Some passages of this book were unexpectedly droll. It might come from
Simon Armitage's translation, which makes use of many words and expressions which I didn't know, and which are marked as familiar in my dictionary. It doesn't bother me too much that he uses these terms, because they do not sound familiar to my French ear anyway. But native English speakers will maybe find it somewhat jarring.

A few examples gathered haphazardly (with the line number):

'He leaps from where he lies at a heck of a lick,' (1309)
heck and at a lick are referred by dictionaries as familiar or informal. My Harrap's Unabridged translates at a tremendous lick as à fond la caisse, à fond de train, which is indeed familiar.

'so that many grew timid and retreated a tad.' (1463)
a tad is again familiar or informal. As un peu wouldn't sound informal in French, a tad is translated by un chouïa, un tantinet. The 1st expression comes from North Africa and is indeed very familiar (I wouldn't write it in a French translation of Sir Gawain!), the second, though familiar too, is very old-fashioned and could suit a text on chivalry.

'If someone were so snooty as to snub your advance,' (1496)
snooty is again informal.

There are many more similar examples—much more than one in each page. At least, they allowed me to increase my familiar and informal vocabulary. Let alone the jointing scenes, whose vocabulary is however much harder to place in conversation.

But Simon Armitage's choices of informal terms perhaps makes the tale more entertaining finally. It might be the reason why I was surprised by this book and eventually liked it. ( )

The changing of the seasons, the clothing of the characters, and the bloody battles and hunt scenes are all described with such vivid detail. I love the expression of the struggle that Gawain faces between chivalry and what he knows to be right. ( )

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a 14th century tale of which only one manuscript still exists today. It has been translated by many authors over the years, including the great JRR Tolkien.

The story concerns the adventure of the knight Sir Gawain, who accepts the challenge of a mysterious green skinned knight who arrives at King Arthur’s court during the Yuletide festival. The “Green Knight” offers to take a single blow with his axe, if the challenger will accept a return blow a year and a day later. The young and inexperienced Gawain accepts the challenge, in order to prove his worth. He strikes once, beheading the green warrior, who promptly picks up his own head and leaves, reminding the stunned Gawain to find him at the appointed time. Gawain leaves, determined to meet the knight as he encounters other tests and challenges along the way.

I remember reading a children's version of this as a child, as my parents donated a copy to the school library when I left. Sadly I don't remember much about how I felt about it, but I have been longing to read Simon Armitage's translation for some time now.

Sir Gawain is a tale of chivalry, loyalty and honour in the face of adversity. The writing style is Middle English verse, which takes some getting used to, but I found the story very enjoyable and accessible all the same. In fact the only part of the story that I rushed over was the hunting scene, depicted in all its glorious and gory detail, which for a vegetarian and animal lover like myself was a little much, so I skimmed those lines much quicker. The rest of the prose however, was worth savouring, especially the seduction scenes, which were playful and suggestive, but never detailed. The descriptions of court too were delightful, and I often felt myself transported there (needless to say I'm very excited about out Mediaeval Spectacular in August!!).

On the whole, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read for anyone who delights in mediaeval or Arthurian literature, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. Though whether Sir Gawain met his opponent and survived the final challenge, I will that leave for you to discover!

The accompanying essays in this edition, although differing from those of the first edition in some respects are nevertheless excellent and a brief introduction to the context of the poem and to my particular interest, some questions that arise about the origins of the story, the Green Man and the archetypical celtic themes, melded as they are with the issues of courtly virtue. ( )

I'm not too into this dated kind of literature because I don't do things like go hunting with noblemen or wander around on horseback looking for shit that can easily kill me. Still, it's an excellent translation that reads smoothly, and is an inestimable find as a contribution to the colorful, if rather morbid and two-dimensional, early English literature. ( )