The Knight’s Christmas Eve. A Reading from “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”

As each year ends, I mark the turn of the season by rereading the Middle English verse romance, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

What did the language sound like around the year 1400?

Below is a video recording in which I read a portion of the poem in Middle English.

We know a considerable amount about how the language probably sounded in the west Midlands of England in about 1400, where it’s believed the poem was composed. Scholars have devoted an enormous amount of effort to determining how English sounded as it evolved across time and in various regions.

It’s “alliterative” verse. There are are four rhyming lines at the end of each stanza, but the primary motif is similar to what you may have encountered with Beowulf. Three stressed words in each line begin with the same sound. I’ve made an effort to preserve the alliterative scheme in my modern English version below.

In the recording, captions show my translation into modern English while I read the original.

This is one of my favorite passages from Gawain, specifically the poet’s description of faring in the wild during a harsh winter.

We find the questing knight in the midst of wild lands in midwinter, threatened by giants, wild animals, human foes and bitter weather. It’s Christmas eve, and Gawain, beset by circumstances, is determined to find somewhere to celebrate the holiday in order to honor his Savior and — especially — the Virgin, to whom Gawain is a dedicated servant.

In my opinion, it’s some of the most powerful poetry in our language, and I hope you enjoy it. See below for a transcription of the original with my translation into modern English

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Stanza 32, lines 740-762

Each Middle English line followed by my modern English translation

The unfamiliar symbol þ is “th” sound. 

bi a mounte on þe morne meryly he rydes
Past a mountain that morning he merrily rides

into a forest ful dep þat ferly wast wylde
Through a forest full deep and fairly wild:

highe hilles on uche a halve and holtwodes under
High hills on each side and a heavy deep woodland.

of hore okes ful hoge a hundreth togeder
Hoar-oaks huge and looming in hundreds together.

þe hasel and þe hawþorne were harled al samen
The hazel and hawthorne haphazardly hung

with roghe raged mosse rayled aywhere
With rough, ragged moss all arrayed everywhere.

with mony bryddes unblyþe upon bare twyges
Little birds all beset, bundled on the bare boughs,

þat pitosly þer piped for pyne of þe colde
Pitiably peeping with pain of the cold.

þe gome upon gryngolet glydes hem under
Great Gawain on Gringolet gliding along

þurgh mony misy and myre mon al hym one
Through the mist and the mire — that man: all alone;

carande for his costes lest he ne kever schulde
Determined to dedicate holy devotion,

to se þe servyse of þat syre þat on þat self nyght
Serving his sovereign sire on the night

of a burde wast borne oure baret to quelle
He was born of the Virgin our burden to bear.

and þerfore sykyng he sayde I beseche þe lorde
So, seeking, he said, “I beseech you, my Lord,

and mary þat is myldest moder so dere
And, Mary so mild, mother so dear,

of sum herber þer heghly I myght here masse
To some haven hale me to hear the mass

ande þy matynes tomorne mekely I ask
And matins tomorrow: meekly I ask

and þerto prestly I pray my pater and ave
I patiently pray my pater and ave

and crede
And Credo.”

he rode in his prayere
He rode the while in prayer,

and cryed for his mysdede
Repented his misdeeds;

he sayned hym in syþes sere
Sign of the cross he made,

and sayde cros kryst me spede
And said, “Christ give me speed.”

What do you think? Any appeal? Not quite as recognizable as Chaucer? Shakespeare? Please leave a comment.

You can find more of my articles about the poem in the “Categories” widget in the right margin:

Silent Night, Green Knight Dec. 13, 2009
A 14th-Century Christmas Dec. 24, 2010
The Knight in Winter Dec. 26, 2010
Don We Now Our Green Apparel Jan. 1, 2011
When Worlds Collide Jan. 6, 2012
Another Visit with the Green Knight Dec. 10, 2012
New Year’s Knight Dec. 31 2015
Sir Gawain vs. the Poets: Translations Jan. 1, 2017
Cherchez les Femmes; It’s All Their Fault (per Sir Gawain) Jan. 2 2018

© Brad Nixon 2018, 2019. Modern English verse translation by Brad Nixon. Depending on your browser, you may see a portion of one illustration from the sole existing manuscript of Sir Gawain, held in the British Museum. A digital scan of the entire MS was once available online from the University of Calgary, Canada, but in the time elapsed since I retrieved it, that portion of the site has either changed or its security certificate has not been maintained and may not be secure.