teskey, Cornell University

]]> 1390 4 0 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1996 Fri Dec 05 09:55:24 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 05 10:00:47 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 38605244 560780 23613 0261102591 9780261102590 15 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167428401m/23613.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167428401s/23613.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23613.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight 3.56 4738 1390 4 0 false Tue Dec 16 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 25 05:50:46 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 16 09:45:30 -0800 2008 more...]]> 31070894 242201 3050 0140422951 9780140422955 16 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1161975206m/3050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1161975206s/3050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3050.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight 3.53 348 1390 1 1 false Sun Aug 24 12:50:12 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 24 12:51:17 -0700 2008 7812789 217769 3049 0451528182 9780451528186 73 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1161975206m/3049.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1161975206s/3049.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3049.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight 3.50 2843 1390 2 1 false Tue Oct 16 16:02:56 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 16 16:05:17 -0700 2007 72390576 310055 57631 0375709924 9780375709920 17 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170475346m/57631.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170475346s/57631.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57631.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight 3.56 4738
It is the height of Christmas and New Year’s revelry when an enormous knight with brilliant green clothes and skin descends upon King Arthur’s court. He presents a sinister challenge: he will endure a blow of the axe to his neck without offering any resistance, but whoever gives the blow must promise to take the same in exactly a year and a day’s time. The young Sir Gawain quickly rises to the challenge, and the poem tells of the adventures he finds—an almost irresistible seduction, shockingly brutal hunts, and terrifyingly powerful villains—as he endeavors to fulfill his promise.

Capturing the pace, impact, and richly alliterative language of the original text, W. S. Merwin has imparted a new immediacy to a spellbinding narrative, written centuries ago by a poet whose name is now unknown, lost to time. Of the Green Knight, Merwin notes in his foreword: “We seem to recognize him—his splendor, the awe that surrounds him, his menace and his grace—without being able to place him . . . We will never know who the Green Knight is except in our own response to him.”


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 1390 3 0 false Thu Sep 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 16:57:23 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 16:59:53 -0700 2009 more...]]> 61291258 1849033 260317 0140440925 9780140440928 20 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173220921m/260317.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173220921s/260317.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/260317.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight 3.54 189 1390 3 0 false Mon Aug 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 09:47:06 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 05 22:59:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 56863666 1059538 201735 0571223273 9780571223275 3 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172638612m/201735.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172638612s/201735.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/201735.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight 3.80 10 1390 5 0 false Thu May 21 10:44:37 -0700 2009 Fri May 22 06:31:46 -0700 2009 Simon Armitage does a great job here, good beat and some very good alliterative arrangements.
Some have criticised his use of anachronistic language. I didn't notic...more...]]> 73091309 1995852 1056805 0393060489 9780393060485 46 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036m/1056805.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036s/1056805.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1056805.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight_A_New_Verse_Translation 3.56 4738 A spellbinding poetic translation of this six hundred year-old Arthurian story of beheading, romance, and the supernatural.

"Promises to drive the green force of the old poem through the Armitage fuse and set it a-buddin' and a-bloomin' for the new millennium."—Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate, best-selling translator of Beowulf

Composed in the late fourteenth century by an anonymous author in the English provinces, this remarkable epic has enchanted readers for generations. The work itself is an unparalleled masterpiece of alliteration and rhyme, beginning at Christmastime in Camelot, when the festivities of the Round Table are interrupted by the sudden appearance of a fearful stranger, green from head to foot. A young knight, Gawain, rises to the challenge. What follows is a test of nerve and heart as Gawain travels north to meet his destiny at the Green Chapel in a year's time. Following in the tradition of Seamus Heaney, Simon Armitage, one of England's leading poets, has produced a virtuoso new translation that resounds with both clarity and verve.]]> 1390 4 0 false Tue Nov 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Oct 01 08:17:45 -0700 2009 Thu Dec 03 21:15:39 -0800 2009
It's rollicking and maybe even a little Christma...more...]]> 56425885 2326585 3050 0140422951 9780140422955 16 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1161975206m/3050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1161975206s/3050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3050.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight 3.56 4738 1390 3 0 false Thu Jun 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 17 18:49:59 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 12:51:58 -0700 2009
When I read my first epic poem (The Odyssey in a horrible prose translation, and only in excerpts, in high school), I remember the teacher telling us that epic poetry was, historically, meant to tell the stories that might inculcate the values of a nation into the people. In other words, an ep...more...]]> 38683564 1752430 1056805 0393060489 9780393060485 46 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036m/1056805.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036s/1056805.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1056805.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight_A_New_Verse_Translation 3.56 4738 A spellbinding poetic translation of this six hundred year-old Arthurian story of beheading, romance, and the supernatural.

"Promises to drive the green force of the old poem through the Armitage fuse and set it a-buddin' and a-bloomin' for the new millennium."—Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate, best-selling translator of Beowulf

Composed in the late fourteenth century by an anonymous author in the English provinces, this remarkable epic has enchanted readers for generations. The work itself is an unparalleled masterpiece of alliteration and rhyme, beginning at Christmastime in Camelot, when the festivities of the Round Table are interrupted by the sudden appearance of a fearful stranger, green from head to foot. A young knight, Gawain, rises to the challenge. What follows is a test of nerve and heart as Gawain travels north to meet his destiny at the Green Chapel in a year's time. Following in the tradition of Seamus Heaney, Simon Armitage, one of England's leading poets, has produced a virtuoso new translation that resounds with both clarity and verve.]]> 1390 3 0 false Fri Feb 06 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 26 06:21:19 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 06 06:57:19 -0800 2009
I wish I could give a 4-star review, but the translation was lacking at points. At times, I f...more...]]> 24928762 959546 201735 0571223273 9780571223275 3 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172638612m/201735.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172638612s/201735.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/201735.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight 3.56 4738 1390 4 0 false Sun Aug 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 19 15:00:49 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 02 01:03:14 -0700 2009
'And they danced and they sang til the sun went down
that day
Bu...more...]]> 23509032 197714 1056805 0393060489 9780393060485 46 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036m/1056805.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180572036s/1056805.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1056805.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight_A_New_Verse_Translation 3.56 4738 A spellbinding poetic translation of this six hundred year-old Arthurian story of beheading, romance, and the supernatural.

"Promises to drive the green force of the old poem through the Armitage fuse and set it a-buddin' and a-bloomin' for the new millennium."—Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate, best-selling translator of Beowulf

Composed in the late fourteenth century by an anonymous author in the English provinces, this remarkable epic has enchanted readers for generations. The work itself is an unparalleled masterpiece of alliteration and rhyme, beginning at Christmastime in Camelot, when the festivities of the Round Table are interrupted by the sudden appearance of a fearful stranger, green from head to foot. A young knight, Gawain, rises to the challenge. What follows is a test of nerve and heart as Gawain travels north to meet his destiny at the Green Chapel in a year's time. Following in the tradition of Seamus Heaney, Simon Armitage, one of England's leading poets, has produced a virtuoso new translation that resounds with both clarity and verve.]]> 1390 4 0 true Fri Jun 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 02 07:52:26 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 20 13:58:43 -0700 2008
While I have never read other translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, this one has to be one of the best. It just scans so very well. I refrain from giving it five stars simply because the story itself is so very bizarre wit...more...]]> 19872972 1062822 2230429 0451618483 9780451618481 2 <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2230429.Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight 4.25 12 1390 5 0 false Sun Jul 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 10 10:57:11 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 10 10:57:11 -0700 2008 more...]]> 8 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1056805