Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

By: J. R. R. Tolkien

Narrated by: Terry Jones

A collection of three medieval English poems, translated by Tolkien for the modern-day reader and containing romance, tragedy, love, sex and honour.©1975 J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust; (p)1997 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, London, UK

Critic reviews

"The introduction to Gawain is a little masterpiece." ( Times Higher Educational Supplement)
"This magnificent Arthurian tale of love, sex, honour, social tact, personal integrity and folk-magic is one of the greatest and most approachable narrative poems in the language. Tolkien's version makes it come triumphantly alive, a moving and consoling elegy." ( Birmingham Post)

Contains bonus stories

The title of this audiobook would have you believe that it's entire contents are Sir Gowain and the Green Knight. Sir Gowain's story is here but there are also the Tolkien translations of two other medieval English works: Pearl and Sir Orpheo. Pearl is a poem that acts as a vessel for medieval Catholic theology, but also contains a rather colorful description of Heaven as a tiered city (not unlike Minas Tirith, but made out of different types of stone). Sir Orpheo is a medieval anglicization of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. I found both additional works to be enjoyable, if unexpected.

Also, Terry Jones, of course, does a great job reading these works and their introductions.

An absolute delight!

I read Gawain in college in a different translation. I found revisiting the tale through Tolkien’s translation to be incredibly enjoyable. Pearl and Orfeo are two works that were previously unknown to me, and I am so glad they were included in this compilation. A real treasure! The alliterative verse is music to the ears. The performance of the reading of these three masterpieces is excellent!

Easy to Enjoy

I liked the narrator, the story, and Tolkien’s translation and commentary. I found the narrator’s way of speech endearing, not annoying like some are saying. All these folks writing 1 star reviews saying its boring or slow need to go watch a marvel movie or something with explosions every 10 seconds. This is obviously not their kind of content.

Great literature

Some of the best literature in the whole western Canon. The fact that we never learned the authors name is a crime and tragedy.

Enjoyable and Recommended

Wonderful narration and I really enjoyed the academic explanation of the three works. Highly recommended.