EN392 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Lanval, Signify, Green Man
EN392
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Essay
• Turnitin.com before class
• Submit report from Turnitin with essay hard copy
• Class ID #17663072
• Password/enrolment key: morgan25
• Quote original and translation
Gawain Manuscript
• One copy
• Not in perfect shape
• Not very sophisticated illustrations
• Faded a significant amount
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - General
• A poem about game (many meanings in MA) idea of trickery and people playing one another
o Childish play we know or context, jousting, or single combat with swords
o Superior knowledge, foolery, and bamboozlement
• The need to prove chivalric
• Ethical rules
• Knightly code
o The king
o Bring truthful
o Following through on your word
• Game – hunting party vs. the courtly approach
o Alteate as the lod is hutig ad Gaai’s adetues i the astle
▪ Two separate narratives – why are they there? Are they separate?
• Original text and then translation beside it
• Middle English from middle part of England and the North
o Economic centres in the South (London and most of the wonderful high-intensity
farming) are the richest parts of the country
o Northerners are more country than city
o Local midland person writing a sophisticated poem in a backwater somewhere
▪ Not the London dialect
o Vast vocabulary in this text – technical language of hunting as well
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Manuscript has 3 other poems – all highly religious
o Pearl – religious allegory
o 2 discussions of scripture
▪ One about a feast
▪ The other a story about Jonah – patience
o Titles made up by us and are not in the manuscript
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – Content
• Begins with the Siege of Troy – Homer
o Back to about as ancient we can get
o War between Troy and Greece – Grecians win and Troy is destroyed
o Iliad – a height of civilization (decoration, art, literature, etc.)
• This story/poem is meant to be encyclopedic
o Tries to include everything over the entire span of human history
• Alliterative revival – Old English line construction
o Variant in number of lines like this
• A bob (one stressed syllable added on to the last line) and wheel (summing up in 4 much shorter
lines that rhyme)
• Bizarrely unusual form of technical flourish in rhyming scheme
• Pearl technique unlike Sir Gawain
• Brutus – founder of the Island of Britain
• Foundations of Britain and Rome
o Poem set in history where it is part of history
▪ Just as Romulus founded Rome, Brutus founded Britain
o Implicit in creation
o Romulus murdered his own brother – not all positive
o Story is grafted into history and made part of it
o Poet trying to prove legitimacy
▪ Demonstrate knowledge and give credentials
o Creates a sense of realism
▪ Thisw poem is as real as the founding of Britain
o Could happen anywhere
o Making something magical real
o It is history, war, and characteristic of society
• War, revenge, and miracles
• Bliss and blunder, joy and mistakes
• Alternation conflict is the rule – the world is not all good but also not all bad
• Peroration on knighthood
• Arthur as the greatest of the British king
• Oral stories
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Essay: turnitin. com before class, submit report from turnitin with essay hard copy, class id #17663072, password/enrolment key: morgan25, quote original and translation. Gawain manuscript: one copy, not in perfect shape, not very sophisticated illustrations, faded a significant amount. Sir gawain and the green knight content: begins with the siege of troy homer, back to about as ancient we can get, war between troy and greece grecians win and troy is destroyed. Just as romulus founded rome, brutus founded britain. Arthur"s court: best of the best, women are gorgeous and men are brave, 12 course meals, highly ritualized meal practices, christmas time games played throughout the meal. Lancelot and guinevere have an affair and everything becomes a big cropper. Lancelot has an affair with the queen, but gawain is impure pretty much from the start. Guinevere: covered in beautiful jewelry, she is the most beautiful woman who has ever lived, unlike lanval.
