Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Audiobook By not specified, J. R. R. Tolkien - translator cover art

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

with Pearl and Sir Orfeo

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

By: not specified, J. R. R. Tolkien - translator
Narrated by: Terry Jones
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A collection of three medieval English poems, translated by Tolkien for the modern-day reader and containing romance, tragedy, love, sex and honour.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Pearl are two poems by an unknown author written in about 1400. Sir Gawain is a romance, a fairy-tale for adults, full of life and colour; but it is also much more than this, being at the same time a powerful moral tale which examines religious and social values.

Pearl is apparently an elegy on the death of a child, a poem pervaded with a sense of great personal loss: but, like Gawain it is also a sophisticated and moving debate on much less tangible matters.

Sir Orfeo is a slighter romance, belonging to an earlier and different tradition. It was a special favourite of Tolkien’s.

The three translations represent the complete rhyme and alliterative schemes of the originals.

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Critic reviews

‘The introduction to Gawain is a little masterpiece.’
Times Higher Educational Supplement

‘This magnificent Arthurian tale of love, sex, honour, social tact, personal integrity and folk-magic is one of the greatest and most approachable narrative poems in the language. Tolkien’s version makes it come triumphantly alive, a moving and consoling elegy.’
Birmingham Post

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The Prime Video streaming series The Rings of Power is set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Rooted in J.R.R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, the series is expected to cover all of the major events of the fictional world's Second Age. But what is the Second Age, and how does this period of time factor into the rest of Tolkien's world? Read on to find out.

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Timeless Stories • Magical Atmosphere • Masterful Narration • Medieval Poetry • Beautiful Translation • Enchanting Tales

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I read Gawain in college in a different translation. I found revisiting the tale through Tolkien’s translation to be incredibly enjoyable. Pearl and Orfeo are two works that were previously unknown to me, and I am so glad they were included in this compilation. A real treasure! The alliterative verse is music to the ears. The performance of the reading of these three masterpieces is excellent!

An absolute delight!

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I liked the narrator, the story, and Tolkien’s translation and commentary. I found the narrator’s way of speech endearing, not annoying like some are saying. All these folks writing 1 star reviews saying its boring or slow need to go watch a marvel movie or something with explosions every 10 seconds. This is obviously not their kind of content.

Easy to Enjoy

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Some of the best literature in the whole western Canon. The fact that we never learned the authors name is a crime and tragedy.

Great literature

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Wonderful narration and I really enjoyed the academic explanation of the three works. Highly recommended.

Enjoyable and Recommended

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It’s Tolkien AND Terry Jones, of Monty Python game. Of course it is good. Nay, tis glorious. Tis a marvel. Tis a vision.

It’s Tolkien

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