Post by GRWelsh on May 3, 2015 11:55:59 GMT -5
You guys may think this is weird, but every year around this time (April/May) I reread SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT. I own two translations, the Penguin Classics one by Brian Stone and Tolkien's. I've checked out some other translations, but these two are my favorite so far. I've been meaning to get the new-ish one by Richard Armitage (2007), but haven't bought it yet. Anyway, for me this is always one of those "going back to the well" times, to get back to some old roots of fantasy. Sometimes I focus more on the details than the overall themes... Consider these passages (from Stone), which just resonate so well with the idea of "adventure" at the heart of D&D:
30
Now the gallant Sir Gawain in God's name goes
Riding through the realm of Britain, no rapture in his mind.
Often the long night he lay alone and companionless,
And did not find in front of him food of his choice;
He had no comrade but his courser in the country woods and hills,
No traveller to talk to on the track but God,
Till he was nearly nigh to Northern Wales. [1]
The isles of Anglesey he kept always on his left,
And fared across the fords by the foreshore
Over at Holy Head to the other side
Into the wilderness of Wirral, where few dwelled
To whom God or good-hearted man gave his love.
And always he went, he asked whomever he met
If they knew or had knowledge of a knight in green,
Or could guide him to the ground where a green chapel stood.
And there was none but said him nay, for never in their lives
Had they set eyes on someone of such a hue
As green.
His way was wild and strange
By dreary hill and dean.
His mood would many times change
Before that fane was seen.
31
He rode far from his friends, a forsaken man,
Scaling many cliffs in country unknown.
At every bank or beach where the brave man crossed water, [2]
He found a foe in front of him, except by freak of chance,
And so foul and fierce a one that he was forced to fight.
So many marvels did the man meet in the mountains,
It would be too tedious to tell a tenth of them.
He had death-struggles with dragons, did battle with wolves,
Warred with wild men who dwelt among the crags, [3]
Battled with bulls and bears and boars at other times,
And ogres that panted after him on the high fells.
Had he not been doughty in endurance and dutiful to God,
Doubtless he would have been done to death time and again.
Yet the warring little worried him; worse was the winter,
When the cold clear water cascaded from the clouds
And froze before it could fall to the fallow earth.
Half-slain by the sleet, he slept in his armour
Night after night among the naked rocks,
Where the cold streams splashed from the steep crests
Or hung high over his head in hard icicles.
So in peril and pain, in parlous plight,
This knight covered the country till Christmas Eve
Alone;
And he that eventide
To Mary made his moan
And begged her be his guide
Till some shelter should be shown.
NOTES ON THESE PASSAGES FROM THE STONE TRANSLATION (pp.172-3, in which other scholars are referred to):
[1] Gawain comes from an unlocated Camelot to northwestern Wales and enters a known region with real names before going again into the unknown. Davis (p.97) discuses Gawain's itinerary at length: it passes near Holy Well, where Caradoc, Prince of Wales decapitated St Winifrid for refusing his advances. Where the head fell, the holy well broke out. St Benno restored her to life, and the white circle round her neck remained as testimony of her fidelity to Christ. Gollancz (p. 107) relates this, and concludes that the story 'would make a natural appeal to Gawain'. But Davis thinks this fanciful, since there is no reference to the story in the poem. In the fourteenth century the wilderness of Wirral had become a refuge for vagabonds and outlaws to such an extent that in July 1376 Edward III, on the petition of the citizens of Chester, ordered the disafforestation of the area.
[2] Fierce guardians of water-crossings are common adversaries for virtuous knights in medieval romance.
[3] The wild man of the woods was a monstrous sub-human creatures often met in medieval literature and art. He survived ot appear in Spenser's Faerie Queene (Book IV, Canto VII) and to be represented several times in the Elizabethan drama; Calaban is one in essence. These wild men specialized in carrying off women and fighting knights.
SOME OF MY OWN NOTES:
- In the Tolkien translation it is "Realm of Logres" rather than "Realm of Britain." The original Middle English is "ryalme of Logres."
- In the Tolkien translation it is "with worms he wars" rather than "he had death-struggles with dragons." The Tolkien is closer to the original: "sumwhyle wyth wormez he werrez."
- In the Tolkien translation it is "at whiles with wood-trolls that wandered in the crags" rather than "Warred with wild men who dwelt among the crags." The original is: "Sumwhyle wyth wodwos pat woned in pe knarrez."
30
Now the gallant Sir Gawain in God's name goes
Riding through the realm of Britain, no rapture in his mind.
Often the long night he lay alone and companionless,
And did not find in front of him food of his choice;
He had no comrade but his courser in the country woods and hills,
No traveller to talk to on the track but God,
Till he was nearly nigh to Northern Wales. [1]
The isles of Anglesey he kept always on his left,
And fared across the fords by the foreshore
Over at Holy Head to the other side
Into the wilderness of Wirral, where few dwelled
To whom God or good-hearted man gave his love.
And always he went, he asked whomever he met
If they knew or had knowledge of a knight in green,
Or could guide him to the ground where a green chapel stood.
And there was none but said him nay, for never in their lives
Had they set eyes on someone of such a hue
As green.
His way was wild and strange
By dreary hill and dean.
His mood would many times change
Before that fane was seen.
31
He rode far from his friends, a forsaken man,
Scaling many cliffs in country unknown.
At every bank or beach where the brave man crossed water, [2]
He found a foe in front of him, except by freak of chance,
And so foul and fierce a one that he was forced to fight.
So many marvels did the man meet in the mountains,
It would be too tedious to tell a tenth of them.
He had death-struggles with dragons, did battle with wolves,
Warred with wild men who dwelt among the crags, [3]
Battled with bulls and bears and boars at other times,
And ogres that panted after him on the high fells.
Had he not been doughty in endurance and dutiful to God,
Doubtless he would have been done to death time and again.
Yet the warring little worried him; worse was the winter,
When the cold clear water cascaded from the clouds
And froze before it could fall to the fallow earth.
Half-slain by the sleet, he slept in his armour
Night after night among the naked rocks,
Where the cold streams splashed from the steep crests
Or hung high over his head in hard icicles.
So in peril and pain, in parlous plight,
This knight covered the country till Christmas Eve
Alone;
And he that eventide
To Mary made his moan
And begged her be his guide
Till some shelter should be shown.
NOTES ON THESE PASSAGES FROM THE STONE TRANSLATION (pp.172-3, in which other scholars are referred to):
[1] Gawain comes from an unlocated Camelot to northwestern Wales and enters a known region with real names before going again into the unknown. Davis (p.97) discuses Gawain's itinerary at length: it passes near Holy Well, where Caradoc, Prince of Wales decapitated St Winifrid for refusing his advances. Where the head fell, the holy well broke out. St Benno restored her to life, and the white circle round her neck remained as testimony of her fidelity to Christ. Gollancz (p. 107) relates this, and concludes that the story 'would make a natural appeal to Gawain'. But Davis thinks this fanciful, since there is no reference to the story in the poem. In the fourteenth century the wilderness of Wirral had become a refuge for vagabonds and outlaws to such an extent that in July 1376 Edward III, on the petition of the citizens of Chester, ordered the disafforestation of the area.
[2] Fierce guardians of water-crossings are common adversaries for virtuous knights in medieval romance.
[3] The wild man of the woods was a monstrous sub-human creatures often met in medieval literature and art. He survived ot appear in Spenser's Faerie Queene (Book IV, Canto VII) and to be represented several times in the Elizabethan drama; Calaban is one in essence. These wild men specialized in carrying off women and fighting knights.
SOME OF MY OWN NOTES:
- In the Tolkien translation it is "Realm of Logres" rather than "Realm of Britain." The original Middle English is "ryalme of Logres."
- In the Tolkien translation it is "with worms he wars" rather than "he had death-struggles with dragons." The Tolkien is closer to the original: "sumwhyle wyth wormez he werrez."
- In the Tolkien translation it is "at whiles with wood-trolls that wandered in the crags" rather than "Warred with wild men who dwelt among the crags." The original is: "Sumwhyle wyth wodwos pat woned in pe knarrez."