Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
On New Year's Day at King Arthur's court in Camelot, a towering green-skinned knight rides into the hall on a green horse, offers his axe to any man willing to strike him a blow, and demands only that the striker meet him one year later to receive the same blow in return. When Gawain accepts and beheads the stranger, the Green Knight picks up his own head, reminds Gawain of the appointment, and rides out. A year later, Gawain sets off to find the Green Chapel, and his journey brings him to a mysterious castle whose lord sends him hunting each morning while his lady tests his virtue at home. The late-fourteenth-century alliterative Middle English poem, preserved in a single manuscript alongside Pearl and Cleanness, remains the finest surviving Arthurian romance in English.
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On New Year's at Camelot, a giant Green Knight rides in and offers any of Arthur's knights a swap of beheading blows, one now and one a year from now. Gawain takes the axe and rides out the next winter to keep his bargain.
Yes. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight dates to the late 14th century and is in the public domain. Translations vary in copyright depending on the translator. J.R.R. Tolkien's translation is still copyrighted; Simon Armitage's 2007 verse translation is also copyrighted.
The original Middle English is difficult for modern readers; nearly all readers use a modern translation. Simon Armitage's verse translation is widely recommended for general readers; Tolkien's prose translation is also a classic.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written by Anonymous, published in 2001 by Signet Classics.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is 128 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight takes most readers 2 to 3 hours to finish.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a standalone novel by Anonymous, not part of a series.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
