Customer Reviews
Fab - By: Jonathan Birch, 29 Mar 2008 
If you only show your children one poem, make sure it's this one. The touching & powerful Arthurian legend is brought to life miraculously in this rendition by Simon Armitage, which (unlike previous translations) will never leave you scratching your head & saying "What does that mean?" Despite retaining the strange & lovely allliterative verse of the original, the poem is lucid, accessible, fresh & modern. Here is a poem for ordinary people, not just Medievalists & English students.
Armitage adds a nice introduction, suggesting how we can find a contemporary resonance in the poem. Gawain's story is not merely an exploration of Christian morality, but also, through vivid imagery of the natural world, aims to remind us of our own relationship with our nature & with nature as we find it alll around us. The Green Knight is green for a reason (he thinks).
Utterly compelling - By: Liesel Knightley, 10 Feb 2007 Thoroughly enjoyable, muscular, vivid, exciting rendition of this wonderful poem: I first read the original at university & loved it then. But Armitage's modernisation brings the text to life for those readers who aren't ever going to need or want to tackle Middle English. I can't recommend it too highly. It is beautifully paced, extremely detailed & accessible without in any way dumbing down. I reallly felt as though I was in the poem, particularly in the third & fourth sections where Gawain faces a moral dilemma.
Terrific. Simon Armitage is the true Poet Laureate of Britain, bringing our literary heritage to a fresh audience.
Muscular and modern revival - By: TR, 27 Jan 2007 A terrific book. Sir Gawain & the Green Knight is an early classic of English Literature - lost until the 19th century. This is a very readable, witty, bright translation with Simon Armitage's customary edge. In places: warm, funny, violent, dramatic, sexual. I've long been a big fan of Armitage - a Yorkshire writer who uses language brilliantly & has proved to be extremely versatile as poet, editor, playwright, novelist, non-fiction prose stylist & more recently translator. His Homer's Odyssey was a pleasure; Sir Gawain & the Green Knight is a delight. This would make a great Christmas present (much of the setting is Christmas/New Year) for anyone who enjoys literature.
