The document provides an overview of the medieval literature work Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It discusses the time period of the late Middle Ages in which the text was written. It then summarizes the key details of the Arthurian legend that provides context for the story, and previews that the poem will tell a marvelous tale of adventure from King Arthur's court involving Sir Gawain.

1. 1
MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight
Kelly Gilbertson

2. 2
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
(Oxford University Press, 1998)
NB: YOU WILL BE
EXPECTED TO BRING THE
TEXT TO EVERY CLASS
Lectures: Weeks 1–3
Assignment due: 6 March

3. 3
Hamlet
(RSC / Macmillan, 1998)
NB: YOU WILL BE
EXPECTED TO BRING THE
TEXT TO EVERY CLASS
Lectures: Weeks 4–6
TEST: 17 April

4. 4
Where are we?
• William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Elizabethan period
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c.1380–90)
Anonymous (NB!)
• Late Middle Ages (Medieval period)
(over 600 years ago)

5. 5
What were the “Middle Ages”?
• Period between
Dark Ages (c. 500 – 1000)
and
• The Renaissance (c. 1500–1600)
‘Rebirth’
Middle Ages = c. 1000–1500 AD

6. • Dark Ages: What happened?
• Classical: Roman Empire
• Large, unmanageable
• Civil strife, weak rulers, invading tribes
• Division into western and eastern
empire
• Capital moved to Constantiople (East)
• Visigoths and Vandals attacked Rome
• Last western emperor in west
overthrown by Goths in 476AD. 6

7. 7
The medieval period was the beginning of recognisable
English language and literature.
Beginnings of the ‘modern’ age.
Medieval literature has been influential for over 600 years,
and continues to exercise an influence on modern
writing, art and culture.
WHY ARE WE STUDYING THIS
PERIOD AND THIS WORK?

8. 8
King Arthur and the Knights
of the Round Table
• King Arthur – a legendary king of Britain
• He becomes king when he draws a
mysterious sword out of a stone

9. 9
• Arthur fights to end a period of civil war, and
becomes leader of a group of heroic knights,
including
Sir Lancelot
Sir Gawain
Sir Galahad
• They meet around a Round Table –
• At which everyone is equal

10. 10
• Arthur’s kingship is further confirmed when he
receives a magical sword — ‘Excalibur’ —
from ‘the Lady of the Lake’

11. 11
• For many years Arthur’s knights go on
adventures, defeating enemies, upholding
good over evil, and upholding the values of
chivalry.
• But tragedy develops when Arthur’s queen —
Guenevere — falls in love with his best
knight, Lancelot.

12. 12
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• An ‘Arthurian romance’ (genre)
• A narrative poem (style)
• The hero is not Arthur, but Arthur’s nephew,
Sir Gawain
• The setting is Arthur’s court, when everyone
is young and energetic
• Text is a modern English rendition
• As you read, try to get a sense of where the
text is taking you

13. 13
After the battle and the attack were over at Troy,
The town beaten down to smoking brands and ashes,
The man enmeshed in the nets of treachery – the truest
Of men – was tried for treason; I mean
Aeneas, the high-born, who with his noble kinsmen,
Conquered many countries and made themselves masters
Of almost all the wealth of the Western Isles.
Romulus goes off in haste towards Rome, raises
At first that fine city with pride, bestowing
On her his famous name, which she still has now.
Ticius builds new towns in Tuscany
And Langeberde lays out homes in Lombardy
And, joyfully, far over the French sea,
Felix Brutus founds Britain by ample down
and bay;
Where war, and joy, and terror
Have all at times held sway;
Where both delight and horror
Have had their fitful day.

14. 14

15. 15
• The poem begins in the distant past, and
moves progressively closer to the poet’s own
time and country
• Note how both destruction and creation are
mentioned:
After the battle and the attack were over at Troy,
The town beaten down to smoking brands and ashes,
…
Romulus goes off in haste towards Rome, raises
At first that fine city with pride, …
Ticius builds new towns in Tuscany
And Langeberde lays out homes in Lombardy
• Life consists of endings and beginnings

16. 16
Felix Brutus founds Britain by ample down
and bay;
Where war, and joy, and terror
Have all at times held sway;
Where both delight and horror
Have had their fitful day.
•War AND joy
•Life is unpredictable; it consists of good and
bad
•Neither lasts forever. Remember!
•Stanza 2: the court of King Arthur

17. 17
And after Britain was founded by this brave fighter
Rough fellows were fathered here who relished a fray
And made much mischief in troubled times.
More marvels have occurred in this country
Than any other since then, so far as I know.
But of all the kings who’ve commanded this land
Men say King Arthur was the greatest in courtesy.
Let me tell you, then, a tale of adventure,
A most striking one among the marvels of Arthur
Which some will consider a wonder to hear.
If you listen closely to my words a little while
I’ll tell it to you now as I heard it told
in town:
A bold story, well proven,
And everywhere well known,
The letters all interwoven
As custom sets it down.

18. 18
• Stanza 2 also refers to war and conflict, but
this belongs to the time before King Arthur
• Arthur is renowned for courtesy
• The poet promises to tell a story about
marvels, that will make you wonder
• Marvel / marvellous – something astonishing,
out of the ordinary, maybe even supernatural
A bold story, well proven,
And everywhere well known,
The letters all interwoven
As custom sets it down.

19. 19
And after Britain was founded by this brave fighter
Rough fellows were fathered here who relished a fray
And made much mischief in troubled times.
More marvels have occurred in this country
Than any other since then, so far as I know.
But of all the kings who’ve commanded this land
Men say King Arthur was the greatest in courtesy.
Let me tell you, then, a tale of adventure,
A most striking one among the marvels of Arthur
Which some will consider a wonder to hear.
If you listen closely to my words a little while
I’ll tell it to you now as I heard it told
in town:
A bold story, well proven,
And everywhere well known,
The letters all interwoven
As custom sets it down.
Alliteration

20. 20
And after Britain was founded by this brave fighter
Rough fellows were fathered here who relished a fray
And made much mischief in troubled times.
More marvels have occurred in this country
Than any other since then, so far as I know.
But of all the kings who’ve commanded this land
Men say King Arthur was the greatest in courtesy.
Let me tell you, then, a tale of adventure,
A most striking one among the marvels of Arthur
Which some will consider a wonder to hear.
If you listen closely to my words a little while
I’ll tell it to you now as I heard it told
in town:
A bold story, well proven,
And everywhere well known,
The letters all interwoven
As custom sets it down.
Stock
Bob
Wheel
Structure of Stanzas

21. 21
And when this Bretayn was bigged bi this burn rych,
Bolde bredden therinne, baret that lofden,
In mony turned tyme tene that wroghten.
Mo ferlyes on this folde han fallen here oft
Then in any other that I wot, syn that ilk tyme.
Bot of alle that here bult, of Bretaygnes kynges,
Ay was Arthur the hendest, as I haf herde telle.
Ande quen þis Bretayn watz bigged bi þis burn rych,
Bolde bredden þerinne, baret þat lofden,
In mony turned tyme tene þat wro ten.ȝ
Mo ferlyes on þis folde han fallen here oft
Þen in any oþer þat I wot, syn þat ilk tyme.
Bot of alle þat here bult, of Bretaygnes kynges,
Ay watz Arthur þe hendest, as I haf herde telle.

22. 22
Alliterative Verse
• Uses internal rhymes (alliteration), falling on stressed
syllables within each line.
• This rhyming was typical of verse that was meant to
be read aloud in performance – in oral delivery.
• The SOUNDS of each line communicate meaning in
addition to the words themselves.
• Read aloud and LISTEN to the music of
the stresses,
the sounds and
the language

23. 23
Summary (lines 1–36)
• In order to locate its setting, the poem begins by evoking events
in the distant ‘historical’ past (the fall of Troy, the founding of
Rome, the founding of Britain by Felix Brutus).
• It emphasises the uncertainty and the instability of events: the
FALL of Troy leads to the FOUNDING of Rome; ‘war’ alternates
with ‘joy’ which alternates with ‘terror’; ‘delight’ is balanced by
‘horror’.
• Britain was a place of fighting, mischief and troubled times (20–
22), but also of marvels (23).
• King Arthur brings stability and is most famous for courtesy (26).
• The poet will tell the story of one of the most amazing ‘marvels’
to have happened in Arthur’s court.
• A marvel: something unusual, amazing, miraculous,
supernatural.

24. 24
Christmas time. The king is home at Camelot 37
Among his many lords, all splendid men —
All the trusted brothers of the Round Table
Ready for court revels and carefree pleasures.
Knights in great numbers at the tournament sports
Jousted with much joy, as gentle knights
Will do, then rode to the court for the carol-dances.
The festival lasted fifteen long days
Of great mirth with all the meat they could manage.
Such clamour and merriment were amazing to hear:
A day of joyful noise, dancing at night —
With lords and ladies pleasing themselves as they pleased.
So in delight they lived and danced there together:
The knights of highest renown under Christ Himself,
The loveliest ladies that ever on earth drew breath,
The handsomest king that ever kept court,
All in that hall were beautiful, young and, of
their kind:
The happiest under heaven,
A king of powerful mind,