The Works of the Gawain Poet

<p><b>A new volume of the works of the Gawain poet, destined to become the definitive edition for students and scholars.</b><br><br>This volume brings together four works of the unknown fourteenth-century poet famous for the Arthurian romance <i>Sir Gawain and the Green Knight</i>, 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 <i>Pearl </i>depicts a bereaved father whose lost child leads him to glimpse heaven. And in moral poems based on stories from the Bible, <i>Cleanness</i> warns against sins of the flesh and of desecration, while <i>Patience </i>encourages readers to endure suffering as God's will.<br><br><br>Little 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 <i>Sir Gawain and the Green Knight</i>, <i>Pearl</i>, <i>Patience</i>, <i>Cleanness</i>, the four works have been attributed to him based on a careful comparison of their language, date and themes.<br><br>Myra Stokes was formerly Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at Bristol University. Her books include <i>Justice and Mercy in Piers Plowman</i> and <i>The Language of Jane Austen</i>.<br><br>Ad 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 <i>Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and French Arthurian Romance</i> and <i>An Introduction to the Gawain Poet</i>, and he is also co-editor of <i>The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend</i>.</p> <p><b>A new volume of the works of the Gawain poet, destined to become the definitive edition for students and scholars.</b><br><br>This volume brings together four works of the unknown fourteenth-century poet famous for the Arthurian romance <i>Sir Gawain and the Green Knight</i>, 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 <i>Pearl </i>depicts a bereaved father whose lost child leads him to glimpse heaven. And in moral poems based on stories from the Bible, <i>Cleanness</i> warns against sins of the flesh and of desecration, while <i>Patience </i>encourages readers to endure suffering as God's will.<br><br><br>Little 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 <i>Sir Gawain and the Green Knight</i>, <i>Pearl</i>, <i>Patience</i>, <i>Cleanness</i>, the four works have been attributed to him based on a careful comparison of their language, date and themes.<br><br>Myra Stokes was formerly Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at Bristol University. Her books include <i>Justice and Mercy in Piers Plowman</i> and <i>The Language of Jane Austen</i>.<br><br>Ad 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 <i>Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and French Arthurian Romance</i> and <i>An Introduction to the Gawain Poet</i>, and he is also co-editor of <i>The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend</i>.</p>