About Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

SirDennisC

SirDennisC

Half-elven
I was wondering if anyone could help shine some light on the enigmatic structure of the poem? At times it feels like the verse rhymns all the way through (not just the last 5 lines). Is it a pronounciation thing?

Also wondering, does the Green Knight (or Sir Gawain for that matter) appear anywhere in Tolkien's ME?

Finally, are any ME characters held to the same standard as Wawain, that is, to be shown their one flaw and reminded of it for the rest of their life? Is this similar to Gandalf constantly refering to his plan and hope as foolish (or is this just doubt)?
 
I can't speak to the rhyming question.

But I do know that Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger made the connection you asked about. Her article "The Green Man, the Green Knight, and Treebeard" (Scholarship and Fantasy: Proceedings of The Tolkien Phenomenon, U. of Turku, 1992) argues that The Green Knight in the Sir Gawain poem is a derivation of the European mythical woodland dweller called the Green Man. She then shows from Tolkien's LotR drafts in The History of Middle-earth that Treebeard (and the Ents in general) originated as a race of forest-dwelling giants, with clear connections to the imagery of the giant Green Knight of the medieval poem.

Only after he had created the humanoid giant in his early drafts did Tolkien develop Treebeard further, into the much more tree-like "treeherd" creatures that we know as the Ents.
 
I was wondering if anyone could help shine some light on the enigmatic structure of the poem? At times it feels like the verse rhymns all the way through (not just the last 5 lines). Is it a pronounciation thing?
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Putting my Degree to good use (which happens on occasion), I brush the cobwebs off the scroll and read the following observations I pulled from my well-used nether regions...
  • The poem has an ababa rhyme scheme in specific sections, but the alliterative form of the period (14th century) was more reliant on the synchronization of pairs of stressed syllables at the start of a line and then again at the end of a line. In addition, variations occur when the poet separated his alliterations into a style known as 'Bob and Wheel' (a short line followed by several longer lines with internalized rhyme schemes).
  • Rhyming generally only occurs in the last five lines of a stanza (the 'Bob' appearing as the first of the five -- always a short two or three syllables). Rhymes in the body of the stanza are coincidental (these are the alliterative lines with pairs of stressed syllables).
  • To best get the beat of the poem, it is necessary to have the original text alongside a standard translation (Tolkien and E.V. Gordon's is a good as any, and most readily available). On line I found two other reliable versions, by Jessie L. Watson, here: http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=9&q=http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/faculty/stampe/Oral-Lit/English/gawain_weston.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGEPk_DyMxRnh_3Phenx8H-DFfyZQ and Paul Deane, here: http://alliteration.net/Pearl.htm
 
it seemed like there was something deliberate going on, alliteration for sure, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.

When you read it did you pause at the end of each line or try to flow to the first available puncuation mark?
 
When you read it did you pause at the end of each line or try to flow to the first available puncuation mark?
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I doubt anybody can say how it would have been read in its own day, but nowadays, most people read right on through from one line to the next without any pause except for punctuation. The literary term for this is enjambment. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the majority of the lines do end with punctuation, but when they don't, I suggest you just keep right on reading!

Have fun. It's a great poem! [;)]
 
Thank you sir. I made the connection to the Green Man of Celtic(?) lore but not to Treebeard. I guess I was look for more of a human(oid) and forgot about the anthropomorphs. Treebeard makes the most sense now that you mention it.
 
Many thanks for the new term. It is hard not to pause though, at the end of a line. I was thankful when periods or semicolons were placed there.
 
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