The Awntyrs off Arthure at the Terne Wathelyne: A Critical Edition

by Robert J. Gates (Editor)

This anonymous Middle English poem of the late fourteenth century, a central work in the Arthurian group, is an important example of the tradition known as the "alliterative revival" and is one of a group of poems having Sir Gawain as hero. Its metrical form is the most intricate in Middle English Romance, including rhyme, alliteration, and stanza-linking. The stanza consists of nine long alliterative lines rhyming ababababc and a "wheel" of four shorter lines rhyming dddc.

In this first critical edition based on all four extant manuscripts, Robert J. Gates has contributed careful commentary with extensive critical apparatus. He attempts to reconstruct original readings that have been lost in one or more of the manuscripts. His glossary, however, uses words from the variant readings as well as those accepted in the edited text.

Using the editorial methods developed by George Kane in his edition of Piers Plowman , Gates gives abundant new evidence of the usefulness of these methods. He believes that the edition shows that written poems could be formulaic and that scribes often substituted readings consisting of formulaic whole or half lines.

Genres: Arthurian, Classics, Medieval, Poetry

278 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1969

Reviews

[Neil]

A nice little edition of this late Alliterative Revival poem. The poem is thought to date from the late 14th to early 15th century and to have been written in Cumbria. The poem survives in four manuscript versions, which the editor of this volume collates for this edition. Contrary to the title, the poem actually focuses on the adventures of Gawain at the mysterious lake in Cumbria, the Tarn Wadling and tells the tale of Gawain and Guinevere's encounter with a prophesying female ghost and Gawain's battle with a knight named Sir Galeron of Galloway. This edition is complete with a good introduction and glossary of Middle English words.

[Ha Kyung Lee]

It was one of the more enjoyable and more coherent of the Arthurian romances, in my opinion, but perhaps that's because the last one I read was Sir Torrent of Portingale :// also realised that the highest compliment one can receive regarding one's appearance is 'wlonkest in wedes' haha

[Esther]

FML this was hard to read but I now kinda want to see a horror movie/book based on it.

[monoakina]

what an icon (the frogs)