Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

In paperback for the first time, W. S. Merwin's magnificent translation of the classic Arthurian tale, in which the young Sir Gawain rises triumphantly to the dark challenge of the mysterious Green Knight, succumbing, in the process, to the weakness that will forever mark Arthur's court. Funny, raucous, erotic, violent, "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the great works of enchantment, myth, and poetry. In a translation that captures the pace and power of the original, Merwin gives this 14th-century masterpiece its rightful place in the literature of our own time.

W. S. Merwin was born in New York City in 1927 and grew up in Union<br>City, New Jersey, and in Scranton, Pennsylvania. From 1949 to 1951 he<br>worked as a tutor in France, Portugal, and Majorca. He has since lived in<br>many parts of the world, most recently on Maui in the Hawaiian Islands.<br>His many books of poems, prose, and translations are listed at the<br>beginning of this volume. He has been the recipient of many awards and<br>prizes, including the Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets (of<br>which he is now a Chancellor), the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, and the<br>Bollingen Prize in Poetry; most recently he has received the Governor's<br>Award for Literature of the state of Hawaii, the Tanning Prize for mastery in<br>the art of poetry, a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award, and the<br>Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.<br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>