{"product_id":"sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight-isbn-9780375709920","title":"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight","description":"\u003cb\u003eA splendid translation of the classic Arthurian tale of enchantment, adventure, and romance, presented alongside the original Middle English text—f\u003cb\u003erom the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and “one of the greatest poets of our age … the Thoreau of our era” (Edward Hirsch).\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is the height of Christmas and New Year’s revelry when an enormous knight with brilliant green clothes and skin descends upon King Arthur’s court. He presents a sinister challenge: he will endure a blow of the axe to his neck without offering any resistance, but whoever gives the blow must promise to take the same in exactly a year and a day’s time. The young Sir Gawain quickly rises to the challenge, and the poem tells of the adventures he finds—an almost irresistible seduction, shockingly brutal hunts, and terrifyingly powerful villains—as he endeavors to fulfill his promise.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCapturing the pace, impact, and richly alliterative language of the original text, W. S. Merwin has imparted a new immediacy to a spellbinding narrative, written centuries ago by a poet whose name is now unknown, lost to time. Of the Green Knight, Merwin notes in his foreword: “We seem to recognize him—his splendor, the awe that surrounds him, his menace and his grace—without being able to place him … We will never know who the Green Knight is except in our own response to him.”“Wonderfully readable…Merwin’s decades of experience as a translator and his poetic   intuition give him an advantage here. His \u003ci\u003eGawain\u003c\/i\u003e is a graceful read and, at the same   time, remains as true as possible to the sense and style of the original…These are   the kind of nuances that word-worshippers will linger over–but not before rushing   through the story first to get to the good parts.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Seattle Times\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Readers who enjoy a well-told story, not lacking in sex and violence but also endowed   with a sense of moral purpose, will find a wonderful one here…Merwin’s translation   has a directness and simplicity that can be quite powerful…\u003ci\u003eSir Gawain and the Green   Knight\u003c\/i\u003e endures–charming, strange, tantalizingly mysterious–and Merwin’s translation   catches at least some of the gleam of its vanished world.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Los Angeles   Times\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"\u003ci\u003eGawain\u003c\/i\u003e remains, centuries after it was written, a poem of uncanny power.   It has the tapestried richness of legend, but also an astonishing psychological complexity.   Its lines are elegantly wrought, but they propel us through an adventure filled with   erotic entanglements, dire challenges, and mysterious landscapes. Here is that rare   poem with both the epic dimensions of ageless myth and the eerie intimacy of last   night's dream. The clarity, ingenuity, and force of W. S. Merwin's translation will   enable a new generation of readers to discover a remarkable masterpiece.\"\u003cbr\u003e—J. D.   McClatchyW. S. MERWIN was born in New York City in 1927 and grew up in Union City, New Jersey, and in Scranton, Pennsylvania. From 1949 to 1951 he worked as a tutor in France, Portugal, and Majorca, and over the course of his life, he lived in many parts of the world.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eHe was the recipient of many awards and prizes, including the Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets, the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, the Bollingen Prize in Poetry, the Governor's Award for Literature of the state of Hawaii, the Tanning Prize for mastery in the art of poetry, a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award, and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. He died in 2019.In at the hall door comes a frightening figure,\u003cbr\u003eHe must have been taller than anyone in the world:\u003cbr\u003eFrom the neck to the waist so huge and thick,\u003cbr\u003eAnd his loins and limbs so long and massive,\u003cbr\u003eThat I would say he was half a giant on earth.\u003cbr\u003eAt least I am sure he was the biggest of men.\u003cbr\u003eYet he sat with a matchless grace in the saddle.\u003cbr\u003eHis back and his chest and whole body were frightening\u003cbr\u003eAnd both his belt and belly were trim and small\u003cbr\u003eAnd all of his features were in proportion\u003cbr\u003e        to the rest of him.\u003cbr\u003e    But more than anything\u003cbr\u003e    His color amazed them:\u003cbr\u003e    A bold knight riding,\u003cbr\u003e    The whole of him bright green.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd all in green this knight and his garments\u003cbr\u003eWith a close-fitting coat that clung to his side,\u003cbr\u003eA fine robe over it adorned on the inside\u003cbr\u003eWith furs cut to one color, an elegant lining\u003cbr\u003eTrimmed brightly with white fur, and his hood also\u003cbr\u003eThat was caught back from his long locks and lay on his shoulders; Neat, tight-tailored hose of that same green Clung fast to his calf, and shining spurs below Of bright gold, on silk bands enriched with stripes, And so the knight rides with slippers on his feet And all that he was wearing was indeed pure verdure But the crossbars of his belt and the shining stones set Resplendent here and there in his gleaming garments All around him and his saddle, in silk embroidery– It would be too hard to tell half of the details That were there in fine stitches, with birds and butterflies In a high green radiance with gold running through it. The tassels of his horse’s trappings and the handsome crupper, The studs on the enameled bit and all the other metal, And the stirrups that he stood in were of the same color, And his saddle bow also and the rest of the fastenings, It all kept glimmering and glinting with green stones. The horse that he was riding resplendent with the same hue\u003cbr\u003e        as all the rest.\u003cbr\u003e    A green horse, hard to handle,\u003cbr\u003e    A strong steed, huge and massive,\u003cbr\u003e    Tossing the embroidered bridle,\u003cbr\u003e    The right horse for that knight to have.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow splendid he looked, this knight in the green apparel,\u003cbr\u003eAnd his horse’s hair was as lovely as his own.\u003cbr\u003eFair waving locks tumbled around his shoulders,\u003cbr\u003eA beard big as a bush flowing over his breast,\u003cbr\u003eAnd the full length of the noble hair of his head\u003cbr\u003eHad been cut in a circle above his elbows\u003cbr\u003eSo that his arms were half hidden under it\u003cbr\u003eAs by the tunic that covers a king’s neck.\u003cbr\u003eThe mane of that mighty horse looked much like that,\u003cbr\u003eIts curls well combed and caught into many knots\u003cbr\u003eWith gold cord wound around the bright green,\u003cbr\u003eFor every strand of hair another of gold.\u003cbr\u003eHis tail and his forelocks were enwound the same way,\u003cbr\u003eAnd both were bound with a band of bright green\u003cbr\u003eAnd precious stones adorning them to the tip of his tail,\u003cbr\u003eThen laced up tightly in a twirled knot.\u003cbr\u003eThere many bright shining bells of fine gold were ringing.\u003cbr\u003eNo knight rides a horse like that anywhere on earth.\u003cbr\u003eNever before had one been seen in that hall\u003cbr\u003e        by anyone.\u003cbr\u003e    Bright as lightning he shone,\u003cbr\u003e    So they all said who saw him.\u003cbr\u003e    It seemed that no man\u003cbr\u003e    Could stand against him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYet he wore no helmet and no chain mail either,\u003cbr\u003eNor any breastplate, nor brassarts on his arms,\u003cbr\u003eHe had no spear and no shield for thrusting and striking,\u003cbr\u003eBut in his hand he held a branch of holly\u003cbr\u003eThat is greenest of all when the groves are bare,\u003cbr\u003eAnd an ax in the other hand, huge and monstrous,\u003cbr\u003eA fearsome battle-ax to find words to tell of.\u003cbr\u003eThe length of its head was at least a yard and a half,\u003cbr\u003eThe point all hammered out of green steel and gold,\u003cbr\u003eThe blade brightly burnished, with a broad edge,\u003cbr\u003eShaped for shearing as well as sharp razors.\u003cbr\u003eThe grim knight gripped the stout handle of the weapon.\u003cbr\u003eIt was wrapped with iron to the shaft’s end\u003cbr\u003eAnd all engraved with green in graceful designs.\u003cbr\u003eA lace was wound around it, fastened at the head,\u003cbr\u003eTwining in many turns around the handle\u003cbr\u003eWith a fringe of fine tassels attached to it,\u003cbr\u003eRich embroidery above buttons of bright green.\u003cbr\u003eThis knight rides straight ahead into the hall,\u003cbr\u003eMaking for the high dais, undaunted by anything,\u003cbr\u003eWith no greeting to anyone, but his eyes high above them.\u003cbr\u003eThe first sound from him: “Where,” he asked, “is\u003cbr\u003eThe head of this gathering? I would be glad\u003cbr\u003eTo set eyes on that knight, and I have something\u003cbr\u003e        to say to him.”\u003cbr\u003e    Over the knights he cast his eye\u003cbr\u003e    Riding up and down,\u003cbr\u003e    Stopping and looking hard to see\u003cbr\u003e    Who might have most renown.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey went on staring at the knight for some time,\u003cbr\u003eEveryone wondering what it might mean\u003cbr\u003eFor a man and a horse to acquire such a color,\u003cbr\u003eAs green as the grass grows, and greener still, it seemed,\u003cbr\u003eThe green enamel glowing brighter on the gold.\u003cbr\u003eAll of them standing there stared and crept closer to him\u003cbr\u003eWith all the wonder in the world, to see what he would do.\u003cbr\u003eFor they had seen many marvels but never any like this,\u003cbr\u003eSo they all thought it might be a phantom or trick of magic,\u003cbr\u003eSo that many of the noble knights were afraid to answer,\u003cbr\u003eAnd all were struck by his voice and stayed stone still,\u003cbr\u003eAnd there was a silence like death through the great hall.\u003cbr\u003eNot a sound rose out of them, as though they had all\u003cbr\u003e        fallen asleep.\u003cbr\u003e    Not, I think, from fear only,\u003cbr\u003e    But some waiting for\u003cbr\u003e    Their King, out of courtesy,\u003cbr\u003e    To let him answer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen Arthur, addressing this wonder before the high dais, Greeted him courteously, for nothing ever frightened him, And said, “Knight, you are welcome indeed in this place. My name is Arthur. I am the head of this house. I pray you to have the grace to dismount and stay with us And whatever you want we shall learn later.” “No, as I hope for help,” the knight said, “from Him who sits on high, It was never my mission to stay long in this house. But because your fame, sire, is so exalted And your castles and your knights are said to be The best and strongest who ride in armor on horses, The bravest and most noble anywhere in the world, Worthy to contend with for the pure play of it, And I have heard of the famous chivalry of this place, All of that, I may tell you, brought me here at this time. You may be assured by this branch that I bear here That I am passing through in peace and not looking for enemies, For if I had set out intent upon fighting I have chain mail at home, and helmet too, A shield and a sharp spear shining brightly, And other weapons to wield also, to be sure. But since I did not come for fighting, my clothes are softer. But if you are as bold as knights everywhere say you are, You will be so good as to grant me the request that I\u003cbr\u003e        have the right to ask.”\u003cbr\u003e    Arthur gave the knight\u003cbr\u003e    This answer: “Courteous sir,\u003cbr\u003e    Whatever sport or fight\u003cbr\u003e    You came for, you will find here.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“No, I tell you in good faith, it is not a fight I have come for. These are nothing but beardless boys around this bench. If I were buckled in armor on a big horse, There is no man here strong enough to be worth riding against. And so in this court I call for a Christmas game, Since it is Yuletide and the New Year and all these brave men are here: If anyone in this house thinks he has the courage And is so bold in his blood and wild in his way of thinking That he dares to exchange one heavy blow for another, I shall make him a gift of this great battle-ax, And a heavy one it is, this ax, to handle as he pleases, And I shall await the first blow without armor, just as I sit here. If any knight is brave enough to test my word, Run up to me right now and take hold of this weapon. I give it up for good, he can keep it as his own, And I shall take a stroke from him on this floor, without flinching. Then you must grant me the right to give him one in return\u003cbr\u003e        without resisting,\u003cbr\u003e    But for that one he\u003cbr\u003e    May wait a year and a day.\u003cbr\u003e    Now let me see\u003cbr\u003e    What anyone here has to say.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf he had stunned them at first, then they were even more still, All the courtiers in the hall, the high and the low. The knight on his horse turned in his saddle, And wildly he flashed his red eyes around, Arched his bristling bright-green eyebrows, And waved his beard, waiting to see who would stand up. When no one would answer him, he gave a loud cough And stretched as a lord might, and made ready to speak. “Well, is this Arthur’s house,” the knight said then, “That all the talk runs on through so many kingdoms? Where is your haughtiness now, where are your triumphs, Your belligerence and your wrath and your big words? Now the revel and the renown of the Round Table Are overturned by a word of one man alone, All cowering in dread before a blow has been struck.”","brand":"Knopf","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304962773221,"sku":"NP9780375709920","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780375709920.jpg?v=1767736682","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight-isbn-9780375709920","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}