Sir Gawain and the Classical Tradition: Essays on the Ancient AntecedentsE.L. Risden The 14th century English alliterative poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is admired for its morally complex plot and brilliant poetics. A chivalric romance placed in an Arthurian setting, it has since received acclaim for its commentary regarding important socio-political and religious concerns. The poem's technical brilliance blends psychological depth and vivid language to produce an effect widely considered superior to any other work of the time. Although the poem is a combination of English alliterative meter, romanticism, and a wide-ranging knowledge of Celtic lore, continental materials and Latin classics, the extent to which Classical antecedents affected or directed the poem is a point of continued controversy among literary scholars. This collection of essays by scholars of diverse interests addresses this puzzling and fascinating question. The introduction provides an expansive background for the topic, and subsequent essays explore the extent to which classical Greek, Roman, Arabic, Christian and Celtic influences are revealed in the poem's opening and closing allusions, themes, and composition. Essays discuss the way in which the anonymous author of Sir Gawain employs figural echoes of classical materials, cultural memoirs of past British tradition, and romantic re-textualizations of Trojan and British literature. It is argued that Sir Gawain may be understood as an Aeneas, Achilles, or Odysseus figure, while the British situation in the 14th century may be understood as analogous to that of ancient Troy. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 35
... Celtic, contemporaries of the Roman world. Often scholars have omitted such considerations as Professor Thundy's study of Arabic influences or Professor Eldevik's on pre–Christian influences, not out of disrespect, but because we lack ...
... Celtic lore, continental materials and Latin classics (as this volume illustrates). In what many believe is his most complex poem, our poet chose for his soth-saying a romance set in the world of King Arthur, but Sir Gawain and the ...
... Celtic/Germanic cultures which classical Latin authors such as Strabo, Tacitus, Caesar and Dio Cassius painted, a somewhat dark and barbaric portrait of pagan cultures like the early Britons who practiced ritual human sacrifices ...
Essays on the Ancient Antecedents E.L. Risden. The poet's allusions to the Celtic/Germanic past, Goodrich argues, serve to create tension between Christian and pagan paradigms and present to his audience a portrait of Britain's past ...
... Celtic lore, which other critics have been alert to point out, Thundy sees clear indications that the Gawain poet knew Vergil and Ovid and knew about Homer, especially in his creation of the Green Knight, who resembles Charon the ...
Contents
1 | |
The Trojan Framework of Sir Gawain and | 49 |
Ritual Sacrifice and the PreChristian Subtext of Gawains | 65 |
Aeneas Gawain | 82 |
The Tresounous Tulk in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | 112 |
Classical AnaloguesEastern and Westernof Sir Gawain | 135 |
Classical Magic and Its Function | 182 |
About the Contributors | 211 |