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badluckbaby 's review for:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
by Gawain Poet
Aside from a few odd moments in translation, I thought this flowed and felt very fresh. Rendered the poem as lively, vivid, and entertaining. I'm halfway through Tolkien's version, and I kind of imagine Armitage's feels truer to the effect of the original poem on its original audiences.
I can't help putting this in conversation with Tolkien and the 2021 movie in my mind.
Still not sure how I feel about the poem itself. Overall, positive? I think it gently mocks Arthurian court and knights like Gawain, who are lauded though they're completely unproven in conflict. A lot of, what the heck has Gawain even done, except act with naive bravado and selfishness? Probably because the point is in part that earthly deeds just get you so far, we're all sinners, repent so the Christian God can truly save, etc.
So, the poem seems to be one of those that appropriates pagan imagery to make Christianity more palatable. I don't mind the principle of hybridization. In practice, for me this gets tricky at the ending, where it frames women as devilish Eves *and* agents of God, testing men on his behalf. All over the place, imo, but the ambiguity is neat.
I can't help putting this in conversation with Tolkien and the 2021 movie in my mind.
Still not sure how I feel about the poem itself. Overall, positive? I think it gently mocks Arthurian court and knights like Gawain, who are lauded though they're completely unproven in conflict. A lot of, what the heck has Gawain even done, except act with naive bravado and selfishness? Probably because the point is in part that earthly deeds just get you so far, we're all sinners, repent so the Christian God can truly save, etc.
So, the poem seems to be one of those that appropriates pagan imagery to make Christianity more palatable. I don't mind the principle of hybridization. In practice, for me this gets tricky at the ending, where it frames women as devilish Eves *and* agents of God, testing men on his behalf. All over the place, imo, but the ambiguity is neat.