Customer Reviews (1)

poetry at it finest
i got this book, because I am a decendant of Wyatt. With in the pages I found very heartfelt and thought out words of poetry. I encourage any one who loves poetry to engourge themselves in this book. ... Read more

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From the Spanish Morning
I find it excellent - a fine translation and so very evocative of the Spain of centuries ago, as well as of the Spanish character through many centuries. ... Read more

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A splendid new translation of the classic Arthurian tale of enchantment, adventure, and romance, presented alongside the original Middle English text.

It is the height of Christmas and New Year’s revelry when an enormous knight with brilliant green clothes and skin descends upon King Arthur’s court. He presents a sinister challenge: he will endure a blow of the axe to his neck without offering any resistance, but whoever gives the blow must promise to take the same in exactly a year and a day’s time. The young Sir Gawain quickly rises to the challenge, and the poem tells of the adventures he finds—an almost irresistible seduction, shockingly brutal hunts, and terrifyingly powerful villains—as he endeavors to fulfill his promise.

Capturing the pace, impact, and richly alliterative language of the original text, W. S. Merwin has imparted a new immediacy to a spellbinding narrative, written centuries ago by a poet whose name is now unknown, lost to time. Of the Green Knight, Merwin notes in his foreword: “We seem to recognize him—his splendor, the awe that surrounds him, his menace and his grace—without being able to place him . . . We will never know who the Green Knight is except in our own response to him.”


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Great translation reflects the greatness of the poem
While I'm not able to comment on other translations with any expertise, I found this translation to be excellent. The story still carries all the power with some moving verse (not too mention, of course, the plot line). This will be a translation I return to again and again as the beauty of the language makes this worth lingering over.

The dark middle ages and all that.

The author of this little masterpiece is unknown. This story - or 'romance' if you like - was found in a little manuscript that was written in c.1380. There are three other stories in that manuscript presumably by the same author.

King Arthur, his wife Guinevere, and the Knights of The Round Table are celebrating Christmas and New Year at the famous castle 'Camelot'. One evening a huge knight on horseback bursts into the Hall during dinner, brandishing a large and fearsome battle-axe. Everything about him is green, not only his armor - as one might expect - but also his face, his hair, and even his horse. He has come in peace as he is advertising more than once. In short he says: who is bold enough to step forward and try to chop my head off with this battle-axe? But after one year and a day it will be my turn to deal a blow. Gawain, one of the Knights of The Round Table, steps forward, takes the axe and beheads the Green Knight. As if nothing happened the Green Knight picks up his head, takes it under his arm and the head says: a year and one day from now it will be my turn to give you a blow. You have to promise that you will come looking for me. You can find me at the Green Chapel ( It's almost a joke but who knows? Maybe this is all just a joke ). If you survive my blow I will give you a great reward. The Knight doesn't want to say where the Green Chapel can be found. It's far away from here but you will find people who can show you the way. And remember, you promised. And so the adventure begins for Gawain. He has to go without a companion. He stands on his own for that was a part of the deal.

This Fantasy element is the only one in the story. Everything else is realistic. That could be an indication that some scholars are right when they say that the Green Knight is a symbol for the reviving of Nature after the winter. There is a parallel between this symbolism and Gawain who's becoming more mature as the story unfolds. Throughout the story he's tempted in many ways to betray his vow of chastity and loyalty to the Virgin Mary, and near the end of the story he's tempted into cowardice. After all is said and done Gawain has a more realistic view on knighthood. He becomes adult and reaches a new stage in his life just like the revival of Nature by the Green Knight.

One of the things I like in this medieval romance are the hunting scenes described very vividly and in great detail. It starts with a description of the animal they want to hunt down: its strong and weak points. During the chase it is as if you can hear the horns blow and the shouts of the hunters, the barking of the hounds and the grunting of the wounded animal and it ends with the cutting of the meat after the bowels are given to the hounds as a reward.

Awesome Book
I ordered this book as a gift for my father, so I have only skimmed through it. I purchased it based on reviews others had given it. I chose it because on the right side of the book reads the original text and the left side contains the translation. I wanted him to be able to have both versions in one book and this book has both. I received it two days after ordering it and the price was unbeatable. I'm very satisfied and would order from this person again.

Lost to a modern world
The world of Arthurian Knights is long lost to us.They are lost to us as commonly read literature, and more importantly, lost to us as inspirational reads.While I was a child in the recent, but last generation, Arthurian legends still had gravitas.Whether in the form of the Once and Future King, or the more arcane Parsifal, these stories were read or read to me as moral allegories.Perhaps in this politically correct universe, they seem an anachronism.

First of all, these stories are simply fun to read.They can be read as adventure stories.

Second of all, Western morals have not changed very much since 800 AD,The same romantic intrigues and aspirations to higher standards pervade us as much now as then,

Third, the themes described in these books manifest themselves in most modern fiction.

This current edition of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is superbly translated.It IS a fun read.The author has a feel for modern English.You do not need to have a degree in Medieval Lit to follow the story (although some background in such would not hurt anyone).

And, finally, this is a great mystery/thriller.There are twists and turns that would make Josephine Tey proud.

A smooth, fluid translation of a great medieval tale
As a translator myself (currently working on a translation of Le Conte du Graal from the old French), I am in awe of Merwin's fluid rendering of this middle English tale. He uses a true vernacular style and vocabulary, giving non of the false archaism with which translations of works of this period are generally imbued. It's clear that he is a poet first, and a translator second.

But he also avoids the tack chosen by Seamus Heaney in his Beowulf; Heaney delighted in using obscure words from time to time, which does not fit with the context of such works. These tales were declaimed, read out loud, and to groups of people who were certainly not learned. What may seem obscure in the original - or what may have an obscure equivalent today - shouldn't sound as such in a translation. These tales need to be rendered in contemporary language, as they were heard in the contemporary languages of their originators.

On the down side, Merwin seems to fall into the trap of false cognates - words that, while spelled the same, have different meanings today. A few examples:

On page 27, Gawain says "And if my request is improper, I ask this great court not to blame me." The middle English word, blame, is closer to today's "censure", "criticize", or even "find fault with". Given the vernacular treatment of this translation, the reader is more likely to seize the first meanings that come to mind when reading. Blame does, indeed, hold the meaning that is used in the original, but it is far from the most common usage of the word.

Again on page 27, king Arthur say to Gawain, "Take care, cousin." The original word, cosyn, means kinsman, and was often used to denote a niece or nephew (and, indeed, Gawain, on the previous page, points out that Arthur is his uncle). So the use of cousin here is incorrect, since the relationship between the two men is not that of cousin, but clearly of uncle and nephew.

He also succumbs to the tyranny of the original word order, and the desire to leave no word untranslated. On page 27, he translates, "The blood gushed from the body," which has a "the" too many. English doesn't need an article before a non-count noun like "blood", though this article exists in the original text.

All in all, in spite of the minor translator's nits, this is a brilliant work. It reads smoothly and fluidly, and renders the energy and wonder of this tale. If only more medieval works were translated this well, readers would discover how much amazing literature there is from this period.

I'm giving it 5 stars in spite of my reservations; Merwin deserves it for achieving such clarity. ... Read more

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For One Dollar and One Cent - $1.01 - plus Postage...
... you can rediscover El Cid Campeador - the greatest hero of Spanish history - in a bilingual edition with the best English translation ever made, that of the poet W.S. Merwin! What more could I say!

For a thousand or so dollars, you could travel to Burgos, one of the most pleasant and under-touristed cities of Spain, and view the actual tomb of El Cid - a real person - in the center of the best Gothic Cathedral in Spain. Be sure to look overhead, at the recently restored star-ceiling above El Cid's tomb; it's the finest 'mudejar' work of art anywhere in the world.

It's a wise thing, once in a while, to look over your library. My copy of Merwin's translation is included in the Modern Library edition of "Medieval Epics". It's so old that the edges of the pages look like ambergris, but I could still read "El Cid" with the same boyish excitement as fifty-some years ago. It was better than a new Batman comic then! It's better than ever now. ... Read more

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"The first great literary works of a culture are its epic chronicles, those that create simple hero-
figures about whom the imagination of a nation can crystallize," observed V. S. Pritchett. Medieval Epics presents acclaimed translations of epic legends from four Western cultures.
----Beowulf is the foundation of English literature. It celebrates the courage and leadership of the mythical Anglo-Saxon warlord in his battles with supernatural monsters. Hailed by John Gardner as "poetry of the highest order of intelligence and aesthetic sophistication . . . the greatest poem in Old English," Beowulf here was translated by William Alfred of Harvard.
----The Nibelungenlied, in a version rendered by critic and academic Helen M. Mustard, endures as a remarkable fusion of history and poetry that is a vital component of German literature. Goethe maintained that knowledge of the work constituted an integral part of the country's education. Indeed, The Nibelungenlied later inspired Wagner's four-opera Ring cycle.
----Also included in this edition are Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W. S. Merwin's translations of The Song of Roland, a chanson de geste extolling chivalric ideals in the France of Charlemagne, and The Poem of the Cid, the celebrated epic of Castilian Spain. "Both are the first great literary works to be written in their respective languages," noted Pritchett. "The Song of Roland is animated by the crusading spirit and fortified by national and religious propaganda. . . . [In] Merwin's translation of The Poem of the Cid . . . the Champion now stands clearly and firmly on the dusty soil of Castile and we can know for what solid reasons he became the legendary national hero. . . . We can see a myth being used, and why it was used. . . . Such epics are examples of fully realized, propagandist art."
The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foun-
dation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hardbound editions of important works of literature and thought. For the Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoring as its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inaugurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world's best books, at the best prices.

... Read more

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A brilliantly evocative and loving account of a vanishing France, by one of the world's greatest living poets. With elegance and subtle wit, Merwin conveys his intimate knowledge of the people and land, as he offers three fictional narratives of small-town life in this ancient corner of France. ... Read more