Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

By: Simon Armitage

Narrated by: Bill Wallis

Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

The famous Middle English poem by an anonymous Northern England poet is beautifully translated by fellow poet Simon Armitage. This audiobook features a brilliant reading of the translation by Bill Wallis; as a bonus, Wallis also masterfully tackles the poem in its original Middle English text.

"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" narrates in crystalline verse the strange tale of a green knight who rudely interrupts the Round Table festivities one Yuletide, casting a pall of unease over the company and challenging one of their number to a wager. The virtuous Gawain accepts and then decapitates the intruder with his own axe. Gushing blood, the knight reclaims his head, orders Gawain to seek him out a year hence, and departs. Next Yuletide, Gawain dutifully sets forth. His quest for the Green Knight involves a winter journey, a seduction scene in a dream-like castle, a dire challenge answered, and a drama of enigmatic reward disguised as psychic undoing.

©2007 Simon Armitage (P)2007 BBC Audiobooks America

Critic reviews

"'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' is one of the eerie, exuberant joys of Middle English poetry....Simon Armitage has given us an energetic, free-flowing, high-spirited version. He reminds us that 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' still wields an uncanny power after 600 years." ( The New York Times Book Review)

great original, translation, and reader

I loved this in Middle English, in grad school, and it was a huge treat to encounter a skilled reader, a very good new translation AND the original as well, competently read.

The story is really good, and the poetry remains to a fair extent in the translation. The reader is outstanding.

English to the core

Wonderful to hear the gritty reading, with an appropriate but understandable northern accent, which to me (born long ago in Northern England) brings a great sense of reality to the performance. A great change from the upper class accents that so often accompany English readings.

Unbelievable Beauty!!!

I can easily say that the alliterative translation, and it's reading by Simon Armitage, is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard in my life. Unable to get enough, I am now listening to the second half of the book, which is the poem in Old English. BRAVO at a magnificent accomplishment!!!!!!!

Enjoyable old time chivalry

I especially appreciated the scholarly lecture at the beginning telling me about what I was about to hear and why it was so special.
A truly epic poem that kept my interest until the very end.
The untranslated version after the modern english version was interesting as well.

Arthurian Romance

The poem was easy to understand, much like The Lady of Shalott, or The Highwayman. And any one that loves a good Arthurian tale will surely love this. Another added bonus was the translator Simon Armitage's introduction. And at the end of the story Bill Wallis, who by the way does a fantastic job, re-reads the poem but this time in Middle English, wow it was a real treat to hear it the way it sounded 600 years ago.

Old Fable in a Superb, Refreshing New Translation

I didn't fully appreciate this when I read it 25 years ago, at least as I can recall. This new translation is refreshing and easily comprehensible without watering down the tale's mysticism or sacrificing its bite.

Very good performance by the narrator.

Excellent.

A poem should be heard. This recording is excellent -- the reader understands what he's reading and is exciting to listen to. His reading reveals a superior grasp of the characters and the story.

What a treat!

Simon Armitage's lyrical translation of this 600-year-old medieval English poem begs to be read aloud. Bill Wallis was an inspired choice; his gruff but warm reading perfectly suits both the soaring alliteration and the more rustic, colloquial moments of the story. (His northern accent lent a special authenticity to the performance; the poem was composed in a Northwest Midlands dialect.)

Armitage's rendering of the poem sacrifices literal translation for the sake of preserving alliteration and rhyme. The result is a musical cascade that carries the reader effortlessly through the tale. The story itself is almost a satire of chivalric ideals; how can a mere man, however noble and well-intentioned, aspire to perfection? Not to mention the impossibility, as Gawain's seductress shows him, of remaining both chaste and perfectly courteous? (Suitably, Gawain, the would-be perfect knight, is far harder on himself when confronted with his failings than anyone else, including his adversary.)

As an added bonus, Wallis reads the original Middle English poem as well. It is fascinating to listen to; some lines are perfectly understandable, while others sound like some weird, lost Germanic language.

Worth the $

I you are at all interested in "ancient" language, word art or poems, this is a must have.

A Poetic - Not Literal - Translation

The translator's introduction is invaluable for getting across the exact point of what this version is all about. The medieval version of this poem is alliterated, and rather than directly translate the words to modern English for the sake of the story, liberties have been taken to recreate the poetry of the alliteration and verse meter while. The story is therefore a more liberal translation, but serves quite well on that point for those seeking poetry over linguistics.

There are a number of versions of this tale told throughout the ages, and much like with any legend from the Arthurian lineup, I find myself seeking out multiple versions to compare and contrast how they've evolved. As I am not well-versed in medieval English, I find this translation to be welcome for it's preservation of the poetic form. I've read a number of prose translations over the years, and much like with The Iliad and The Odyssey, I feel like I've come closer to appreciating the poet's original intent when presented with a version such as this where the poetry itself takes center stage. It's made that much more so when the translator, via the narrator, connects this story backwards from Arthur's Briton to the fall of Troy.

The narrator reminds of me of a historian you might see on PBS. He sounds scholarly enough to get the point across that he's the surrogate for the translator, but at the same time he offers a quiet dignity to the tale itself, calling the listener back to the original poet, perhaps reciting his work around a campfire to a cadre of soldiers. All in all, a superb rendition, one that any medievalist or Arthurian enthusiast should seek out.