Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

By: J. R. R. Tolkien

Narrated by: Terry Jones

A collection of three medieval English poems, translated by Tolkien for the modern-day reader and containing romance, tragedy, love, sex and honour.©1975 J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust; (p)1997 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, London, UK

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)

Contains bonus stories

The title of this audiobook would have you believe that it's entire contents are Sir Gowain and the Green Knight. Sir Gowain's story is here but there are also the Tolkien translations of two other medieval English works: Pearl and Sir Orpheo. Pearl is a poem that acts as a vessel for medieval Catholic theology, but also contains a rather colorful description of Heaven as a tiered city (not unlike Minas Tirith, but made out of different types of stone). Sir Orpheo is a medieval anglicization of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. I found both additional works to be enjoyable, if unexpected.

Also, Terry Jones, of course, does a great job reading these works and their introductions.

Epic British Poetry

excellent narration. great listen for lovers of ancient epic poetry, with inciteful explanations by a great scholar.

pretty cool Tolkien poems

I never heard many of these other tolkien works. I'm glad to hear them as they show his skill as a writer and a poet

Great reader

Not sure why some reviews are so unhappy with thr narrator, because he is an excellent reader (and pretty well known at that). This was a delight, introductions from Tolkien were really interesting and I got so much more out of hearing this than I did when I read on the page...poetry should be heard, and Tolkien did such a wonderful job of translating while being true to the sound and feel of medieval poetry. To the complaints on the chapter divisions, it's clearly a book on CD quickly changed over to digital, and the choice is probably between this and having no digital version at all, so I'll take it quite happily.

It’s Tolkien

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

Absolutely a delight.

So many of the modern stories, are uncompelling and repetitive. But you can’t go wrong with a classic like this. So beautifully written, enchanting and a story, so full of meaning.

beuatifully read

I love the content and narration, it seems difficult to read in this style of verse/metre

A lovely performance of these rare poems.

If you enjoy these poems, or are now learning about them, you are in for a treat. Terry Jones does a masterful and knowing job of narrating Tolkien's lucid translation.

Enjoyed Tolkien’s translation.

Those who enjoy J.R.R Tolkien’s fictional works, so full of magic, imagined history, and beautiful languages, will find pleasure too in reading through this example of Tolkien’s creativity at his “day job”: he was one of the finest philologists in the world. Timeless stories of adventure, gracious chivalry at its best, faith, loss, and love are translated from Middle English to modern tongue with wit, depth, and lyricism. I thoroughly enjoyed these three tales from medieval Britain.

Incredibly dull

Read LOR instead. These poems are like pulling finger nails. Read a different book if interested about king arthur. Evenso the first was pretty good but the last 2-3 are just dry