Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Resources

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INTERNET LINKS

http://www.nortexinfo.net/McDaniel/1-06sg.html
A useful overview of background themes, such as the Alliterative Revival and Chivalric Ideal. Main themes, such as the Death Challenge, Temptations and ‘trouthe’, are examined.

http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/gawainre.htm
Covers a range of themes and critical approaches, gives lists of questions, online student projects, manuscript illuminations and other useful links.

http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/projs4a/Gawain.htm
A very good analysis of the whole poem at both general and detailed levels.

http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/projs992b/CharAnalisys.htm
Lists medieval codes of chivalry and definitions of knightly virtue, as well as an in-depth character analysis of Gawain.

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Café/2759/arthurainlinks.html
Good site for background to the Arthurian legends, Arthurian societies, medieval websites, Middle English language, essays on the poem and study of the Arthurian movies.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gawain/index.html
A good basic, but detailed, overview from a student author.

TRANSLATIONS

Marie Borroff, trans. ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’. New York, 1967.
This translation preserves the alliterative meter and the bob-and-wheel.

Online translation (does not preserve poetic style):
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/sggk.htm

MIDDLE ENGLISH TEXT

Malcolm Andrew and Ronald Waldron, eds. ‘The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript’. Rev. ed. Exeter, 1996, 207–300.

Online Middle English text:
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/sggk.html

FACSIMILE

‘Pearl, Cleanness, Patience and Sir Gawain’, reproduced in facsimile from the unique manuscript Cotton Nero A.x. in the British Museum. Intro. Sir I. Gollancz. Early English Text Society original series 162, London, 1923.

OTHER ADAPTATIONS

FILMS:
Gawain and the Green Knight. Director Stephen Weeks. GB. 1973
Sword of the Valiant. Director Stephen Weeks. GB. 1983
Gawain and the Green Knight. Director J.M.Phillips. GB Television film.1991.

NOVEL:
Murdoch, Iris. The Green Knight. London, 1993.

OPERA:
Gawain. H. Birtwistle. Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 1994.

LIBRETTO:
Gawain: A Libretto. D. Harsent. London, 1991.

REFERENCES

Meg Stainsby. ‘An Annotated Bibliography, 1978-1989’. New York and London, 1992.
Malcolm Andrew. ‘The Gawain-Poet: An Annotated Bibliography, 1839–1977’. New York and London, 1979.

http://icg.harvard.edu/~chaucer/bibliography/b6-allit.htm
An online bibliography of printed book and journal essays on the poem and the alliterative tradition (particularly useful for undergraduates).

SELECT CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Miller, M. Y. and J. Chance, eds. Approaches to Teaching Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Approaches to Teaching Masterpieces of World Literature no. 9. New York, 1986.

Arthur, Ross. Medieval Sign Theory and ‘Gawain’. Toronto, Buffalo, London, 1987.

Barron, W. R. J. Trawthe and Treason: The Sin of Gawain Reconsidered. A Thematic Study of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Manchester, 1980.

Benson, C. D. Art and Tradition in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. New Brunswick, 1965.

Brewer, Derek and Jonathan Gibson, eds. A Companion to the Gawain-Poet. Cambridge, 1997.

Clein, Wendy. Concepts of Chivalry in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Okla, 1987.

Davenport, W. A. The Art of the Gawain-Poet. London, 1978.

Fox, Denton, ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1968.

Howard, Donald and Christian K. Zacher, ed. Critical Studies of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Notre Dame and London, 1968.

Johnson, L. S. The Voice of the Gawain-Poet. Madison, 1984.

Spearing, A. C. The Gawain-Poet: A Critical Study. Cambridge, 1970.