Chaucer's poetry was a new kind-he adapted European literary techniques to the English language and came up with a revolutionary new poetic style for the language. However, in other parts of the country, there were poets who were still using the alliterative techniques of Old English. One such poet wrote "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", the tale of Sir Gawain's courageous rise to the Green Knght's challenge. Sir Gawain was one of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table.
In this poem we see head-rhyme and the four strong beats of Old English poetry:
"On the ground the Green Knight graciously stood,
With his head slightly slanting to expose the flesh."
And we see some of the violent imagery that we saw in "Beowulf":
"And slashed swiftly down on the exposed part,
So that the sharp blade sheared through, shattering the bones,"
and
"The fair head fell from the neck, struck the floor,
And people spurned it as it rolled around.
Blood spurted from the body, bright against the green."
Some say that the Green Knight represents the old Celtic pagan religion (remember, King Arthur is a Celtic legend; Beowulf is a Scandinavian legend); while King Arthur and his knights represent Christianity. Thus, in this tale the old beliefs are challenging the new, but the new prevail. The "green man" is a common image in Celtic mythology.
REMEMBER: The word "romance" in medieval literature is different to the modern meaning. Romance means adventure, rising to challenges, and eventually earning the love of a lady.
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i like head-rhymes and four strong beats of old english poetry..there is a nice rythm while reading which i enjoy much.
ReplyDeleteand as in beowulf,violence shows up again...i wonder when we will be done with violent imagery.i assume that some girls must be looking for poems which merely include love and love :)
I'm learning the English literature very much dy by day.This week we learned a woman who had 5 husbands.This tale was produced by our famous man Geoffrey Chaucer.She was very different with her features.She was dominant to her husbands unlike our men now.I think,In the past,everything was very different.I learned a lot about alliterative poetry and also about King Arthur.I will saerch about them and the Green Knight...It was a bit exaggeration like Beowulf,but it was bloody and very imaginative.I enjoyed on the other hand in this course. :)
ReplyDeleteWe start to see effects of both European and Old styles.They use new styles in literature in that days but they don't refuse the Old style wholly.Namely both alliterative poems and new style can be seen(both end and head rhyme in same poem)Morever Sir Gawain and Green Knight is very fantastic, actually i dont like this kind of poems that are exaggeration but,i really enjoyed while we were analysing it in this course =)
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ReplyDeleteseher borcekli said...
ReplyDeletea fearless hero! Green Knight and a sir named Gawain, and a great challenge between them.A fantastic story, or maybe a legend, which has both the property of alliteraitive of old English and European literary techniques.i think this made the story more enjoyable.I like it and really want to the know the details and the end of course:)An the head-rhyme also makes the story more interseting while you are reading it:) a mixture of old english and new approach makes the story more fantastic..im quite eager to lean the other stories..
again hello friends!this week,class had a very extensive information.First we learned about The Wife Of Bath then we learned about Sir Gawain and The Green Knight.This poetry has a nice ryhtm and there are head-ryhmes and stong stresses.Especially while reading it,we were more enjoyed but like in Beowulf,violence appears and it is exaggerated.I dont like these kinds of scenes.ı dont like bloody scenes.I think all the girls think so.We like love:)but still it was good to learn about Sir Gawain and The Green Knight because I havent heard about them so far.I am curious about what we will see.Good days to all of you:)
ReplyDeleteWe focused on a new poem type which was affected both by old and new type of English and it was similar to our poem.It is called The Wife of Bath that drew my attention because the woman was actually different from the women who were supposed to be:D.In contrast with her congenerics,she was dominant and more free.She had gone to several places for pilgrimages.Also,she liked showing off the people in the charity,that is to say,she behaved in a very conceited way.All in all,her wearing,behaviours and personality differed from the others.she was a model which was against that time's patterns.
ReplyDeletewhat a fantastic poem this sir gwain and green knight.. it is a little bit dificult to read it because the alliteration is used.. you must say, s... s... s.. or g.. g... g... it is difficult :D. i feel that i must say i love green knight and his bravery..
ReplyDeleteHi.I like these kind of things while reading or watching because you are always curious about the results that will come.Also the head-rhyme makes the story more interseting while reading it.It is not different from beowulf when you compare them about violence,blood...and Sir Gawain's courageous against to the Green Knght's challenge gives the people an extraordinary feeling.It is fantastic in my opinion.As Beyza said,all the girls will not like this bloody situation :)
ReplyDelete:) i can imagine girls' facial expressions when bloody parts show up ...they'd better like it because it seems that violence,blood will still be with us
ReplyDeletethere are some girls who lıke bloody thıngs like me:D , so when i listened to the story of sir gawain and green knıght, i enjoyed very much. the thıngs we learned are more exciting, at the same they are really ınformatıve and such ınformatıon broadens our cultural and socıal horizon. analysing the poetry ın terms of form is more pleasurable. alliterative poetry has a lot of points.we ll learn these in the course of time...
ReplyDeleteit is difficult for me to say that ı love this kind of poetry.but ı like the story and end-rhyme.it is nice to hear this sounds.the teacher said that celtics were originally turks,ı am very surprised.maybe it is true who knows...ı am curious about the green man.what is the feature of green man,what makes green man so famous?and the desire to earn the love of a lady...ı would want to be such kind of lady.what a great happiness to know that there are people who can do everything for you.to love and being loved is the great happiness for me.if ı regard ''romance'' in today's meaning,ı can say that ı like this poem (ignore violence,look in love perspective).all ı can say that literature is a splendid thing.
ReplyDeleteHi!It seems that the poet was inspired by some features of Old English Literature.On the other hand,this legend has another feature,romance.As a matter of fact,at first it seemed to me as a nonsense thing,but then I noticed I was mistaken.Actually,I understood it is very meaningful when I take consideration into that it occured because of love for a lady.It is really amazing!
ReplyDeletehello everybody:)in this class the most exiting character is king arthur for me.i dont know the reason but maybe it has a movie in hollywood. i didnt have much information until the class only i heard its name king arthur. after the class i watched some videos and i read some articles about it.and as a result i learned that king arthur is an important symbol in a english legend.there is some comments about its reality.i think it doesnt matter it existed or not.it affected a lot of people and it has a special place in english literature,this is important.
ReplyDeleteas in beowulf, violence showed up again...i think the wife of bath is different today's women...she had 5 husbands...its so funny :DD and she was dominant her husbands...if we contrast her with today's women, she was very successful dominating her husband :D:D:D
ReplyDeleteoops:))This poem transcends unreality and imaginary.In this poem,there is a host of things nobody hopes to happen.I'm sure all of us said"of course, this event would happen" without believing,when we read;)Who believes a man without head could speak and settle himself in the saddle immediately?:D I guess nobody could:)but I should say I like head- rhymes and it sounds well..
ReplyDeleteEvery scene was exciting, but that the Green Knight talked to the knights by holding his cutten head makes the story unbelievable:(to the that moment I thought it could be real.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what others think, but to me it is more interesting and exciting to read the poems about bravery rather than the ones about love;)
what a bravery knight what a fantastic story..=) lots of girl friends is always saying that they dont like bloody events,wars,knight and of course, for us boys, they are more enjoyable than romance=) i like this poem which carries both of styles of english literature(old and european impressions) one of the characters;the green knight is very fantastic he is characterized as a bravery interesting knight and also of course the bravity of sir gawain cant be ignored.their challenge is very enjoyable i passed nice time while reading their story and i am happy to know that this kind of poems which include challenges,knigts,blood will go on being with us...:)
ReplyDeletewhat an interesting story...It makes me scared because The green Knight wants anyone to cut his head and Gwain is voluntary for this.he is really brave .After a while,The greeen Knight wants to cut Gwains'head .and this was also fearfull for me.In this story everything makes me scared but anyway I liked it very much...
ReplyDeleteHow fantastic the story is!...While you are reading it aloud,you hear the group of similar sounds, which is called alliteration,on the other hand, you are enchanted with the story's effectiveness...As if the bloody scenes are become lively in front of your eyes.During the lesson,while we are working on this subject,my hair stood on end...
ReplyDeleteSir Gawain,Green Knight and the great challenge between them..There is a good example of Alliterative poetry in front of us.When you listen to this poem you hear a nice rhytm.There is a head-rhyme and it is successful mixture of old and European english.In this poem we are seeing again romance and blood.It is impressive to see that all this challange's reason is a lady,love of a lady.She is really lucky.although most don't like bloody things and we know that it is an imaginary story you enjoy while reading(listening)to it:)
ReplyDeletehello everybody!!we talked about King Arthur, Sir Gawain and The Green Night in our last course.ı was influenced more about Sir gawain and green night. According to this poem , they tried to win a lady's love. They strugled for a lady and brought bloody scenes for the sake of her.I wanted to stand in this lady's shoes:)İn this poem ,there were challenge, courtly love and adventure which we meaned 'romance'. Furthermore, ıt is an allitertive poetry.I was pleased to hear these sounds.what is more ,there were head rhymes and strong meter. ı really liked the legend of King Arthur because ı mentioned before that ı believed and respected these legendary leaders.. All ı can say that ı want to learn more about old English literature:)
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ReplyDeleteI like reading this poem because of its head-rhyme and strong beats.It was enjoyable.But I was effected its theme more than how it was written.Green knight is really fearless,respectable and challanged man.Sir Gwain is also faitful to his word and he is courageous.The story is very different what I've heard before so I enjoyed much while reading it.Try to win a lady's love,adventure and strong men are most important and interesting parts of it. :)
ReplyDeletehi!This poetry is different from the former poems that we have read.It involves a new poetic style of European literary techniques but we see similarities to the Old English,too.They are head-rhymes and the four strong beats,violent imaginary.Also romance means adventure any more.That is,the knight must fight for his love and then he can earn her love in this way.
ReplyDeleteHi.This week we saw the effects of European literary techniques and old English in the poemSir Gawain and the Green Knight an example of alleritive poetry.It resembles to Bewoulf for blood and challenge.Both style share similarities -head rhymes-Romance is different from we actually suppose in that it means adventure for love by fighthing.It was a good a kind of legend.
ReplyDeletehi!!it was enjoyable.i like it but it make me scared also i affected king's bravetiy.it was exciting.i am happy to learn them in this course.:)))
ReplyDeleteIn this week's poetry SIR GWAIN and the GREEN KNIGHT,there was violence as in the BEWOLF.At first glance ı couldn't find out the plot,but after we had analyzed it,ı got it.It was a fantastic story because there were lots of imaginary words.Despite the bloody scenes,it was an intersting poem:)
ReplyDeleteTill the first lesson of this course,I thought that it would be boring course but ı was wrong. As ı learn somethings about english literature, ıt is getting funny. Sır Gwain and
ReplyDeletethe Green Knight are
fearless,respectable,violent people. I was so excited to learn this fantastic story. It really is amazing how so many different works of literature are tied together in someway.
I must admit that ı didn't like the poetry Sir Gwain and the Green Knight as much as The Wife of Bath because there are lots of bloody scenes.But the head-rhymes and alliteration that affectted me so much.It is nıce to heat these sounds but difficult to pronunce them :D
ReplyDeleteSir – Gawain and the Green Knight
ReplyDeleteHi! Actually most girls dont like bloody stories, but as being a lil different ı like such stories so much; Sir – Gawain and the Green Knight can be one of them. It includes really fantastic n awesome situations – a head without body can speak : ) . It is very good ı think people in the past were really creative : ) . Also listening this legend – especially from a native speaker - is really influential n enjoyable. You can easily catch the head-rhyme n strong stress, which make it more beautiful…
Analysing such poetries helps us to get entartaining n necessary information about Eng literature n understand old times…
It is like Beowulf.This poem contains bizarre things like green man without head.This man can live and speak without head.These things are fantastic and I don't like very much such events but sometimes I'm interested in them.This poem is one of the poems which I enjoy reading..
ReplyDeleteThis week we read a new poem,it includes unbelievable scenes.One man with no head could speak and could do all abilities.It was very difficult to believe.However,it was surprising to see how talented the writers of earlier times were!Sir Gawain and the Green Knight both were examples of bravity like Beowulf.I thought that their scenes should be close to reality,but now I don't think so.As long as scenes of poems and stories are mysterious,they arouse interest more.I liked this poem and I really found it very fantastic:))))
ReplyDeleteWe saw the examples of allitrative poetry such as Sir-Gawain and The Green Night poems. It was similar to old english poetry in the aspect of violent actions.And there were some similarities between allitrative poetry and europen poetry in the aspect of some end-rhym.Of course in allitrative poetry we use the first letters same.Whatever ı found similarities between the plot in the poems we have studied this week and Bewulf. All of them included violance and bloody scenes.But it didnt affect me so much because ıt was unrealistic. And now ı wait the next poem in wonder..=)
ReplyDeleteI get that in this times people had very strong believes of monsters.I don't like this kind of writings which include extraordinarily imaginary objects.I accept that people have huge imagine power.but their imagines should have a feet on the earth.
ReplyDeleteThis weeek firstly we learned about The Wife Of Bath and then Sir Gawain and The Green Knight. These two men fights against each other for a lady. We see romance and violation, blood again as in Beowulf. This poetry type is affected both by Old and New English. It has a nice ryhtm and there are head-ryhmes. This makes the poem more harmonic. I really enjoyed analyzing this poetry in class :)
ReplyDeleteLegendary stories are generally liked by all people because they include extraordinary actions,which people make eager to read those stories.I liked this poetry like many of them.I liked particularly the depictions.When you're reading the poetry as if the actions appear in front of you and this stimulates the element of wonder.Addingly, those kinds(legendary kinds) of piece of arts are included in our literature too,so a familiarity occurs.This familiarity is like a bridge between those two cultures.Loves...
ReplyDeleteSir Gawain and The Green Knight..Violence and love is together..This makes the story(or probably a legend) more worthreading . Head-rhmys are nice,too, which makes it more artistic..I really liked this course and I'm sure that most of the friends are agree...
ReplyDeleteThe poem Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is including violence,challenge and the details,incidents that we cannot even consider like abling to contiune to live,also to challenge after one's head is cut..in this aspect ı prefer a poem to be more realistic..
ReplyDeleteSir Gawain and The Green Knight is a good example that shows "what challenge means".The excellent head-rhyme makes it fluent. It was very impressive and legendary poem including adventure, love, challence, blood...I like the character of The Green Knight who is very strong, fearless and brave.Actually I admire him:)
ReplyDeleteHEYYY!!!For those who weren't at class,we analysed the Legend of Sir gwain and the green Knight.It's a violent legend but there is a wonderful meaning at the end. I dont think that it has happened;however, it is very informative. There has been a mix of the cultures in this legend. it was something different. Im happy that I learn the varieties of this literature.
ReplyDeletehi friends!I havent attended the class for some reasons,but I have a chance to get information about it.My friend told me and I searched it on the net.I wish I had been at class because this subject impressed me especially while reading it,I was enjoyed too much.There are head rhymes and strong stresses.I am curious about the next class:)
ReplyDeletehello..writer adapts a new style in english poetry by using alliterative technique.although this style seems little different from old english poetry there are some similarities between them.we see bloody scenes, violence and all of these aren't interesting for me:)
ReplyDeleteHi! I am learning more about English Literature day by day and I enjoy learning as I read the poems like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. There is violence and blood as in Bewoulf, but there is something different in this poem: it has romance. Actually, romance is the theme what affected me most.Moreover, the poem is fluent, so I enjoyed reading it as well. I am looking forward to next lesson.
ReplyDeleteHello friends..This week we learned some instances of allitrative poetry.these are sir gawain, the green night and the wife of bath.the latter one we have learned in detail or ıt affected me so much.there is a fighting for a lady that includind violence .and ın this aspect ıt is similar to old english poetry .also the poem bears head-ryhmes that ı liked so much.I am looking forward to seeing next lesson:)
ReplyDeleteHi,friends!Sir Gawain and The Green Knight...what a fantastic poem!Again we see bloody scenes as in the Beowufl and a lot of exaggerations, for instance,a man-with no head-still live.Anyway ı think this is the important aspect of the poet drawing readers'attention and it s very impressive that all things re for earning love of a lady.Also we see similarities to eng poetry and europen one in the poem's structure.Especially, head-rhymes and the four strong beats of old eng embellish the poem in terms of such as melody,visualization.At first,the topic doesnt make any sense, but after a while you like the poet and enjoy youeself.
ReplyDeletehi..
ReplyDeletethis alliterative literature is like beawulf and at the end of challenge etc.you will see the love to a lady.. lucky lady:)i want to add something else head rhymes in poems there are.some differences there are also...
I like the Green Knight.Green really suits him :D As for alliterative poem, I like this style.Headrhymes goes with the Old English very well.Heroicity and love are tied to each other.
ReplyDeleteI knew the Black Night but had never heard of the green one.It's really different manner of English Literature.
hi friends.we also learned about Sir Gawain and The Green Knight".it a legendary tale.ı think this kind of tales attract people so much.but this one is very exaggerated.but I like it because of love:)there are cross-rhymes in some parts and repeated sounds.but,generally ı don't like it.
ReplyDeleteAs well as i have heard from my friends this poetry includes much more violence than Beowulf does.i think it is very bloody.By the way these new tecniques made it different, but not wholly different ,mixture of old and modern style and made itfantastic .Exaggerations in it make it more attractive for readers.We always like imagenary things:).
ReplyDeleteHi...I want to confess that ı don't like this poem.But the development in the poetry is nice.I think this GREEN KNIGHT is similar to our DEDE KORKUT:)Using the exaggerations makes the story more nonsense(ı am sorry)But it should be done by someoneelse.İt was a process to went.I love bloody scenes;but possibilty;(namely it can be lived in real life)is important.On the other hand Sir Gawain used his creativeness.It is a special ability which is given by God...
ReplyDeletehi, everbody. This week we learned Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.It s very fantastic like Beowulf.It s very surprising thing in the story that without his head, he can speak and live. That s very different.As well in this period,alliterative poetry was used.In this poetry,there is "head-rhyme",stanza.It s similar to old English poetry and European poetry.As well Green represent rebirth ,trees and spring in Celtic mythology.It s interesting.
ReplyDeletehi.I didn't attend this week as I wasn't in bolu but I got and read it anyway.to read head-rhymes is very enjoying.like beowulf violence and blood appeares again.and as I understood the wife of bath is also very diffrent than today's women.(I don't want to marry such a woman:)
ReplyDeleteThe green knight seems to be fantastic as ı heard from the friends. I couldn't get the chance to attent the class this week but ı got some information about it. According to what my friends told me it has some similarities with the beawolf. ıt seems to be an attractive tale and hopefully will investigate it in order to learn much more..
ReplyDeletewhen I read this poem I remembered BEOWULF. I think the exaggeration is same. We can see in this poem. there are Some characteristics of old english literature in this poem, for example head_rhyme. Sir Gawain'bravery. It is very important act to rise king and to make this, you must be brave like beowulf. The combination of the both of old and european english
ReplyDeleteChaucer found a new poetic style;but King Arthur continued to write in alliterative style.But ı like the old poem structure a lot;because it is as if listening a melody...Its language is complex but nice.This Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is similar to Beowulf(my favourite) in some aspects.Esp.the images which we have(violent).It is very impressive...
ReplyDeleteHi! Rhythm sounds great, but i can’t say the same thing for content.Still i can see the beheaded Green Knight..Poem was described very well.. As i was reading , i felt i was living it..I saw there was a serial of Merlin..I thought it could help me to understand the period of King Arthur better..I want to watch it after i have gotten the pluck up to do this:) This kind of things affect me a bit but “literature love” damn it;)..thanks..
ReplyDeletean example with it's different style..a fantastic story as Beowulf; a fearless Knight of legendery character King Arthur. bloody 'Sir Gawain and The Green Knight'..most girls don't like such bloody things and im one of them,too,but i would like to accept so nice head rhymes and that it is a good example of also nice mixture of European literature techniques and English literature's one..
ReplyDeleteİt is a good example of alliterative poetry.We see mixture of old englısh and european poetry.Violence is seen and i think head ryhmes sound very nice.İt is an interesting poetry with his fantastic plot and really good descriptıons.İt can be bloody but i think it is a really good example of bravery.
ReplyDeleteThe story Sir Gawain and The Green Knight reminded me Beowulf.Both are violent and bloody pieces of English literature.T think,Green Knight is much more exeggerated than the other.Even his head was cut,his body was still alive!Very imaginary and fantastic.To say the truth,I didn't like it so much as Beowulf.
ReplyDeleteSir Gawain and The Green Knight is a good example of violence and romence.ıt is an alliterative poem and this syle gives a violent rhyme to it.we see some extraordinary things such as a headless knigt in this poem.alliteration gives it a musical aspect.
ReplyDeletesir gwain and the green knight is really beautiful effective but ı couldnt understand what geoffrey wanted to give us as a main idea
ReplyDelete...
ReplyDeleteDay by day we learn more about Englısh Lıterature.It changes both the aspect of plot and the lınes.In thıs work ıt ıs used allıteratıve poetry that sımılar to Old Englısh poetry but ıt's subject ıs a bıt dıfferent.New subjects are added.There ıs head-rhyme and thıs make ıt very enjoyable. At the same tıme romance ıs used by consıstıng of adventure ,courtly love and chıvalry and ıt ıs really good...
We continue our way in English Literature with new tecnique.And again I love it very much.Chaucer's work of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is about the knights.Knights had to challenge, they must be succesful,they always had an advanture and these features of them call attention to me.It is nice of them because they try to win a lady's love.It is amazing...
ReplyDeleteHello all!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't help noticing that some of you think that Sir Gawain was written by Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer developed his own style of English poetry based on European literary theory, and he lived in the London area. However, the poet who wrote Sir Gawain is unknown. What is known about him is that he lived near to the Welsh border and used the alliterative poetic style.
hi! i am so sorry because i couldnt write the comments on time because of my computer 2s techinical problems :( really i didn't like this class very much maybe because the day i wasn't at class unfourtunately :) i learned it from my classmates but the best thing to be present in every class.i am surprised in every class.we usually learn interesting things.i think there much more interesting things we are gonig to face...
ReplyDeleteHello!!! it is one of the most interesting and exciting stories I have ever read.It is very very excellent like Beowulf.I like the poems about bravery rather than the ones about love. I dont know the reason,but the bravery ones attract me more than the love ones...
ReplyDeleteoh My God!!I posted a comment for this topic but I couldnt see I think I had a mistake so now I want to say:DI like the Sir Gawain but I didnt like Green Knight's colour:)but it was a good and informative lesson for me.:)I am so sorry because of this late message:( I did a mistake unfortunately but now I correct it.
ReplyDeleteSir Gawain's "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is a heroic stanza which includes the mixture of Old English and new poetic etyles.ıt has head-ryhme and four strong stresses of Old English poetry.It is so fantastic that we can see a man without his head could speak.Despite of all bloody events,ı like it...
ReplyDeleteChauger wanted to do something different in poetry.
ReplyDeleteThere is an attractive plot and strong characters who can take attention from readers.
I can see that in those times,the roles of the Knights were important so they were choosen to take attention.We see some of the violent imagery that we saw in "Beowulf" and this is necessary to image adventure and challenge.The prevalence of the new beliefs are presented with a challenge in the poem successfully.