Can we hope to see more of these kind of videos? As you so eloquently explained in an older video, literature like arthurian legends is one of the sources of the genre. I'm sure a lot of your viewers will appreciate the occasional look into works you deem important. Especially if we get more recitals in Old and Middle English out of it ;)

I was looking for any English poem explanations, since my English Literature exams are coming up, and stumbled upon this video. Even though you wouldn't have time to create any more before my exams, I'd still be very interested in watching similar analyses. You have a very clear and captivating way of explaining things along with the analytical style, which I really like!

You're a wonderful and passionate advocate for these stories and this time period. Thank you so much!

Another amazingly interesting video! Being a bit of a King Arthur fan from a young age I knew some of what you told us about, but as always you took it to the next level! I found Canterbury Tales immensely entertaining, but it take a moment or two to come to grips with the English used...

Thanks for the lecture. I had the pleasure of reading this story as part of a literature class in college. The professor had just published a article about it so we got to hear some great analysis. Have always enjoyed the story and anything related to it since then.

Late to seeing this one, but thank you for the breakdown! I tried doing some research into this so I’d know what I’m seeing tomorrow at the movie, but your talk really helped clarify the basics of the story!

This was great! What a wonderful reading. Amazing how different the language was. I got such an education this morning… thanks Philip!

After seeing the movie (loved it by the way), I dove into Simon Armitage's translation of the poem. I devoured it in a couple of sittings today and came to watch your video. This video is such a great overview! The movie and story seem to have their fair share of differences, but in my opinion, the film keeps the core elements and emotions intact. There is also a movie tie-in translation that includes a forward by the director which examines some of the differences to the film. He states something similar to this: "The best one can hope for in adapting a work such as this is to catch a glimmer of the original enough to drive the viewer to the source to discover what you merely scratched the surface of." I was slightly in awe because that is exactly what I did. To me, they are both works of art and I hope to see a review/discussion of the poem compared to the film adaptation. As always, thanks for your amazing content!

Finally, I was able to have an easy summary of what for me was such a challenge fantasy story..thank you, Dr. Chase, you do agreat job! Best wishes on your channel..🤗 God bless..

Wow Philip that was really fascinating. Thank you for sharing this. I’m actually very excited to watch the movie, and I’ve thought about reading some of the translations, such as that by Tolkien.

If you ever want to do an entire video series on the evolution of the English language, I would watch every second of it. This was such an interesting topic and video. Thank you! 😁

Loved your deep dive into this poem.

In my judgment, you did an excellent job with this video-informative and entertaining 😊

I loved this, Philip! I didn’t know about the film, but this was enjoyable either way. I enjoyed listening to your Middle English reading and the way you brought this story to life in your discussion. The other realm veil-opening during winter solstice sounds atmospheric, and I love the human elements you highlighted throughout the poem. I read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and some of Le Morte d’Arthur in high school, but I haven’t retained much. I would love to hear your thoughts on the film after you watch it!

Loved writing a dissertation on the evolution of Arthurian legend last year, but your wealth of knowledge far surpasses mine! Looking into Nennius' Historia Brittonum, to Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and beyond was beyond exciting and engaging, as was watching this. Will

That was wonderful - thanks Phillip! Another shelf of interesting knick-knacks - and an impressive number of Beowulf texts! I would imagine during the 'middle' English years, that the theme of wild/primal/primitive, being seen as an opposing force to the burgeoning civilization, would have been quite common - what with the emerging societal structures also attempting to apply order to nature in general. Even the most intelligent person of the day, with no access to the concepts of science, in trying to make sense of the various catastrophes (plague/famine), would likely see them as a wild primeval force set against their communities, and of course, human nature being what it is, we have to blame someone - a witch, a green man, a magical embodiment of chaos - an entity that can be fought, makes its way into the stories explaining the weirdness. I feel very at home with these sorts of tales, most of my 'heart favourite' books have clear threads tying them to Celtic, Anglo, and specifically Arthurian, myth - and then there's Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld - The Green Man gets a speaking part in Lords and Ladies for example. Discworld abounds with folklore from the British Isles - you're going to love them.

This was a fantastic story and well told by yourself mate. I hope this video goes alright. I would love to hear more legends and stories told by you 👍

thank you so much for this vid! it was such an enjoyable and informative video, you did an amazing job

can't wait to see this . tnx for the reading , philip

This was a great video. I really liked the film. It was beautifully shot and performed, and fantastical, and creepy, and everything else you would want out of this story. I want to pick up Tolkien's translation of it just because I like the story. I never really studied Arthurian tales, or really any Medieval literature in any of my classes, so more of these videos would be really interesting I think.

Really curious to see what your reactions of the film are, if you see it eventually. They do a lot more to make Gawain less honorable to play up his flaws, but the ending of the film is incredible and quite a bit different from the poem. It's also quite hard to follow at times, it's definitely a thinker of a movie, but I thought it was rather brilliant. They add quite a few extra characters and scenes, and dive deeper into themes on what it means to be an honorable person. Also plays up how elaborate Morgan Le Fey's plan is. It's a brilliant adaptation that's just as strange and whimsical as the poem.

Brilliant video! 👌🏾

Hi Philip, it was a great summary, congrats. Just a side note. You mentioned the idealistic picture of other Arthurian texts, and you highlight the humanism of this Sir Gawain story. It’s true, however, the most famous Arthurian author, Chrétien de Troyes also walked on this humanistic road. For example both Lancelot and Perceval in their Chrétien-novels are very “humanistic” with a lots of flaws and doubts, It’s very interesting, that the Perceval, The Tail of the Grail and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight both are about story of the failure of the main character. They have a lot of common characteristics, and very funny that in Chrétien’s poem the half of the book is actually about Gauvain, and in a sense Gauvain also fails in his mission.

Just saw the movie and it was nice to watch this to understand a bit more of the context

Good video. I’m excited for the film

Very interesting video Philip, thank you. I suddenly remember a green man in the books of Gene Wolfe and his series is also about renewal. That's interesting...

Great video Philip as ever, very informative and I loved your recitation of the poem in middle English and all the mentions of Monty Python and the Holy grail, my favourite of the Python films. The green man is a figure that has appeared a lot throughout literature in general, one of the more recent ones that I read is Lanny by Max Porter from early 2019. Dead Papa toothwort is a scary dream like, omniscient figure who you'd not want to meet in your worst nightmares. It was on the Booker long list that year and it's written in a unique way. I loved it. 🤓

As a language nerd, this was a great video!

Excellent video. I learned a lot and I loved hearing Middle English! You should make more of these, Philip!

Sir Gawain has always been one of my favorite Arthurian Legend characters! The Arthurian Legend is one of my soft spots. When you say so and so invented all my favorite characters that have lived in my head forever it feels like a small stab to the heart. 🗡Le Morte D'Arthur is such a great book. I need to get back to these texts.

Thank you for the summary! It's been really helpful for my exam study session

Great video! This seems like it would be virtually impossible to adapt into a movie that modern audiences would like, especially American ones. I would love to see you do some videos on your favorite modern fantasy adaptations, pastiches, and parodies of Arthur and Robin Hood. The Winter King is high on my TBR; I think I will take it with me on my birthday vacation next month.

This was great Philip. I throughly enjoyed it. Have you thought about discussing the Mahabharata with someone? If Ruthan Badd has read it, I would love that discussion. Though I would never presume that he has. Till then, I will be awaiting everything coming. Good night and thank you for brightening my day. Sorry, nothing pithy tonight. 😔

I saw THE GREEN KNIGHT last night and I wish I would have stumbled upon your video before watching it. Loved your content! 😍

Another one that my AP class was "forced" to read in high school and I did so excitedly. Enjoyed it then, would probably enjoy it even more now. Very much looking forward to the A24 adaptation.

So interesting to hear you talk about Ser Gawain and the Green Knight! I didn't know that the "green man" was a mythical figure in English literature, which may be the source of inspiration for the Green Man in Jordan's The Wheel of Time. Also, maybe I'm reaching here, the way you said "associated with renewal of crops after the death of winter" made me think of ASOIAF and the greenseers, and if that might also be a source of inspiration to G.R.R. Martin. About the film, based on the trailer, I doubt it will have any humor at all^^

I have watched a couple of adaptations based on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but I have never read the story itself. The one that always comes to mind immediately is Sword of the Valiant with Sean Connery. Then there was another one from the 90s I remember seeing. Of course now I am more interested in reading it.

Just read the poem before I saw this video. Loved your analysis and the middle english reading was fantastic. I do wonder about your interpretation of how quickly it skims through his journey though. Based on the opening mentioning Troy and Aeneus, I wonder how much of the poem is referencing or drawing inspiration from older roman/greek epics. I haven't read a lot of older works, but the first one I read some time ago (translated) was the Odyssey. And I remember being quite frustrated with it at first because it's nothing like how modern interpretations of it represent it. And it's really a stark contrast from how modern fantasy and adventures play out. The sirens, Scylla, the lotus eaters are all like... 1 or 2 pages. And even some parts like the cyclops and circe are still quite brief by modern standards. In fact Odysseus reciting his "fake story" to someone on on Ithaca seemed about as long or longer than the recitation of his actual adventures during his stay in Phaecia. And I'm not finished it, but I'm reading the Aeneid and it's quite similar in how it skims over some adventures. To me it seemed like the poem was similar in that regard, "okay blahblah there's a 7 headed monster whose screams sound like bagpipes, he killed it, ANYWAYS..." but I wonder if that's just my interpretation. I've also never read anything about Jason (the fleece or the argonauts) it but I wondered how much the sash drew from Jason and the Golden Fleece and if there were any other references to older epics that I missed. Certainly the misogynist themes (which you mentioned) of women being tricksters goes back to the greek epics - athena tricking Hektor (who is mentioned in this poem) into fighting Akilius, athena tricking a soldier into throwing a spear during the truce, circe tricking odyssseus men in the odyssey etc.

I just finished reading Tolkien’s translation and watched this for a recap. Your video is so lovely and on point. Thank you very much.

didn’t read sir gawain for class (oopsies!!!) however this video was a great one to catch me up and help me with an essay! thank you so much, great video ☺️

Thank you, this is very informative, would love to see more videos like this one, with a presentation of a famous book against its background. Somehow I'm thinking about The Kingkiller Chronicle. The way the stanzas are built sounded almost like something Kvothe would sing. A longish passage of storytelling, a bridge and a chorus, blending alliterative and rhymed verse. And the slightly tongue-in-cheek tone would also interest him. And the content of this and other Arthurian stories also lies close to Kvothe's quest of finding truth behind stories: they are about heroes and characters who grew radically different through various re-tellings and lost their anchor in history. For example, you read out a passage about Brutus of Troy, and any of the known historical figures called Brutus is very far from this character.

Missed an opportunity to do a trailer reaction. This movie has become my most anticipated movie of this year.

Is there a translation that you would recommend? Thanks for another fascinating video 🙏

I read this poem in college, in translation, many years ago. I loved it, but what stuck with me most was the feel of it - the alliteration, the rhythm, and the imagery, as well as the self-aware and slightly mocking tone. By modern standards the plot seemed pretty thin - more a structure to hang this gorgeous language on than anything else. I feel like most readers would get more out of it if they read it assuming it to be more a long lyric poem than a fantasy novel. I'm dreading the film - it seems like a film by its nature would have to remove almost everything that made the poem great. But it's A24, so... fingers crossed.

I loved the reading! Great video. I felt like I was in lecture. Lol

Exquisite review

Amazing reading! I had tried to research how far back a modern English speaker could go and be understood. I've heard it's about 1500.

The film seems tonally very different from the original tale, it’ll be interesting to see if it aligns thematically.

Perfect timing Philip! I'm excited to go and see the film on the 30th. It looks dark and well made. Are you going to watch it?

Curious then, what's your most and least favourite adaptations of the Arthurian stories (film or television)?

I look very much forward to the movie! Yeah, it is a bit ironic that The Arthurian Legends became as popular they are in England, when he is portrayed as a Roman-Celt/Brythonic defender against the Saxons in the earlier Welsh texts. But as you state, this popularity comes around the time after the Norman Conquest (as well as after the Vikings and the Crusades and around the Conquest of Wales). As such I have always thought of it more as a “British” (with connections to Ireland and Northern France) counterpart to the “Matter of France” about Charlemagne and his Paladins: A Conqueror/Defender of Christendom (and Unifier of “All Britons”) against heathens (Germanic and other). A narrative that a multicultural Britain, with Norman Kings that ruled over descendants of Romans, Celts and Anglo-Saxons all over Britain and France and with some affinity for Crusades, could get behind! Also, is that a Nepali kukri-knife on your bookshelf?

I love the pipe behind you by the way, is it a Rathbone? Also the dagger of course being a lover of all things stabby!

Thank you for this! It was a long time ago when I read this story. Can I ask you something? Please next time add the old English text too, as my first language is not English I would enjoy your reading more. I could not understand a word, but it sounded nice. :)

Came here after watching the movie this past weekend! The movie wasn’t really for me, and I assumed that it was so weird/ambiguous because it was sticking closely to the original material. After watching this, I can’t really give them this excuse. I wish they’d actually stuck more to the original material now that I know the poem! The movie is gorgeous visually, but it ends up taking itself too seriously and doesn’t even seem to represent the original themes. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it once you get around to watching!

I saw the film last night and I'm curious your reading of it. I thought it was gorgeous and suspenseful. There was a lot to unpack. I'm really curious on your thoughts.

I’m very curious about how to map your pronunciation to the original text, as Middle English is foreign to me, but linguistically sounds very interesting to figure out how to map to current English text. As you mentioned, glossary would help. 😅 maybe you can transliterate a Malazan passage to Middle English and educate us.

I’m so excited for this film, but it’s coming out after “Freedom Day”, 🥴 so idk if I’ll be able to watch it safely.

Great video, Philip. I just watched the Green Knight movie and wanted to know how the original poem went.

Great video! To my Dutch ears there certainly were some Germanic or Scandinavian sounding words in there - though that didn't make it much more understandable 😅 The feminist undertones - and disregard for the 'action quest' - makes me wonder if this might have been written by a woman. Interesting and funny either way. Also interesting how it can be seen as a jab at Christianity from a pagan. "You're all so impressed about a little resurrection, while the Green Man takes a beheading in his stride. For a lark" Will be amazed if these undertones survive in the adaptation, though the trailer does look good. Reminds me a bit of Sleepy Hollow.

So just a little peril... I am wondering how familiar the general populace would have been familiar with the 'pagan' death/resurrection myths referenced with the changing of the seasons. I am thinking quite a few.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming movie The Green Knight?

Key points in imagine that David Lowery's The Green Knight, King David....: Why when Sir Gawain is in the brothel at the beginning and is asked if he is a knight yet he replies "I've got time, I've got LOTS of more TIMES"(WAIT, HOLD UP, STOP COLLABORATE AND LISTEN! LOTS OF TIMES??!! HOW MANY TIMES IS LOTS OF TIMES?!) ALSO KING ARTHUR TELLS SIR GAWAIN TO SIT BESIDES ME AND MY QUEEN TO WHICH SIR GAWAIN RELLIES IT ISN'T HIS PLACE THEN KING ARTHUR SAYS ITS OWNER IS AWAY AND IN MY MIND THAT OWNER IS NONE OTHER THAN LORD BERTILAK(X) BUT WHEN KING ARTHUR LATER TELLS SIR GAWAIN THAT HIS SEAT BESIDE HIM WILL BE WAITING UPON HIS SAFE RETURN. WHO'S DAMN SEAT IS IT? SIR GAWAIN'S(RIGHTFULLY)(BECAUSE I SAID SO), LORD BERTILAK'S, MORGAN LE FAYE'S(ANTON LE FAYE, LUCIFERIAN) IN THE WORDS OF MY OWL, WHO?! I imagine SIR Gawain is actually LORD Bertilak, hence the Essel/lady's ordeal with both LORD Bertilak and SIR Gawain, as if LORD Bertilak is somehow testing his own knightly virtues. And I only am truly, rightfully, the I AM(I, Amanda, ME. I knew at 2 years old that I Amanda ME was how I remember I AM, but how did I know that the A in am was the A in Amanda or the M after A in AM was ME? I did not know my Alphabet. I did not know how to spell or form written words or even what letters of an Alphabet were or what they looked like! 0:39

Great video and excellent introduction to this wonderful Middle English text. Your beautiful reading of the first stanza and the vivid summary make me wonder if we have been introduced to your second favourite medieval text? I definitely prefer the Green Knight to for example Chaucer. Would you say that like the different gaming challenges mirror each other so does the transgressive behaviour of the lady of the castle mirror the transgressive nature of Morgan le Fey? Also let me transgress a bit myself and put in a link for anybody who would like to have a look at the medieval manuscript. www.bl.uk/collection-items/sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight

I have an "audiobook" middle English reading on LP record made in 1965, complete with booklet containing the words read with a translation beside. If you had a PO box I'd send it your way to be appreciated by someone.

Beowulf next? Or maybe Judith?

have a great weekend 💖💖💖

I giggled at "the great bowel shift" because I'm still 12 inside 😂

What I am not understanding: Why y'all are calling King David, most beloved King of all time the Green Knight.

I enjoyed it! It stayed true to the original for the most part but I would have liked them to have kept the ending closer to the poem's ending than they did.

Sir Gawain is King Solomon. The son of King David. David will always be the greatest king. He possesses qualities and a personality other kings could never compete with

this was a middle english dialect from north west midlands?

on the 1st day the lady gave 3 kisses, which he passed on. on second day she gave 6 kisses which he passed on. on the 3rd day she was annoyed and gave him 300 kisses. Poor Sir Gawain found it hard to handle and pretended he passed out. and got admitted to the ICU. and that's the story of how Sir Gawain managed to sashay out of the head-chopping business. :)

Ì understand he is green but he is more than some mere knight. So much more. You're also calling him King Arthur. HIS NAME WAS AND STILL IS DAVID, THE SHEPHERD BOY.

I was just reading the tale to my son, who is 11, from the Tales of King author by James Riordan and illustrated by Victor Ambrus (1982). I was wondering why there was no mention really of Christendom in your review. I seemed that it was all from a humanist perspective. I can appreciate for sure the faults of humans and the need to not judge the mistakes that were made by the noble knight Gawain. I certainly can feel his pain and shame in ALMOST doing something perfectly, only to have some flaw that just could not be helped because of human nature. However, when I read from this book and I think another one that my older son had to read years ago, there was always a mention of God, Christendom, the protection of God or pleading for the help of God in their tasks as knights and in repenting and asking for mercy. Is there a reason why there's no mention of the faith of these characters. It seems to me it played a big role in them being virtuous and noble and courageous and humble and all the other great things that come with chivalry and knighthood. They usually made their oaths to God and to one another. And my version also says that it was Christmastide (12 days) and not winter solstice. Is there a bent in more modern translations that make it more fantasy/ mythological? Or do older versions generally not mention Christendom? I know you made reference to the veil being thin during the winter solstice. And I can appreciate that from the cultures that were in existence in that area prior to Christianity. But I guess I'm thinking since these are from the Middle ages, Christendom, though often still mixed with lots of lore from the past, seemed to have won out or edged out the more pagan or earthy religious tones. Please help me understand this take? Also, I was delighted at hearing you read in Middle English! It just makes me want to learn it for the heck of it!

Only here to know how to pronounce the name

:D

Great peom, terrible movie.