Having got started with the Neilson prose translation from Cambridge, Ontario, I moved onto a critical edition from Norton from Foyle's and which included plenty of supporting materials in addition to an alliterating verse translation. Just the thing for another read of the poem and then periodic dipping into the supporting materials.
Which included some interesting stuff about the style of poetry, which had more or less come to an end by the time of Chaucer, not long after this poem was written, with the rhyme being taken from the beginning of a word rather than the end, with the idea being to have several words in a line starting with the same letter. There were also rules & regulations about syllables, stresses and all that stuff which I did not do at school but which did, if I remember my Herman Wouk correctly, figure in schools in the US in the middle of the last century.
We start at the Christmas feast at King Arthur's court, interrupted by the challenge of the Knight of the Green Chapel. A rather brutal challenge which said you get a crack at chopping off my head if I get a crack at chopping yours off in a year's time. Apart from being an opportunity for a gloating description of a fine battle axe, I was intrigued by the whole business. Would a company of warriors who boasted of their bravery be able to turn up such a challenge? On the other hand, would it be a breach of courtesy to issue such a brutal challenge (at one point we have the challenger's head rolling around the feet of the feasting knights) at such a time? According to the notes, there seem to be plenty of stories of such challenges around at the time of the writing of the poem, say the second half of the 14th century. And the knights of that time were certainly into fairly brutal blood sports, even if they took care to indulge when the bishop was out of town.
Sir Gawain's shield for his expedition to the Green Chapel for the return match the following year was ornamented with a pentangle, on the subject of which we get getting on for 50 lines from line 620. An important symbol at the time, linked according to the poem to the five wounds of Christ on the Cross, and currently being revived by new age types, not least the folk group of the same name of which I used to be fond as a student. To the point of hearing them in the QEH, presumably in the late sixties or early seventies. Looking at it now, one can see the pull. Five is the smallest number of points to get a pattern of this sort and you need an odd number, so the star of David is not so successful to my mind. And the septangle has too many points, the impact of the joining them up is blunted.
On the way he is entertained by a lord & lady at a fine castle. Part of the entertainment includes Gawain being tempted three time by the lady while he rests in bed and while the lord is out hunting with his mates - which last is the subject of large chunks of poem. Intrigued again by the game of love in which manners, courtesy and wit are all important. Maybe derived from vaguely contemporary French material.
As it turns out, despite being one of the leading knights of his day, Gawain cheats a little and although he survives the ordeal of the Green Chapel, he returns to Arthur's court somewhat chastened and somewhat wiser. Inter alia, a morality tale.
All in all, well worth what we paid the Globe to get started, even if their contribution was a tad over-priced.
And, one might think, a worthy set book for students of English, both secondary and tertiary.
Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/sir-gawain.html.
Reference 2: http://www.deviantart.com/, from one of whose large selection of pentangles the illustration is taken. Someone who flies under the moniker of artgeza-II.
No comments:
Post a Comment