An Introduction to The Gawain-Poet

by Ad Putter

The late 14th century produced a crop of brilliant Chaucer, Langland and Gower. Their achievement was rivalled only by a series of four works generally agreed to have been written by a single northern author, known as the Gawain-Poet. This book introduces the reader to the Gawain-poet's four surviving Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , Patience, Pearl and Cleanness . The four poems are made accessible to the student by setting them in their relevant historical and cultural context and by developing some lines of critical argument. All studies are based on the author's own research and translations.

268 pages, Textbook Binding

First published October 2, 1996

Reviews

[Warren Wulff · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you lay awake at night wishing you knew more about late 14th century English poetics and the contextual literary and socioeconomic history of the Gawain-poet and his times, then you must read this book! It will answer such common questions as: Why can we understand Chaucer but it’s so much harder with the Gawain-poet? Why does this dude know the Bible so well but he was clearly not a priest or monk? Why was the concept of “truth” so important in this time period? Why did everyone hate Richard II except people from Cheshire? Why is Sir Gawain & the Green Knight so different than other Arthurian romances? What was the Wonderful Parliament of 1386 or the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381? What does Nero have to do with it, or Aristotle for that matter? Why does the whole Green Knight story turn on a green garter? Why does the reader feel exhausted reading about all the frat boy partying Gawain does? Why was the follow-up ballad The Green Knight such a God-awful song? It’s all here. If you have cleanness in your heart, the stoutness of a knight, with a touch of patience, you will find a pearl of wisdom within.