22 Apr 1400 Jahr - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c.1400)

Beschreibung:

If we start the tradition of English Heroic poetry in Beowulf, we might see its culmination (in its alliterative form) in Sir Gawain. By this time, the poetry has become overtly Christianised, following the Arthurian knight, Sir Gawain, in his deeds of chivalry.

It is a quest tale of sorts, and notable particularly for the purity of its hero. In fact, his main problem is not his deeds of arms, but his dedication to pure Christian honesty. He ends up making two conflicting promises, and never really forgives himself, despite everyone else seeing the funny side.

We can see here the end of the Anglo Saxon tradition here; Chaucer's French and Latin inflected poetry becomes the dominant form, employing rhyme and regular metre, right up until the 20th century, where the vernacular comes to dominate once more.