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 38
... criticism. 3. Classicism—England—History—To ¡500. 4. Arthurian romances—History and criticism. 5. Romances, English—History and criticism. 6. English poetry—Classical influences. 7. Knights and knighthood in literature. 8. Mythology ...
... critics to a baronial court in Cheshire, other scholars have argued that he too spent some time in London or abroad, possibly, like Chaucer, with the Black Prince in France.6 Alliterative poets, like their patrons, were part of an ...
... critics have explored in connection to Celtic lore of the beheading game and the Green Man.15 So we may safely argue that the poet of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight clearly chose to write in his own inventive manner in a genre and ...
... 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 ferryman. Gawain's scar from ...
... critics consider this poem the best Middle English romance; some might even name it the best medieval romance in any vernacular. However, many of the poem's strengths—its interlaced plot, its tight focus on the main action, its ...
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 |