Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo, gathers JRR Tolkien’s translations of three anonymous medieval English poems. As a noted philologist and scholar of Old and Middle English, Tolkien sought to render these 14th-century works into modern English while meticulously preserving the original poetic forms, including the complex alliterative verse and rhyme schemes. This collection is a testament to his knowledge and respect for the linguistic artistry of the original texts.

The centrepiece is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, an Arthurian romance of chivalry and moral testing. The poem follows Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s nephew, who accepts a deadly New Year’s challenge from the monstrous Green Knight: to strike the Knight with an axe, but then receive an identical blow a year later. Gawain’s subsequent quest to find the Green Chapel tests his courage and, crucially, his adherence to the codes of knighthood, especially when tempted by the lady of a mysterious castle. The story is a profound meditation on honour, integrity, and human fallibility.

The volume also includes Pearl, a moving dream-vision elegy, likely by the same unknown author as Sir Gawain. It recounts a bereaved father’s vision of his lost daughter—his “Pearl”—who speaks to him from Heaven, leading to a sophisticated theological debate on loss, grace, and salvation. The final poem, Sir Orfeo, is a shorter, sweeter romance based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It tells of a king who forsakes his throne to wander as a harper in search of his queen, who has been taken by the King of Faerie. This tale was a personal favorite of Tolkien’s.

The collection, posthumously published in full, provides modern readers with accessible yet authentic translations of three medieval masterpieces that significantly influenced Tolkien’s own fantasy writing.