{"product_id":"the-works-of-the-gawain-poet-9780140424140","title":"The Works of the Gawain Poet","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA new volume of the works of the Gawain poet, destined to become the definitive edition for students and scholars.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis volume brings together four works of the unknown fourteenth-century poet famous for the Arthurian romance \u003ci\u003eSir Gawain and the Green Knight\u003c\/i\u003e, in their original Middle English. In one of the great tales of medieval literature, Gawain, the noblest knight of King Arthur''s court, must keep a deadly bargain with a monstrous knight and resist the advances of his host''s beautiful wife. The dream vision of \u003ci\u003ePearl \u003c\/i\u003edepicts a bereaved father whose lost child leads him to glimpse heaven. And in moral poems based on stories from the Bible, \u003ci\u003eCleanness\u003c\/i\u003e warns against sins of the flesh and of desecration, while \u003ci\u003ePatience \u003c\/i\u003eencourages readers to endure suffering as God''s will.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLittle is known about the so-called ''Gawain poet'', who wrote during the late fourteenth century. It is believed that he came from south-east Cheshire, an important cultural and economic centre at the time, and he was clearly well-read in Latin, French and English. Although he is not named as the author of \u003ci\u003eSir Gawain and the Green Knight\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePearl\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePatience\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCleanness\u003c\/i\u003e, the four works have been attributed to him based on a careful comparison of their language, date and themes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMyra Stokes was formerly Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at Bristol University. Her books include \u003ci\u003eJustice and Mercy in Piers Plowman\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Language of Jane Austen\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAd Putter teaches at the English Department and the Centre for Medieval Studies of the University of Bristol, where is Professor of Medieval English Literature. His monographs include \u003ci\u003eSir Gawain and the Green Knight and French Arthurian Romance\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAn Introduction to the Gawain Poet\u003c\/i\u003e, and he is also co-editor of \u003ci\u003eThe Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Works of the Gawain Poet\u003c\/i\u003e is a model of popular scholarship, one that harkens back to the glories of the old historical criticism of Tolkien and Henry Sweet. That it has appeared not under the imprimatur of a university press but as a reasonably priced paperback from Penguin Classics is a pleasant surprise. It belongs on the shelves of every library in the English-speaking world * Washington Free Beacon *\u003cbr\u003eAll of the poems are presented, rather daringly, in their original Middle English (very slightly cleaned up), and the array of critical materials dart very nimbly around the \u003ci\u003eGawain \u003c\/i\u003epoet's wide reading - though anonymous, this poet was surely one of the best-read writers of his age - and the end-product effect is to provide readers with something very close to a fourteenth century First Folio. It's a marvelous performance all around * Open Letters Monthly *\u003cbr\u003eThis is an authoritative and accessible edition, that is likely to become the standard text on undergraduate reading lists, as well as helping to bring the poems to a much wider non-specialist readership -- Professor Simon Horobin, Oxford","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732361916759,"sku":"9780140424140","price":17.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780140424140.jpg?v=1719996558","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-works-of-the-gawain-poet-9780140424140","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}