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Richard Derus's Reviews > Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation
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Rating: 5* of five
This is the book to get your poetry-resistant friend this #Booksgiving 2017. I read it on a dare. I don't like poetry very much, it's so snooty and at the same time so pit-sniffingly self-absorbed that I'd far rather stab my hands with a fork repeatedly than be condescended to in rhyming couplets.
This tale is fabulous in every sense of the word, which is no surprise since it's survived for so many centuries. But poet and translator Simon Armitage has made the old world new again. He sucked me right in and never let me come up for air with his gorgeous words and his carefully chosen words and his alliterative rhythmical phrases.
If the idea of a Norton Critical Edition is keeping you far away from this delightful read, rest assured it's not stodgy or dry or just plain boring. It's vibrant, alive, shimmering with an inner power, waiting for you to open its covers and fall utterly under its spell. Become happily ensorcelled, gentle reader, relax into the sure and strong embrace of a centuries-old knight and his spectacular tale.
This is the book to get your poetry-resistant friend this #Booksgiving 2017. I read it on a dare. I don't like poetry very much, it's so snooty and at the same time so pit-sniffingly self-absorbed that I'd far rather stab my hands with a fork repeatedly than be condescended to in rhyming couplets.
This tale is fabulous in every sense of the word, which is no surprise since it's survived for so many centuries. But poet and translator Simon Armitage has made the old world new again. He sucked me right in and never let me come up for air with his gorgeous words and his carefully chosen words and his alliterative rhythmical phrases.
If the idea of a Norton Critical Edition is keeping you far away from this delightful read, rest assured it's not stodgy or dry or just plain boring. It's vibrant, alive, shimmering with an inner power, waiting for you to open its covers and fall utterly under its spell. Become happily ensorcelled, gentle reader, relax into the sure and strong embrace of a centuries-old knight and his spectacular tale.
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Reading Progress
November 14, 2017
–
Started Reading
November 14, 2017
– Shelved
November 14, 2017
–
9.6%
"I promised a friend of mine I'd read the poetry book of his choice for some damnfool reason or other. He picked Simon Armitage, I picked this book. The Introduction was fascinating but I'm *dreading* the boring poetry part. It's like winking in romance novels: JUST DON'T DO IT. Still, a promise is a promise.
*whimper*"
page
19
*whimper*"
November 26, 2017
–
Finished Reading
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by
Terry
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rated it 4 stars
Nov 27, 2017 12:19PM
Nice review Richard...it is a vivid tale, isn’t it? I’ll have to check out this translation.
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Terry wrote: "Nice review Richard...it is a vivid tale, isn’t it? I’ll have to check out this translation."Thanks, Terry, and please do find this one. It's head and shoulders above prior efforts that are more "faithful" to the original.
How can one find Tolkien’s translation??
