Its author is unknown, a poet lost in the tides of time and language. It is a tale as lush and dark as England's medieval forests. And its language and verse are the rough-hewn and beautiful descendants of antiquity, courtly and wise in their story, sweeping and powerful in their adventures.
It is a romance interlaced with scenes of the hunt and temptations of the flesh; it is a fairy tale of giant warriors in armor and King Arthur's most noble knight; and it is a rousing adventure of epic enchantment and the destiny of human desires.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo are masterpieces of a remote and exotic age—the age of chivalry and wizards, knights and holy quests. Yet it is only in the unique artistry and imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien that the language of these great stories comes to life for modern readers in these masterful and compelling new translations.
