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1997 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Terry Jones)
Release Date: 1997.08.18
Reader: Terry Jones
Language: English
Translator: JRR Tolkien
Organisation: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 9780007254293
Duration: 4 hours 58 minutes
Unabridged: Yes*
Country: UK
Licenced: Yes
Formats: Cassette, CD, Digital
While most famous as a member of Monty Python, Terry Jones was also a serious medieval scholar and author, making him an ideal voice for this particular text. Whilst usually marketed just as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, it is usually packaged alongside two other medieval poems also translated by Tolkien: Pearl and Sir Orfeo.
Tolkien’s translation (first published posthumously in 1975) is noted for preserving the original “alliterative revival” style of the 14th-century poem. Tolkien, being a philologist, uses a specific vocabulary that feels archaic yet accessible, which Jones delivers with a rhythmic, storytelling pace.
Jones reads the scholarly Introduction (written by Tolkien/Christopher Tolkien) with the clarity of a professor, then shifts into a more dramatic, “scop” (Old English poet) style for the actual verses. Jones leans into the more colourful moments of the poem – such as the Green Knight picking up his own severed head or the sound of the axe being sharpened on a grindstone – capturing the “grim humour” that Tolkien believed was essential to the original poet’s intent.
The recording is divided into the three poems included in the book edition:
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: The primary adventure set in King Arthur’s court.
- Pearl: A complex, dream-vision elegy on the death of a child.
- Sir Orfeo: A slighter, more lyrical romance based on the Orpheus myth.
The production has been cited as the best way to “hear” the alliteration of the poem as it was meant to be experienced. Some listeners have noted that despite being labelled “unabridged,” a small number of lines in the Sir Gawain section appear to have been skipped or edited in the final mastering of the 2006.05.19 digital re-issue.