1. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight I

2. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight I
I Chivalric Romance
II The Gawain poet; the MS
III Verse form
IV Part One—The Challenge
V Part Two—The search

3. Pyle, Howard (1853-1911), "Sir Gawaine the Son of Lot, King of Orkney" from:
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights. New York: Scribner's, 1903.

4. I Chivalric Romance
A. Romance
B. Arthurian Legend

5. II The Gawain poet; the MS

6. Source: David Crystal, ed.
The Cambridge Encyclopedia
of the English Language
(Cambridge: Cambridge
UP, 1995) p. 11

7. III Verse form
A. The "Alliterative Revival"
B. stock, bob, and wheel

8. ‘As I am beholden thereto, in high and in low,
By right.’ (A)
The lord fast can him pain (B)
To hold longer the knight. (A)
To him answers Gawain (B)
By no way that he might. (A)
(1,040–1,045)

9. IV Part One—The Challenge
A. Overview: complex sign systems; ambiguities; a series of contrasts
B. Christmastide at Camelot
C. The Green Knight's Challenge

10. The Round Table from the Winchester Castle
Winchester Castle, Winchester

11. Source: David Crystal, ed.
The Cambridge Encyclopedia
of the English Language
(Cambridge: Cambridge
UP, 1995) p. 11

13. The Green Knight by
Ian Brown

14. V Part Two—The search A. Preparation: Ekphrasis: the shield
B. Perilous Journey
C. The Castle: Parallels to Pt. 1; the knight errant

15. The Five Fives
Five faultless senses (sight; hearing; touch; smell; taste)
Five fingers that never failed (martial prowess)
Five wounds of Christ on the cross
Five joys of Mary
Gawain's five virtues

16. Five joys of Mary: Annunciation Nativity Resurrection Ascension
Assumption

17. Gawain's five virtues: boundless beneficence brotherly love pure mind
courtly manners
compassion

19. Snowdonia, along the A5 south of Bethesda, looking southeast, about 9:00 a.m.
Photograph: Michael Twomey

21. North Wales: Caernarfon Castle.
Photograph: Michael Twomey