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
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... Odysseus, Aeneas, Geo›rey, and the Gawain poet are quite capable of omission, embellishment, and invention, as the various transformations of the Troy story clearly show. Hodapp sees Arthur's reinterpretation of Gawain's mark of shame ...
... Odysseus. Like the other contributors to this collection of essays, Risden sees the references to Troy at the ... Odysseus, famous for his “tricherie” in bringing Troy to its end. And while there are some discernible parallels between ...
... Odysseus as a traitor, and the essays by both Risden and Thundy make it pretty clear that the Gawain poet was familiar with this great hero of the Greeks. The last two lines of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, along with the references ...
... Odysseus figure (Rut- ter and Haydock, Risden and Thundy), perhaps even as an Achilles (Gasse), while the matter of Troy flows seamlessly into the matter of Britain (Hodapp Sweeney, and Eldevik). Yet the Gawain poet's knowledge of and ...
... Odysseus to weep (8.499–520); and finally, Odysseus himself recounts the story when telling the Phaiakians of his experiences in the land of the dead (11.523–37). Within the dramatic context of the poem, these three storytellers recall ...
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 |