Taken from the photo, but this gives you the sense of what the guest editor was up to.
Sir Gawain Cleans The Green Knight's Patient Pearl'
or: The Essential Gawain Poet
Sithen the sege and the assaut was sesed at Troye, Ay was Arthur the hendest, as I haf herde telle.
Kryst kydde hit Hymself in a carp onez,
"Bigog, " quoth the grene knyght, "Sir
Wel gay was this gome gered in grene Gawan, me lykes. • .
That thou so stykes in garlande gay® And used hem unthryftyly echon on other.
1 The text of this edition has been standardized for pedagogical purposes, but, of course, has not been modernized.
2 These lines, when juxtaposed, as only the Essential Series has done, create the tone of romantic-epic dichotomy so much
enjoyed during the Medieval period. For totally unrelated reading,
see
Joseph Fischer's Die Stabendelangzeile in Den Werken des
Gawain-Dichters (Bonn, 1901) •
3 Christ's 'carp' is the Sermon on the Mount, in which eight Beautitudes are specified (Matt. 5: 1-11). For a more detailed
exploration of Beautitudes, examine their treatment in the first section of the complete Patience, which, for obvious reasons, was not significant enough to be included in this edition.
4 It
becomes obvious, at this point, of the 'special
relationship developing between the Green Knight and Gawain.
5 This line needs no explanation.
6 Andrew and waldron, in The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript (Berkeley, 1979), state that 'garlande gay', previously thought to have metaphorically signified the heavenly procession paralleled in the usage of
'ghirlanda' in Paradisio X.91-3 and XII. 19-20, may
actually signify the maiden's crown, "due to the fact that the
'corona' (crown) was commonly understood to stand for the circle of the blessed. . . ." But when placed in the context of the essential lines, 'garlande gay' adopts a much different, better, meaning.
See the caveat in the earlier alt text, please.
As perle bi the quite pese
is of prys more,
So is Gawayn, in god fayth® , bi other gay knyghts.
Be noght so gryndel, godman, but go forth by wayes, That we gon gay in oure gere that grace he us sende, After the segge and the asaute was sesed at Troye,
Iwysse,
But on stroke
here me fallez -
And sayde "With my wyf I wene, Bot that my hede falle on the stonez, "
And the knyght in the enker grene.1°
7 'pese' is the old singular form.
8 This is most assuredly a reference to Gawain's 'good faith' before he succumbs to the pleasures of the flesh and turns into a base, adulterous sex maniac.
9 'Gryndel' (fierce, angry) may be derived from OE 'Grendel' and ON 'grindill' (storm, wind). Then again, maybe not.
10 Most critics agree that the ribbon, or scarf, is the symbol of infidelity that is mirrored in the scar on Gawain's neck. But it seems more reasonable to assume that his infedelity does not stem from the Green Knight's wife, but from the Green Knight himself; both suffer similar wounds, and both sleep with the same women.
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THE ESSENTIAL GAWAIN POET
"Awesome..•stupendous...incredible...unbelievable."
--Time
"Not your usual coffee table book."
-The Atlantic
"I didn't understand a word. Loved the footnotes--so tasteful."
--Miss Manners
"I was dazzled, thrilled, and delighta to realize this profession has such a promising young scholar in its midst. We've had the A-text, the B-text, the C-text, and, even, the X-text, but now, at last, we have the text."
--Chaucer Review
"Gastle makes Gawain and the Green Knight rise to the occasion."
--Blueboy
"At last, Methods Publishing presents a scholarly work of interest to people working in this most rewarding field. My only critique, the footnotes could have used footnotes."
--Speculum
And now it’s off to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, as you have never before considered the story. Plus, the best #footnotes yet.