Book Summary: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Gawain-poet, Chapter 8

Summary:
The service of the feast ... "I need say no more (130), no tittle was wanting" (131), no small person was without or amount lacking. "Another noise" of the trumpets, "and a new was well-nigh at hand" (132), and a new course was nearly at the table. The "lord might have leave his life to nourish" (133). King Arthur has the remainder of his life to eat. The "sweet strains still in the hall were scarce" (134). The sweet melodies still in the hall were scarce. The "first course come to that company fair," the first course was presented to the beautiful, civil and courteous society (135). "There hurtles in at the hall-door an unknown rider" (136). Suddenly, an unknown rider "hurtles in at the hall-door" (136). The term "hurtles in" means the rider strikes in, pushes against or knocks open the "hall-door" (136). The "hall-door" is the front door leading into the hall or entrance-room of a mansion (136).

The unknown rider is the "greatest on ground in growth of his frame" (137). The term "greatest on ground" means largest in growth size on earth. The rider is the largest on earth in "growth of his frame" (137). "From broad neck to buttocks so bulky and thick" was bulky and thick from his broad neck to buttocks (138). The riders "loins and ... legs so long and so great," a person's loins is that part of their body situated on both sides of the vertebral column, between the false ribs and the hip-bone. The rider's loins and legs were long in length and thick, stout, massive, bulky and big in depth.

The poet "holds" the rider to be "half a giant on earth" (140). In the poet's opinion, he believes the rider to be that of half the size of a giant on earth. As well, the poet thinks the rider to be "no less than the largest of men" (141). Not only does the poet think the rider is about half the size of a giant, but he also considers him to be at least larger than the largest men.

The rider is the "seemliest in his stature to see, as he rides" (142). The term "seemliest in his stature" refers to the rider's height, and means his stature is pleasing or goodly in appearance, handsome and proper (142). The rider appears pleasing, handsome and proper as he rides because his "back and ... breast were grim," in appearance formidable, forbidding or harsh, and suggest a cruel or unbending disposition (143). Although the rider's back and breast were immense and gave the appearance of formidability, his "waist in ... width was worthily small," his waist in width was becomingly small (144). The rider's body was "formed with every feature in fair accord" (145). The rider's every feature; form and proportion were eye-appealing, handsome and nobly in agreement.

Among the guests, "Great wonder grew in" the "hall" (147). The rider's "hue" was "most strange to see" (148). The word "hue" means color. It was strange because the rider, "gear and all" (149), "Were green as green could be" (150).

Modern English Translation Text:

Of the service itself I need say no more,

For well you will know no tittle was wanting.

Another noise and a new was well-nigh at hand,

That the lord might have leave his life to nourish;

For scarce were the sweet strains still in the hall,

And the first course come to that company fair,

There hurtles in at the hall-door an unknown rider,

One the greatest on ground in growth of his frame:

From broad neck to buttocks so bulky and thick,

And his loins and his legs so long and so great,

Half a giant on earth I hold him to be,

But believe him no less than the largest of men,

And that the seemliest in his stature to see, as he rides,

For in back and in breast though his body was grim,

His waist in its width was worthily small,

And formed with every feature in fair accord

Was he.

Great wonder grew in hall

At his hue most strange to see,

For man and gear and all

Were green as green could be.

Middle English Original Manuscript Text:

Now wyl I of hor seruise say yow no more,
For vch wy3e may wel wit no wont þat þer were.
An oþer noyse ful newe ne3ed biliue,
Þat þe lude my3t haf leue liflode to cach;
For vneþe watz þe noyce not a whyle sesed,
And þe fyrst cource in þe court kyndely serued,
Þer hales in at þe halle dor an aghlich mayster,
On þe most on þe molde on mesure hyghe;
Fro þe swyre to þe swange so sware and so þik,
And his lyndes and his lymes so longe and so grete,
Half etayn in erde I hope þat he were,
Bot mon most I algate mynn hym to bene,
And þat þe myriest in his muckel þat my3t ride;
For of bak and of brest al were his bodi sturne,
Both his wombe and his wast were worthily smale,
And alle his fetures fol3ande, in forme þat he hade,
ful clene;
For wonder of his hwe men hade,
Set in his semblaunt sene;
He ferde as freke were fade,
And oueral enker-grene.

Work Cited:

Manuscript:

Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, and Sir Gawain reproduced in facsimile from MS. Cotton Nero A. x with Introduction by Sir I. Gollancz, E.E.T.S. 162, 1923.

Editions:

Syr Gawayne, ed. Sir F. Madden, Bannatyne Club, 1839.

Sir Gawayne and The Green Knight, ed. R. Morris, E.E.T.S. 4, 1864, revd. Sir I. Gollancz 1897 and 1912.

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, ed. J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon, Oxford, 1925.

The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript: Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Eds. Malcom Andrew, and Ronald Waldron. Exeter: U of Exeter, 1987.

"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." The Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Middle Ages. 8^th ed. Vol. A. Eds. Alfred David, and James Simpson. New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2006. 160-213.
Oxford English Dictionary Online. 2nd ed. 1989. Lane Library, Ripon College, Ripon, WI.