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A review by bluelilyblue
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo by Unknown, J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien
3.0
Tolkien's translation of Sir Gawain is not the best out there (although he tries to keep the alliterative verse that the original poem employs)--a better verse translation, I would say, is Marie Borroff's and can be found in the Norton Anthology.
Pearl was a bit of a snore. I can appreciate it as a highly intellectual piece of writing, but as someone who's not that big of a Bible connoisseur, the parables and references went right over my head. The message it seems to put forward (that parents should not mourn their dead babies because..... um.... they're in a better place now?) doesn't impress me all that much. Or at all.
I liked Sir Orfeo! Myth reimaginations were as common back in the Middle Ages as they are now (perhaps even more so?). Obviously, it makes me painfully aware of how little we know of Medieval culture and just how much we have to infer, suppose, and imagine in order to understand these literary works. It's fun to read and fun to break down and analyse!
Pearl was a bit of a snore. I can appreciate it as a highly intellectual piece of writing, but as someone who's not that big of a Bible connoisseur, the parables and references went right over my head. The message it seems to put forward (that parents should not mourn their dead babies because..... um.... they're in a better place now?) doesn't impress me all that much. Or at all.
I liked Sir Orfeo! Myth reimaginations were as common back in the Middle Ages as they are now (perhaps even more so?). Obviously, it makes me painfully aware of how little we know of Medieval culture and just how much we have to infer, suppose, and imagine in order to understand these literary works. It's fun to read and fun to break down and analyse!