Sir Gawain and the Green knight - Page 2

***Rían*** · 01-21-2005, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

well theres very few agnostic medieval romances that would allow me to babble on and on about the wonderfulness of agnosticism.

I agree - but did I make you laugh?

***Khamûl*** · 01-23-2005, 03:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sun-star

It was written in Middle English. They don't speak Welsh in Birmingham, and I don't think they did in the 14th century either

I didn't think that Welsh was spoken much outside of Wales, but then again, my knowledge of England is not the most extensive in the world.

Jabberwock · 02-24-2005, 11:45 AM

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written in the west-midland dialect of Old English. We read it in the original alongside modern English for a graduate English class on Arthurian lit in university. I like it. It wasn't tolkien's translation we read though. It is, as others here hint at, essentially a vehicle for describing those attributes which make up the ideal chivalrous knight. Gawain loses a contest to the Green Knight and has to go in one year to let the Knight cut off his head. He does, sort of. He gets lost and inadvertantly ends up in the Knight's house, not knowing it's the knights house. The knight's wife secretly puts Gawain through several little tests in order to demonstrate his various virtues. He fails on a few like bravery and ends up being spared by the Green Knight. It's about as interesting as reading Chaucer but with little of the humor. However, if you ever want to know what was expected of a knight within the code of chivalry, this book would be a good place to start for all you aspiring authors out there.

strider8 · 04-12-2005, 11:09 AM

I Just Finished Reading That Its Great Isnt It

durinsbane2244 · 05-05-2005, 09:05 PM

jabberwock has the story down pat,
but gawain backround:
say some welsh mentionings, and it is a welsh name, and i believe he was from wales (not sure). but he was a member of the round table, named himself the knig's man, was the greatest knight after lancelot, and was the lady's knight, sworn to defend all lady's because once he ignorede one's cry
for help at her husbands peril, so she killed herself.

Jabberwock · 05-19-2005, 11:28 PM

Yep, and please please please don't watch that movie King Arthur. It's freaking horrible. Well, Kyra Knightly is kinda hot so it does have one redeeming quality. For a better story involving Gawain and the gang read White's The Once and Future King, the only modern arthurian fiction worth calling a classic (but don't watch the Disney version of book one).

durinsbane2244 · 05-20-2005, 08:05 PM

sweet pie itself thank you jabberwock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THAT MOVIE IS CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i wont go into detail, but any arthur reader can see the obvious flaws i saw from only trailers! i refuse to watch the crap!

durinsbane2244 · 05-25-2005, 07:41 PM

i apologize, even though this thread is hardly read, that is not gawains story i said, that was king pellinore, but gawain was the ladys knight, he didnt give mercy to a knight and when he went to kill him the guys wife jumped inthe wasy and gawain decapitated her cuz he couldnt stop his swing, sorry!

sun-star · 05-26-2005, 08:01 AM

I just read it and enjoyed it. The Green Knight figure is very interesting from the point of view of combining pagan and Christian myths, as is the alliterative metre. I liked the opening bit of context putting Arthur's Britain into a mythical lineage, and the evocation of the natural world - especially the part about the passing of the year:

After Crystenmasse com þe crabbed lentoun
Þat fraystez flesch wyth þe fysche and fode more symple;
Bot þenne þe weder of þe worlde wyth wynter hit þrepez,
Colde clengez adoun, cloudez vplyften,
Schyre schedez þe rayn in schowrez ful warme,
Fallez vpon fayre flat, flowrez þere schewen...
etc.

02-24-2005, 11:45 AM	#23
Jabberwock Enting Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Canadian temporarily in USA. Posts: 55	Gawain Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written in the west-midland dialect of Old English. We read it in the original alongside modern English for a graduate English class on Arthurian lit in university. I like it. It wasn't tolkien's translation we read though. It is, as others here hint at, essentially a vehicle for describing those attributes which make up the ideal chivalrous knight. Gawain loses a contest to the Green Knight and has to go in one year to let the Knight cut off his head. He does, sort of. He gets lost and inadvertantly ends up in the Knight's house, not knowing it's the knights house. The knight's wife secretly puts Gawain through several little tests in order to demonstrate his various virtues. He fails on a few like bravery and ends up being spared by the Green Knight. It's about as interesting as reading Chaucer but with little of the humor. However, if you ever want to know what was expected of a knight within the code of chivalry, this book would be a good place to start for all you aspiring authors out there.

04-12-2005, 11:09 AM	#24
strider8 Elven Warrior Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: In a spaceship, floating in your puny planet's atmosphere, awaiting orders to invade Posts: 292	I Just Finished Reading That Its Great Isnt It __________________ The axes hewed Forlong as he fought alone and unhorsed; and both Duilin of Morthond and his brother were trampled to death when they assailed the mumakil,leading their bowmen close to shoot at the eyes of the monsters. Neither Hirluin the fair would return to Pinnath Gelin, nor Grimbold to Grimslade, nor Halbarad to the northlands,dour-handed Ranger. Those that would not return home, page830-831, The Battle of the Pelennor Fields, The Return of the King

05-05-2005, 09:05 PM	#25
durinsbane2244 Dreamweaver Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: The Misty Mountains, where the spirits go... Posts: 3,560	jabberwock has the story down pat, but gawain backround: say some welsh mentionings, and it is a welsh name, and i believe he was from wales (not sure). but he was a member of the round table, named himself the knig's man, was the greatest knight after lancelot, and was the lady's knight, sworn to defend all lady's because once he ignorede one's cry for help at her husbands peril, so she killed herself. __________________ Lord, what fools these mortals be! ---------------- We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams; World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems. ---------------- Shanti, shanti, shantih...

05-19-2005, 11:28 PM	#26
Jabberwock Enting Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Canadian temporarily in USA. Posts: 55	... Yep, and please please please don't watch that movie King Arthur. It's freaking horrible. Well, Kyra Knightly is kinda hot so it does have one redeeming quality. For a better story involving Gawain and the gang read White's The Once and Future King, the only modern arthurian fiction worth calling a classic (but don't watch the Disney version of book one).

05-20-2005, 08:05 PM	#27
durinsbane2244 Dreamweaver Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: The Misty Mountains, where the spirits go... Posts: 3,560	sweet pie itself thank you jabberwock!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT MOVIE IS CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i wont go into detail, but any arthur reader can see the obvious flaws i saw from only trailers! i refuse to watch the crap! __________________ Lord, what fools these mortals be! ---------------- We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams; World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems. ---------------- Shanti, shanti, shantih...

05-25-2005, 07:41 PM	#28
durinsbane2244 Dreamweaver Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: The Misty Mountains, where the spirits go... Posts: 3,560	i apologize, even though this thread is hardly read, that is not gawains story i said, that was king pellinore, but gawain was the ladys knight, he didnt give mercy to a knight and when he went to kill him the guys wife jumped inthe wasy and gawain decapitated her cuz he couldnt stop his swing, sorry! __________________ Lord, what fools these mortals be! ---------------- We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams; World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems. ---------------- Shanti, shanti, shantih...

05-26-2005, 08:01 AM	#29
sun-star Lady of Letters Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Either Oxford or Kent, England Posts: 2,476	I just read it and enjoyed it. The Green Knight figure is very interesting from the point of view of combining pagan and Christian myths, as is the alliterative metre. I liked the opening bit of context putting Arthur's Britain into a mythical lineage, and the evocation of the natural world - especially the part about the passing of the year: After Crystenmasse com þe crabbed lentoun Þat fraystez flesch wyth þe fysche and fode more symple; Bot þenne þe weder of þe worlde wyth wynter hit þrepez, Colde clengez adoun, cloudez vplyften, Schyre schedez þe rayn in schowrez ful warme, Fallez vpon fayre flat, flowrez þere schewen... etc. __________________ And all the time the waves, the waves, the waves Chase, intersect and flatten on the sand As they have done for centuries, as they will For centuries to come, when not a soul Is left to picnic on the blazing rocks, When England is not England, when mankind Has blown himself to pieces. Still the sea, Consolingly disastrous, will return While the strange starfish, hugely magnified, Waits in the jewelled basin of a pool.