A new version of the Middle English poem Pearl, from the acclaimed poet and translator of Gawain and the Green Knight.
Simon Armitage's version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight garnered front-page reviews across two continents and confirmed his reputation as a leading translator.
This new work is an entrancing allegorical tale of grief and lost love, as the narrator is led on a Dantean journey through sorrow to redemption by his vanished beloved, Pearl. Retaining all the alliterative music of the original, a Medieval English poem thought to be by the same anonymous author responsible for Gawain, Pearl is here brought to vivid and intricate life in care of one of the finest poets writing today.
Praise for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:
'Takes you back closer to something of the thrill and the wonder the poem would have had in the days when it was composed. It might even be the best translation of any poem I've ever seen . [Armitage] was put on the planet to translate this poem.' Guardian
'[Armitage] captures his dialect and his landscape and takes great pains to render the tale's alliterative texture and drive . He has given us an energetic, free-flowing, high-spirited version.' New Yorker
- ISBN10 0571302955
- ISBN13 9780571302956
- Publish Date 5 May 2016 (first published 3 May 2016)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 15 June 2022
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Faber & Faber
- Edition Main
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 128
- Language English