Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Using Tolkien in teaching Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Here are some notes which were made after reading Approaches to Teaching "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" edited by Miriam Youngerman Miller and Jane Chance. This is a volume in a series: 'Approaches to Teaching Masterpieces of World Literature' published by the Modern Language Association of America in 1986.

The book has, exclusively, an American approach, and undergraduates in America almost always meet Gawain in translation, whereas in Britain they meet it in the original north-west England dialect of Middle English.

In America, when this book was published Tolkien and Gordon's edition was the most used, for instruction (when this did occur in the original language.) But Tolkien's translation, however, only seems to find favour among those who also wish to present Pearl and Sir Orfeo to their students (and did not wish to impose upon their students the financial burden of purchasing three books). The favourite translation was that by Marie Borroff.

The introductory essay compares Tolkien's translation of a few lines with those of other translators. Tolkien's translation is related to his "critical theory of fantasy".

There is a reading list of books used in background reading lists, which includes Tolkien's essay Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (collected in The Monsters and the Critics). This list would be useful background reading for anyone interested in Tolkien's Middle English inspirations.

The reading list also includes modern literary works used in conjunction with Gawain. One teacher, for example uses Star Wars or E.T. to get students to visualise Gawain, to compare their levels of sophistication, and to 'breakdown any stereotypes they have about the Middle Ages as a period of deadening didacticism on moral issues'. Other comparative works include The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Farmer Giles of Ham, and Beagle, LeGuin, Vonnegut, Lewis' Perelandra, Kafka, and Carroll: many lecturers said that these later works showed the (contemporary) relevance of Gawain. No mention was made of a peripheral use of Gawain in teaching general courses on Fantasy, or on the specific authors mentioned. Perhaps it is too tangential a topic for a volume on teaching Gawain. 'Science Fiction and Fantasy' is separated from 'Other Fiction': this is rather an artificial division where Gawain is concerned - and I suspect that at least one of the editors believes that the fantasy books should only be used to highlight how far 'above' them Gawain is.

There is also a section entitled 'Modern Adaptions'. This contains what is sometimes called 'retellings'. When one considers that T.H. White's The Once and Future King is prominent in this section, it becomes clear that the definition of 'modern adaptions' encompasses works that are not wholly dependent upon the medieval Arthurian literature, never mind Gawain alone. (There is a fuller list of Modern Arthurian Adaptions (sic) hidden on pp.149-150.)

John M. Fyler writes on Freshman Composition: Epic and Romance (i.e. First Year Literature)

Jane Chance writes on teaching Tolkien and his Sources.

Sherron E. Knopp is more distant: her Tolkien readers have merely 'heard' that Tolkien was involved with Gawain and Beowulf, and feels that by confirming rumours, she engages with her students. I feel many of them were just nodding politely!

Ideas not covered in this volume, which could be explored by undergraduates:

Translating - Tolkien's response to Ohlmark's translation of The Lord of the Rings into Swedish, his preface to Clark-Hall's edition of Beowulf, and introductions to the edition and translation could form a basis for a discussion of this topic.

Use of recordings of the poem (e.g. for criticial analysis of the reconstruction of the pronunciation, for aesthetic comparison with the poetry of Chaucer, to give students not reading the work in the original a 'feel' of the original text.

Exploring the continuation of the use of alliteration in English poetry, from Old English poetry, through Gawain (contrasting with Chaucer's use), through Donne, through Houseman to Tolkien.

Pat Reynolds
1998