SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT, PEARL, AND SIR ORFEO
THREE MEDIEVAL ENGLISH POEMS, WITH TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY BY J.R.R.
TOLKIEN
It's Christmas at Camelot and King Arthur won't begin to feast until he
has witnessed a marvel of chivalry. A mysterious knight, green from head
to toe, rides in and brings the court's wait to an end with an
implausible challenge to the Round Table: he will allow any of the
knights to strike him once, with a battle-axe no less, on the condition
that he is allowed to return the blow a year hence. Arthur's brave
favorite for the challenge is Sir Gawain...
Accompanying Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in this book are Sir
Orfeo, a medieval version of the story of Orpheus and Euridice, a love
so strong that it overcame death, and Pearl, the moving tale of a man
in a graveyard mourning his baby daughter, lost like a pearl that
slipped through his fingers. Worn out by grief, he falls asleep and
dreams of meeting her in a bejewelled fantasy world.
Interpreted in a form designed to appeal to the general reader, J.R.R.
Tolkien's vivid translations of these classic poems represent the
complete rhyme and alliterative schemes of the originals. This
beautifully decorated text includes as a bonus the complete text of
Tolkien's acclaimed lecture on Sir Gawain.
