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I'm on the trail of a 600-year-old poem.
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As a piece of writing, it's got just about everything.
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It's a ghost story. It's a whodunnit.
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It's a love poem. It's a religious poem.
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It's a 2,500 line tongue-twister and you could even say
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it's one of the first ever eco poems.
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"After Britain was built by this founding father,
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"a bold race bred there.
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"men causing trouble and torment in turbulent times."
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And through history,
more strangeness has happened here than anywhere else I know of on earth.
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It's generally recognised as one of the jewels in the crown of
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British poetry and we don't know who wrote it.
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A few years ago, I made a translation of the poem and I completely fell
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under its spell, but to a certain degree, it's still a mystery to me.
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And it's crossed my mind that the only way of entering the mindset of the writer
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and getting to grips with the meaning of the poem,
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is to experience some of the landscape of the poem
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and to feel the descriptions of nature and the wet winter weather.
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The poem doesn't even have a title, but over the centuries,
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it's come to be known as Sir Gawain And The Green Knight.
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It was Christmas at Camelot, King Arthur's court,
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where the great and the good of the land had gathered.
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All the righteous lords of the ranks of the round table
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quite properly carousing and revelling in pleasure.
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It's Christmas at Camelot.
It's not quite how it would have been in Arthur's day.
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Santa's just arrived in a transit van.
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But it's still a time of great excitement and it's not a coincidence
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that the poem starts at Christmas, a time of great ritual and great passion.
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The ideal moment for something dramatic to happen.
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Sir Gawain And The Green Knight's the story of one of King Arthur's knights, Gawain,
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who takes up a bizarre challenge to behead a giant Green Knight
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and face the grizzly consequences.
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It's a wonderful piece of storytelling which is split
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into four distinct parts, or acts, as Gawain faces a series of death-defying adventures.
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Nobody can say with any certainty whether there was a Camelot or even an Arthur
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and there are many places across Britain that lay claim to Camelot.
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Several castles in Wales, Winchester, Carlisle,
but of all the contenders, this is my favourite.
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This is Tintagel. It just seems to have everything.
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Ancient castle, fortified island,
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caves, epic landscape and coastline
and the town's very much embraced it, as well.
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Every little gift shop and bed and breakfast is Arthur this or Camelot that.
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So here we are in King Arthur's court, Camelot.
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Well, it's actually an imagined recreation of it.
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So the knights are all assembled when suddenly the door bursts open and on horseback,
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in comes a knight, a very strange creature.
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He carries with him a piece of holly and the author, the poet,
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keeps back one very special detail about this knight right to the end.
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He says, "In fact, in all features, he was finely formed, it seemed.
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"Amazement seized their minds.
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"No soul had ever seen a knight of such a kind, entirely emerald green."
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Those little rhymes at the end of each section are known as the bob and wheel.
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They just draw each verse to a neat little bow.
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And this extraordinary knight, this supernatural man,
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lays down what must sound like an absurd challenge.
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He says any man here can chop off my head if they like,
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so long as in a year's time, I can chop off their head.
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"So who has the gall, the gumption, the guts?
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"Who'll spring from his seat and snatch this weapon? I offer the axe.
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"Who'll have it as his own?"
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So Gawain, the youngest knight of the round table and Arthur's nephew,
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rises and says "Let this challenge be mine."
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I think he basically sees an opportunity to prove himself.
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And he takes up the axe and he chops off the head of the Green Knight
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which rolls across the floor and the knights kick it as it goes past.
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But the Green Knight goes after it, picks it up,
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puts it back on his neck, gets back on his horse
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and says, "I will see you in a year's time. Keep your promise."
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"And then, well, with the green man gone, they laughed and grinned, again.
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"And yet, such goings-on were magic to those men.
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"And although King Arthur was awestruck at heart, no sign of it showed."
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When it was written in about 1400, the King Arthur legend was already centuries old.
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Whoever wrote the poem would have been a contemporary of Chaucer
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and it's become one of the most celebrated poems in the whole of English literature.
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I wouldn't really claim to be an expert at all in Middle English
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but I do find it really fascinating.
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It exists at that point in history
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where the English language as we know it is just coming into view.
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And it's a little bit like the poem is under a layer of frosted glass.
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It's as if you just want to breathe a little warm air onto it
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to try and get the language to come through.
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So if you take the very first line of the poem,
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"Sithen the segge and the assault was cessed at Troy" -
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that's "After the siege and the assault was ceased at Troy."
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You can hear the sibilance there, the S sound alliterating
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through that line and that's how it is all the way through the poem.
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It's the device which keeps the whole poem together.
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And it must have made it great fun to read out as well, even to remember.
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There are a lot of contemporary translations that don't follow the alliteration.
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They're more interested in the meaning of the original words or medieval history,
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but I'm a poet and what I've made is a poetic translation and for me
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the alliteration is the warp and weft of this poem.
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And without it, it's just so many fine threads.
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A year goes by and Gawain must keep to the terms of the challenge
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and go in search of the Green Knight.
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"Now, lord of my life, I must ask for your leave.
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"You were witness to my wager.
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"I have no wish to retell you the terms. They're nothing but a trifle.
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"I must set out tomorrow to receive that stroke
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"From the knight in green And let God be my guide."
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Gary Burbeck and Gandalph Strut are two latter day knights who've come
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along to teach me a thing or two about fighting and chivalry.
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What is chivalry? Because to a lot of people reading the Gawain poem,
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it seems absurd that somebody would willingly just go along and have their head cut off.
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In those days, chivalry meant everything.
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The top knights were extremely loyal.
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They had been risen to their knighthood by their lord, their liege. They owe everything to him.
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What would happen to somebody who didn't keep their honour and their pledges as a knight?
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I mean, for example, in the poem, if Gawain decided not to go and meet the Green Knight after a year.
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What would that make him?
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It would make him almost an outcast, really.
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Almost outlawed, outside the law.
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"First, a rig of rare cloth was unrolled on the floor,
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"Heaped with gear which glimmered and gleamed.
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"And on to it, he stepped, to receive his armoured suit."
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The Gawain poet devotes long sections of the poem to Gawain's armour and apparel
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and on the one hand, he stands there as heroic and a shining example of knighthood.
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On the other hand, there's something quite funny about that passage.
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It's overelaborated, almost to the point
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where I think you can afford a little chuckle at Gawain stood there in his metal suit.
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- It looked like hard work.
- Very hard work.
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And how much of this is authentic in terms of what a knight would have worn at that time?
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This is a replica of a 15th-century armour
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- and it weighs a lot.
- Can I have a go? Can I put a bit on?
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You certainly can. Absolutely.
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"Then comes the suit of shimmering steel rings encasing his body and his costly clothes.
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"Well-burnished braces to both of his arms.
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"Good elbow guards and glinting metal gloves.
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"All the trimmings and trappings of a knight tricked out to ride."
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- I'm just going to give you a slight punch.
- OK.
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- OK, that's just a little one.
- OK.
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Yeah. How much did you feel?
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I felt it. Yeah.
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Well, thanks very much.
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I really enjoyed that.
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I'm not sure it goes well with my elasticated overtrousers. It's not really a good look, is it?
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Before setting off on Gawain's epic journey, I head home to
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West Yorkshire just to get my bearings and my walking boots.
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This is the village of Marsden where I was born and brought up
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and over there, just beyond that horizon,
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that's the Peak District and that's the place where Gawain is set.
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And I think as a project for me,
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there was always something about bringing Gawain back into the north.
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When I came to translate the poem, there was something Pennine or at least non-metropolitan
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about its medieval language which I found intriguing and irresistible.
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ALL: � So I lie in in the morning
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� God save John. �
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I can read and understand Middle English now or Middle English of this poem by looking at the page,
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but I don't know how it's all pronounced, that's a very separate skill.
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But on the occasions when I have tried to read it out loud, in private,
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it's always sounded to me like the noise of a pub or a club.
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A club like this where I used to come drinking
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before I was old enough to come drinking and my dad and all his mates come here.
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There's something about the noise that this poem makes in the original
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that reminds me of the sort of chat that goes on in here.
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Just have a look at that.
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HE READS POEM IN MIDDLE ENGLISH
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Sounds like he's local!
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Tell you this, mate, it'll never sell.
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I have to tell you, you're wrong.
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"'Won't you slide from that saddle and stay awhile?
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"And the business which brings you,
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"we shall learn of later.'
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"'No,' said the knight.
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"'It's not in my nature to idle or alec about this evening."
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In this translation I use the word "alec". You aleced about.
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- Aleced about. Aye.
- Alecing about.
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Alecing about.
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- Laking.
- Laking?
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Laking - cos laking's in the original.
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The word "lake" is in there.
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- Meaning "plain".
- Isn't it?
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Yeah. There's another word in there, as well. Sam.
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- Pick it up.
- Pick it up. Yeah.
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You must have heard it. "Sam, Sam, pick up thy musket."
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And that were all based on that "sam it up". Nay.
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He knocked it down, he'll pick it up.
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Part two of the poem takes place a year after the beheading of the Green Knight,
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as Gawain heads off into the wilderness to meet his comeuppance.
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"Now, through England's realm he rides and rides, Sir Gawain, God's servant on his grim quest,
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"Passing long dark nights, unloved and alone, foraging to feed, finding little to call food,
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"With no friend but his horse through forests and hills and only our Lord in heaven to hear him."
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It's a journey through the wild borders between England and Wales
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that few at the time would have been brave or foolhardy enough to take.
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When the Green Knight bursts into Camelot, he isn't just
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challenging Gawain to a beheading game, he's challenging him to get
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outside the comfort and the warmth of the castle and to go out into the wide world.
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And I think it's at that point that Sir Gawain And The Green Knight
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becomes one of the great nature poems, perhaps the first ever great nature poem,
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and nature at that time was as much an enemy as a friend.
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And Gawain's got to go out there and strike a bargain with it.
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"Hazel and hawthorn are interwoven, decked and draped in damp shaggy moss.
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"And bedraggled birds on bare black branches pipe pitifully into the piercing cold.
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"Under cover of the canopy, he guided Gringolet through mud and marshland, a most mournful man."
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Nature's never far away in British poetry.
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Sir Gawain is a very early and fine example of a nature poem.
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It might be to do with the fact that nature in this country is very fickle, poets over time
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have responded both to its generosity and to its cruelty.
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As a poet, I recognise that situation.
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I've always felt that it's when I get up into the heights
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that the poetry starts, or the inspiration starts.
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Places where you're on your own, generally.
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There's a section in the poem which goes something along the lines of:
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"Hard on his heels over the high ground come giants."
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And it makes me wonder if this wasn't just some elaborate metaphor for weather fronts and black clouds
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which I've never seen very far away in this part of the world, at this time of the year.
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"So momentous are his travels among the mountains to tell just a tenth would be a tall order.
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"He scraps with serpents and snarling wolves.
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"He tangles with woodwose causing trouble on the crags, or with bulls and bears and the odd wild boar.
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"Hard on his heels through the highlands come giants."
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The poem makes wonderful use of British mythology
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to bring to life the dangers posed by nature.
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There are woodwose, those mysterious wild men of the woods.
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And the ghostly Green Knight, himself, owes a great deal
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to the pagan fertility spirit, the Green Man.
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Every now and again, you get a view around here that probably won't have changed much for about 600 years.
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As you are travelling through this landscape, it was uncertain,
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you didn't really know who's territory you were walking into
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or what was waiting for you down in the valley bottom, either,
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and that's what Gawain was walking into the unknown.
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"In a strange region, he scales steep slopes.
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"Far from his friends he cuts a lonely figure.
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"Where he bridges a brook or wades through a waterway,
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"Ill-fortune brings him face-to-face with a foe so foul or fierce, he's bound to use force."
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This is the River Dee near Llangollen and if Gawain had made a journey north through Wales,
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at some point he would have had to have crossed this river and here would not have been the place.
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This is nature in full flow and this is the kind of thing that
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Gawain would have had to have contended with on his journey.
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Looking for a place to cross the river, Gawain travels northwards to the village of Holywell.
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It's an important place in Christian mythology.
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The sacred well's said to have healing powers.
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Lolita Laguy tells me she was cured of osteoporosis
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after dipping in the well and came to live here soon after.
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- So this is the actual wellspring, inside.
- Yes. It is. Yes.
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Could you tell me about the legend at St Winifred?
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The story of St Winifred goes back to the 7th century.
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She was a young girl of 14 and born in Holywell.
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A young prince from Hawarden called Caradoc wanted to marry her
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and she refused him and he tried to rape her, but did not rape her.
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And he beheads her to keep her quiet.
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So her head rolled down from the hill, the same hill now, and ended up here, in this spot.
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And St Beuno put her head back on. Christ gave her the power to live again.
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She lived for another 15 years.
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So, her head was replaced on her shoulders and she came alive again?
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- Yes.
- You see, that's very interesting to me, because in Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, the Green Knight is
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beheaded at Camelot, and he picks his own head up,
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puts it back on his neck and lives again.
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And I think it's very possible that whoever wrote that poem
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knew about this story and used it as a motif.
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Well, I'm too much of a coward to strip off and get in,
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but my feet are quite weary from following Gawain.
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If it's all right, I might take my shoes and socks off and dip my feet in.
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By all means.
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The Gawain poet toys with us all the way through the poem.
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Gawain's a devout Christian, he's full of faith, but his world is full of superstitions, as well.
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Witchcraft, magic and folklore.
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Coming here and talking to Lolita makes me realise that Christian and Pagan beliefs existed side by side.
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- That's pretty cold.
- Isn't it lovely, though?
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It's lovely, in a sort of cold way.
259
00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,520
Yeah. It's nice.
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- To me, it's your faith. It's your faith that heals, actually.
- Not just the water?
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Normally, I would ask someone to say Jesus, do a little prayer,
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make the sign of the cross, or Hail Marys.
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"He prayed with heavy heart.
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"Father, hear me, and Lady Mary, our mother most mild,
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"let me happen on some house where mass might be heard, and matins in the morning.
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"Meekly, I ask, and here I utter my Pater, Ave and Creed."
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See if that's done the trick, then.
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Thank you.
269
00:21:54,360 --> 00:21:59,920
So, Gawain makes his way through to the north of Wales and then leaves the Isles of Anglesey on his left,
270
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and finally arrives at the banks of the River Dee.
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And the poem implies that he crossed somewhere here and got to the other side into the Wirral.
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It was probably a little bit more beautiful than this in its day.
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Anyway, here we go.
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- All right?
- Yeah.
- Yeah. Good.
275
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,920
I'm not much of a one for boats, myself. I'm a bit of a landlubber.
276
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All right?
277
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:52,960
It's a wonderful moment when Gawain crosses the Dee. The poets
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say something about the wayward people of the Wirral, who both God and good men have quite given up on.
279
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It's funny as well, though, because it's a highly industrialised area.
280
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The forests that Gawain might have been walking into
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are now, basically, scrap yards, pylons, power stations.
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A new kind of forest, a new kind of obstacle.
283
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Can you just put us down over there and I'll hop off?
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Cheers.
285
00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:44,160
Gawain must have had some kind of internal compass, because even
286
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though he's wandering through unmapped territories, very slowly he's homing in on his destiny.
287
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Back in the 14th century, the world was an unexplained place,
288
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and nobody really understood or knew what forces were driving things, you know, whether it was religion,
289
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:15,640
whether it was some other power or force, and you can imagine a man like Gawain out there, alone,
290
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especially at night, when it starts dropping dark, which it does very quickly in the winter.
291
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Long nights alone, unloved.
292
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"With nerves frozen numb, he napped in his armour,
293
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"bivouacked in the blackness amongst bare rocks."
294
00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:43,720
When I started translating Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, I suppose I thought of it as
295
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a big adventure story that would be about his tussles with giants, and green knights,
296
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and woodwose, and fighting people in the crags.
297
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:59,640
But the more I went on, I came to think that a lot of it was about
298
00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:03,840
his tussle with his conscience, a sort of fight with himself, really.
299
00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:07,960
And sometimes fighting temptation and sometimes fighting fear.
300
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:11,360
I mean, there is something quite exciting about being out here.
301
00:25:11,360 --> 00:25:14,800
It's quite romantic in some ways. On the other hand,
302
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it's bloody terrifying.
303
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:35,200
"Next morning, he moves on. Skirts the mountainside, descends a deep forest,
304
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:40,520
"densely overgrown with ancient oaks in huddles of hundreds, and vaulting hills
305
00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,560
"above each half of the valley."
306
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:50,640
The Gawain poet wasn't a prophet anticipating global warming, but he
307
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knew full well that medieval society lived hand-in-hand with nature.
308
00:25:54,880 --> 00:26:00,280
He recognised its brutality and ferocity as well as its captivating beauty.
309
00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:08,800
The original poet might be anonymous to us,
310
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:13,120
but I'm sure he had particular places in mind when he was writing.
311
00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:19,960
In my translation, the poem says, "Melt water streamed from the snowcapped summits,
312
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"which froze as it fell to the frost-glazed earth, and high overhead hung chandeliers of ice."
313
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:44,040
You can imagine this completely covered over with ice, all sort of crystalline up there.
314
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Absolutely fantastic.
315
00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:49,000
The poem really brings this out.
316
00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:12,840
"No sooner had he signed himself three times, than he became aware, in those woods, of high walls
317
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:19,080
"and a moat on a mound, boarded by the boughs of thick-trunked timber which trimmed the water.
318
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"The most commanding castle a knight ever kept."
319
00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:30,800
No-one knows for sure the castle where Gawain found refuge from the ravages of winter.
320
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,760
It could have been somewhere like Beeston Castle,
321
00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:36,840
with its commanding views over the Cheshire Plain and beyond.
322
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Today, only its ruins remain.
323
00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:55,400
So, to get a taste of life inside the castle walls, I head to Haddon Hall in the Peak District.
324
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:08,600
This would have been a very welcome sight
325
00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:15,240
to Gawain, after all those nights out on the tops, in the woods, in caves being chased by giants.
326
00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:20,920
Finally gets himself invited into somewhere safe and secure,
327
00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:25,680
bit of civilisation, promise of warmth, heat, something to eat.
328
00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,440
It was too good to be true, really.
329
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:40,120
After all his trials and tribulations in the great outdoors,
330
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:45,440
I think Gawain probably must have thought that all his birthdays and Christmases had come at once.
331
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He's taken to a room, they strip him of his armour, lighten his load and then clothe him in robes.
332
00:28:56,600 --> 00:29:00,760
He's brought to a banquet, where he meets Bertilak for the first time, his host.
333
00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:04,320
This man with a big, red, bushy beard.
334
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:08,960
And a fantastic spread, a banquet, is laid on.
335
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:15,400
"Staff came quickly and served him in style, with several soups all seasoned to taste.
336
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:20,280
"Double helpings, as was fitting, and a feast of fish."
337
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:25,720
It's a feature of the poem that, when people eat well, they really eat well.
338
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In this particular meal, it's breads and soups...
339
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..fish, cooked lots of different ways.
340
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:40,320
I've been looking forward to this bit.
341
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,320
The contrast couldn't be starker for Gawain.
342
00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:48,360
One minute he's starving hungry, the next, he's tucking into a banquet fit for a king.
343
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The poet isn't about to let Gawain or the reader relax in the warm glow of the hearth for long.
344
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As with all masterful storytelling, nothing is as it seems.
345
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"Once dinner was done, Gawain drew to his feet, and darkness neared as day became dusk.
346
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:14,480
"Chaplains went off to the castle's chapels to sound the bells hard,
347
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"to signal the hour of Evensong, summoning each and every soul."
348
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:26,920
Up to this point, Gawain's been facing a test of his courage,
349
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:31,920
but now there's a new theme and a new character introduced.
350
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And this time, the theme is temptation.
351
00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:44,000
"The Lord goes alone, then his Lady arrives, concealing herself in a private pew.
352
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:47,200
"She was fairest amongst them, her face,
353
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"her flesh, her complexion, her quality,
354
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"her bearing, her body, more glorious than Guinevere,
355
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"or so Gawain thought."
356
00:30:59,960 --> 00:31:03,280
I suppose we can think of Gawain as somebody not
357
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:06,120
even out of adolescence.
358
00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:09,920
He would be, at that stage in his life, sort of pumping with hormones,
359
00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:17,600
and this time it's a challenge not to his head, but to his heart, and to some other body parts, as well.
360
00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:22,040
He's a virile young man, is our Gawain.
361
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:29,000
Bertilak insists that Gawain must stay and rest in bed while he goes hunting with his men.
362
00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,560
Before they retire to bed, Bertilak,
363
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:40,040
the host, makes a wager with Gawain. It's rather an odd wager.
364
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:47,120
He says, "Whatever I win out in the field while I'm hunting, I will give to you, so long as you give to me
365
00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,400
"whatever you win in the house during my absence."
366
00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:52,720
And Gawain agrees, it seems easy enough.
367
00:31:52,720 --> 00:32:00,120
He's fought with woodwose and trolls and giants and bears, but a greater danger lies ahead.
368
00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:08,000
We're now entering the third act of the poem, where the storytelling becomes infused with innuendo,
369
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:11,120
as it moves deftly between the bedroom and the hunt.
370
00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:16,400
"So through a lime leaf border, the lord led the hunt,
371
00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:19,640
"while snug in his sheets lay slumbering Gawain, dozing as
372
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:25,920
"the daylight dappled the walls, under a splendid cover enclosed by curtains.
373
00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:33,840
"And while snoozing, he heard a slyly made sound, the sigh of a door swinging slowly aside.
374
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:38,320
"It was she, the Lady, looking her loveliest,
375
00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:43,920
"most quietly and craftily closing the door, nearing the bed.
376
00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:49,880
"The Lady comes close, cradles him in her arms,
377
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:54,000
"leans nearer and nearer, then kisses the knight."
378
00:32:55,520 --> 00:33:01,080
It's very interesting, as well, in a poem like this, which seems on the surface to be a Christian poem
379
00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:05,880
and have a moral message, and yet, what goes on in the bedroom here
380
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:09,080
is pretty saucy, really. It's pretty raunchy.
381
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:17,440
The seduction is heightened by the bloodlust in the fields.
382
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:24,560
"As the cry went up, the wild creatures quaked.
383
00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:29,040
"The deer in the dale, quivering with dread, hurtled to high ground,
384
00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:33,760
"but were headed off by the ring of beaters who bawled and roared."
385
00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:42,080
The lord and all his men return from the hunt, and then, of course,
386
00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:46,080
the terms of the contract must be kept to,
387
00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:49,760
so Bertilak will give to Gawain all the venison that
388
00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:52,760
have been shot and butchered out there in the woods,
389
00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:57,160
and Gawain must give to Bertilak what he won in the house
390
00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:01,320
during the day, which is, of course, more than he bargained for, really.
391
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,760
I think it must have been playing on his mind how he's going to deliver
392
00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:09,160
this kiss to a man with a big, bushy, red beard.
393
00:34:14,240 --> 00:34:19,040
� I've been trying to show you over and over
394
00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:22,760
� Look at these, my child-bearing hips
395
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:26,760
� Look at these, my ruby-red ruby lips
396
00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:30,040
� Look at these, my work-strong arms
397
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:34,840
� And you've got to see my bottle full of charms... �
398
00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:41,240
The intercutting between the bedroom scenes and the hunting scenes is very cleverly done.
399
00:34:41,240 --> 00:34:46,640
So instead of any description of any sort of sexual activity, what we get
400
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:50,800
is the hunt, all very sexually charged,
401
00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:56,760
while in the bedroom, his wife is hunting down Gawain.
402
00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:00,680
� I lay it all at your feet
403
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:04,080
� You turn around and say back to me
404
00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:05,320
� He said
405
00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:08,880
� Sheela-na-Gig, Sheela-na-Gig
406
00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:12,360
� You exhibitionist
407
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:16,200
� Sheela-na-Gig, Sheela-na-Gig
408
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,920
� You exhibitionist! �
409
00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:37,040
"She wore nothing on her face.
410
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:41,640
"Her neck was naked, and her shoulders were bare to both back and breast.
411
00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:47,520
"And seeing her so lovely and alluringly dressed, a passionate heat takes hold in his heart."
412
00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:57,640
These bedroom scenes are highly dramatic, even theatrical in their own way.
413
00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:04,240
Over three days, the seduction gets more and more erotic, as the hunt gets more and more visceral.
414
00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:14,120
It's the contrast that works so powerfully. This is where the Gawain poet's such a skilled writer.
415
00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:18,120
He knows exactly what these counterpointed scenes can signify.
416
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:25,200
I guess that this sort of technique won't have changed for hundreds of years, will it?
417
00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:26,920
I wouldn't have thought so.
418
00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:33,200
'Farmer Peter Body helped me research some of the more bloodthirsty aspects of the poem.'
419
00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:35,600
I don't think I'm going to like this bit!
420
00:36:36,720 --> 00:36:42,880
'The poem goes into full, uncensored details as it devotes over 30 lines to the carving up of the deer.
421
00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:47,520
'You can't but fear for poor Gawain as the knife slices through the flesh.'
422
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:50,720
There's another term in the poem, grollicking.
423
00:36:50,720 --> 00:36:55,680
- We've just done it. We took the stomach out, all the organs.
- So, pulling out the innards?
424
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:58,280
Pulling out the innards. You pull out the innards,
425
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:01,680
you check all the glands, make sure it's a really healthy animal.
426
00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:03,800
Then you can dispose of that, then.
427
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:07,000
"Then the beasts were prised apart at the breast,
428
00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:10,080
"and they went to work on the grollicking again,
429
00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:13,200
"writhing up on the front as far as the hindfork,
430
00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:14,800
"fetching out the offal.
431
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,080
"Then, with further purpose,
432
00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:20,640
"filleting the ribs in the recognised fashion."
433
00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:22,880
See, that's fit for anyone.
434
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:25,880
Fit for a queen, it is!
435
00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:30,360
"Its hind legs prised apart, they slit the fleshy flaps,
436
00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:34,480
"then cleave and quickly start to break it down its back."
437
00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:37,440
Just...snap.
438
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:39,480
Happy with that?
439
00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:41,720
- Yeah. Thank you.
- You're welcome.
440
00:37:41,720 --> 00:37:44,320
- Have you washed your hands?
- THEY CHUCKLE
441
00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:53,160
On the third occasion, as well as giving him three kisses,
442
00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:58,680
she offers him a ring, which he declines, but she then offers him a sash or a girdle.
443
00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:04,560
A green girdle, which she takes off, and says to Gawain, "This is a magical girdle,
444
00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:07,960
"and if you wear it, it will protect you against any evil."
445
00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:11,160
And this is a young man who's about to have his head cut off.
446
00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:15,880
And he looks at the sash and he thinks, "That might come in handy."
447
00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:17,400
And he keeps it.
448
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:25,480
Sex, violence and death sit cheek by jowl in the poem.
449
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:30,920
You wonder what fate belies Gawain when Bertilak returns for one final time from the hunt.
450
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:38,160
He meets the master in the middle of the room, greets him graciously,
451
00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:42,600
with Gawain saying, "I shall first fulfil our formal agreement,
452
00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:46,360
"which we fixed in words when the drink flowed freely."
453
00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:53,680
He clasps him tight and kisses him three times, with as much emotion as a man could muster.
454
00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:01,960
Christmas is over. It's New Year's Eve.
455
00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:06,720
It's time for Gawain to leave the comfort and safety of the castle,
456
00:39:06,720 --> 00:39:09,640
to fulfil his promise with the Green Knight.
457
00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:11,640
But he's broken his wager.
458
00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:17,320
He's kept the green sash, and that sets up the fourth and final part of the poem.
459
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:28,680
Gawain now sets off in search of the mysterious green chapel
460
00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:30,240
to confront his nemesis.
461
00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:33,520
It's now that the poem's location can be identified
462
00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:35,400
to an area of the Peak District
463
00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:38,160
near the Staffordshire market town of Leek.
464
00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:44,320
We know from dialect words in the poem that the author came from this part of the world.
465
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:49,160
And being here, in this locality, really brings the poem alive.
466
00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:53,200
You get a keener sense of the poem from being among its place names
467
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:56,800
and its horizons and its landmarks, and also its people.
468
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:04,080
I want to find out how close I am to the language of the original poem,
469
00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:08,200
and how much the language here differs from my own Pennine dialect.
470
00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:12,800
So I've come to meet local farmers, Geoff Tunnicliffe and Ben Kid.
471
00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:15,000
- Hi. Hiya. Is it Geoff?
- Yeah.
472
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:17,400
Hiya, Geoff. Simon. Nice to meet you.
473
00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:19,080
- Ben, is it?
- Yeah. That's it.
474
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:20,920
Hiya. Nice to meet you.
475
00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:24,920
One of the things about the poem is that it was written at the end of 14th century,
476
00:40:24,920 --> 00:40:29,040
but they don't know who wrote it, but they think whoever it was came from this area.
477
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:33,400
- Aye.
- Because some of these old dialect words which might be from round here.
478
00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:35,840
- Can I just read them to you?
- Yeah.
479
00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:39,480
See if they mean anything to you? OK. What about the word "misey"?
480
00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:42,240
That means "tight", in't it?
481
00:40:42,240 --> 00:40:45,880
- Tight, like miserly?
- Yeah. That's it. Yeah. Yeah.
482
00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:50,880
- What about "mire"?
- Mire? A mire is a brook, in't it?
483
00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:55,480
Yeah, like a mire.
484
00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:57,920
You know, like a pool, really.
485
00:40:57,920 --> 00:40:59,960
Yeah. Like a swamp?
486
00:40:59,960 --> 00:41:02,160
Like a swamp. That's what a mire is.
487
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:04,480
- That's what it is in the poem.
- That's right.
488
00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:10,080
What do you think, say in a couple of hundred years, what do you think will have happened to this dialect?
489
00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:15,120
It'll be gone altogether, cos there's nobody, you know, there's no local left.
490
00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:17,680
Your money men have come and bought these places,
491
00:41:17,680 --> 00:41:22,680
and they just lose it, don't they? Cos there aren't many farms left now to what there used to be.
492
00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:26,160
Last question. Aren't you cold?!
493
00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:29,880
- No.
- I am!
- I am an' all!
- THEY CHUCKLE
494
00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:32,480
- I'm all right.
- Where there's no sense, there's no feeling.
495
00:41:32,480 --> 00:41:35,720
Yeah. He's dead right! Yeah.
496
00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:44,840
I suppose it was too much to hope that they'd still be speaking fluent Middle English,
497
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:48,520
but there is another clue to the poem having its roots in North Staffordshire.
498
00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:54,800
The area's very special landscape, dominated by rocky outcrops, known as the roaches.
499
00:41:56,360 --> 00:42:01,120
"It looks a wild place, no sign of a settlement anywhere to be seen,
500
00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:04,480
"but heady heights to both halves of the valley,
501
00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:08,120
"and set with sabretooth stones of such sharpness,
502
00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:11,320
"no cloud in the sky could escape unscratched."
503
00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:18,080
Just across the valley from the roaches stand the ruins of the medieval Dieulacres Abbey.
504
00:42:20,240 --> 00:42:25,320
As a centre of Christian learning, it could well be connected to the Gawain poem.
505
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:28,480
The author might even have been a monk here. Who knows?
506
00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:34,240
A possible clue has been uncovered by local historians Doug Pickford and Father Michael Fisher.
507
00:42:34,240 --> 00:42:38,360
The abbot was a considerable landowner in the community, and they
508
00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:42,520
had bands of servants, retainers, some of whom got up to no good,
509
00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:49,000
and they picked a quarrel, or they had a quarrel with a local man named John Walton, and he was killed.
510
00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:53,000
Several of these abbots' retainers struck blows
511
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:54,920
and stuck swords in him,
512
00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:58,040
but the coup de grace was when they beheaded him.
513
00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:01,480
And this beheading, around about 1379, may or may not
514
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:05,360
have influenced the Gawain story, which has the beheading game as a centrepiece.
515
00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:12,760
Absolutely. The poem is famously anonymous, and it's unlikely that an author will ever be named,
516
00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:18,400
but if you were to try and build up a portrait or a profile of somebody from that
517
00:43:18,400 --> 00:43:21,920
period of history who could have written such a poem,
518
00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:25,280
what kind of man, what kind of person would that be?
519
00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:29,680
I feel, first of all, that he was a local man to be able to
520
00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:33,760
write it in the local dialect, so he was aware of the local dialect.
521
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:36,960
- Scholarly?
- Scholarly, undoubtedly.
522
00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:42,640
- And as I said before, probably a bit of an impish man, I'd like to feel that he was, you know.
- In what sense?
523
00:43:42,640 --> 00:43:47,800
Because I do think he's having a go, number one, at the abbot, somewhere in the beheading,
524
00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:52,200
and there's so many little things, satirical things, that he brings into it.
525
00:43:52,200 --> 00:43:55,040
And it would take a very clever person.
526
00:43:55,040 --> 00:43:58,600
And of course, I think I'm correct, the monks were probably the only
527
00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:01,120
educated people, weren't they, at that time?
528
00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:02,840
Yes. I think that's right. Yes.
529
00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:05,600
- Smart. Mischievous.
- Yes.
530
00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:07,040
- And local.
- I would say so.
531
00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:09,760
- Good qualities for a poet, I would say!
- Indeed!
532
00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:23,160
I'm spending the last night of my Gawain odyssey
533
00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:27,680
in a small climber's cottage hewn out of the roaches themselves.
534
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:37,800
A suitably odd and creepy place to stay the night before
535
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:40,800
going off to find the green chapel in the morning.
536
00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:50,360
Being in this part of the world, retracing these steps,
537
00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:54,840
leads you closer to the atmosphere of the original poet somehow.
538
00:44:54,840 --> 00:44:58,800
It makes you feel a sort of kinship, I think.
539
00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:02,840
And, I guess, when you translate something, that's what you're after.
540
00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:06,440
You're trying to harmonise with this old text.
541
00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:12,520
I also recognise, I think, in the author of the poem,
542
00:45:12,520 --> 00:45:18,120
somebody who doesn't really have a moral message to give us.
543
00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:21,080
He's not somebody with a dogmatic message,
544
00:45:21,080 --> 00:45:23,240
a sort of fixed view of the world.
545
00:45:23,240 --> 00:45:25,600
The poem is much better than that.
546
00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:27,440
It's far more playful.
547
00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:33,600
"Alert and listening, Gawain lies in his bed.
548
00:45:33,600 --> 00:45:41,800
"His lids are lowered but he sleeps very little, as each crow of the cock brings his destiny closer."
549
00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:45,480
- Good morning.
- You all right?
- I'm well. How are you?
- Good, thanks.
550
00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:50,040
The next morning, Doug picks me up to guide me towards the green chapel,
551
00:45:50,040 --> 00:45:54,720
sometimes thought to be the strange geological formation Lud's Church.
552
00:45:56,880 --> 00:46:00,760
"Then he went on his way with the one whose task was to point out
553
00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:06,520
"the road to that perilous place where the knight would receive the slaughterman's strike.
554
00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:13,560
"They scrambled up bankings where branches were bare, clambered up cliff faces crazed by the cold.
555
00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:21,560
"The clouds which had climbed now cooled and dropped, so the moors and the mountains were muzzy with mist.
556
00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:25,120
"And every hill wore a hat of mizzle on its head."
557
00:46:30,200 --> 00:46:36,800
A great many of the nature beauty spots in this country do have magic and religion,
558
00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:43,840
sometimes primitive religion, associated with them, and these peaks are no exception.
559
00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:47,360
So they're beautiful, and they're a bit spooky as well.
560
00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:52,440
You can see the boardstone just up there.
561
00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:58,920
- The boardstone is an ancient structure, said to have magical powers.
- Good to see you.
562
00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:04,560
- We've arranged to meet local pagan Chris Brown at the stone.
- Simon.
563
00:47:04,560 --> 00:47:06,840
- Simon. Hi.
- Nice to meet you.
564
00:47:06,840 --> 00:47:09,520
Brought you a little gift, there.
565
00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:12,360
Oh, thank you very much. I'll pop this on the stone.
566
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:15,040
Is this a pagan site?
567
00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:20,080
It's a site that's significant to members of the pagan community round here.
568
00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:24,520
It's obviously an erection that goes back to ancient times,
569
00:47:24,520 --> 00:47:28,360
and one of the tenants of the pagan faith is keeping the old ways alive.
570
00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:32,160
But, of course, the Christian church use it as well as a healing stone.
571
00:47:32,160 --> 00:47:37,080
Sick people were brought up until the 1940s, the Second World War,
572
00:47:37,080 --> 00:47:40,520
and they had to crawl underneath it to knock the devil off the back.
573
00:47:40,520 --> 00:47:43,480
I don't think I'll bother today!
574
00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:46,080
Is there a pagan element to The Green Knight?
575
00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:49,160
With it taking place in Lud's Church, which is an absolutely
576
00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:52,640
awesome place, to a pagan, you're actually going into the ground,
577
00:47:52,640 --> 00:47:56,240
you're going into the great earth mother, you're offering yourself,
578
00:47:56,240 --> 00:47:58,320
if you like, to the great earth mother.
579
00:47:58,320 --> 00:48:01,520
So it is a thing that would have great pagan significance, yes.
580
00:48:01,520 --> 00:48:03,360
- We're on our way.
- All right. Yeah.
581
00:48:03,360 --> 00:48:05,960
- Cheers, Chris.
- See you.
- Bye.
582
00:48:05,960 --> 00:48:11,400
'So it seems as if primitive religion is alive and well on the wet and windy roaches.
583
00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:14,800
'It's as if the Gawain poet's reeling us in to the heart
584
00:48:14,800 --> 00:48:19,120
'of a pagan landscape, where the climax of the poem will be played out.'
585
00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:25,120
Here we are at a windswept Doxey Pool, the site of many a legend.
586
00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:29,320
- It's a pretty miserable place!
- Yeah.
587
00:48:31,560 --> 00:48:33,600
Which direction for Lud's Church?
588
00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:36,120
Right. Well, we're turning over there. Just keep following the path
589
00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:39,120
down to the valley and turn left through the woods, and good luck.
590
00:48:39,120 --> 00:48:40,800
Thanks, Doug. Cheers. All right.
591
00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:43,760
- Ta-ra.
- OK.
- See you. Bye.
592
00:48:43,760 --> 00:48:48,880
"And his servant lifts his shield, which he slings on his shoulder
593
00:48:48,880 --> 00:48:53,400
"The place you head for holds a hidden peril
594
00:48:53,400 --> 00:48:58,040
"In that wilderness lives a wild man, the worst in the world
595
00:48:58,040 --> 00:49:02,880
"He is brooding and brutal and loves bludgeoning humans."
596
00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:08,360
It's almost a comic moment in the poem,
597
00:49:08,360 --> 00:49:14,000
when the guide finally brings Gawain towards the Green Chapel.
598
00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:17,680
He seems to be saying to him, "If you want to chicken out now,
599
00:49:17,680 --> 00:49:21,320
"that's fine, I won't tell, it'll be OK."
600
00:49:21,320 --> 00:49:26,560
But Gawain, um, because he's determined and he has faith,
601
00:49:26,560 --> 00:49:29,400
he's going to carry on, and so am I.
602
00:49:29,400 --> 00:49:32,760
I'm within striking distance now, and I'm looking forward
603
00:49:32,760 --> 00:49:36,880
to getting into Lud's Church, er, if only for a bit of shelter.
604
00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:02,320
At least it's not as wet here.
605
00:50:02,320 --> 00:50:05,480
I've dried out a bit down inside this valley.
606
00:50:05,480 --> 00:50:08,120
I've been trying to use the poem as a map.
607
00:50:08,120 --> 00:50:12,240
There are references to various landmarks and places here.
608
00:50:12,240 --> 00:50:15,000
He says, "He presses ahead, picks up a path,
609
00:50:15,000 --> 00:50:20,800
"enters a steep-sided groove on his steed, then goes by and by to the bottom of a gorge."
610
00:50:20,800 --> 00:50:23,640
And then there's reference as well to a river.
611
00:50:23,640 --> 00:50:27,720
"A sort of bald knoll on the bank of a brook
612
00:50:27,720 --> 00:50:31,360
"where fellwater surged with frenzied force."
613
00:50:31,360 --> 00:50:34,480
I don't know. It could be here.
614
00:50:34,480 --> 00:50:38,000
It's not exactly the Ordnance Survey.
615
00:50:46,560 --> 00:50:50,600
Of course, Gawain would have been pretty terrified at this point.
616
00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:53,640
He's about to meet his destiny. I'm looking forward to it.
617
00:50:53,640 --> 00:50:57,240
I think, for me, there's a sense of achievement and excitement
618
00:50:57,240 --> 00:51:00,760
in getting here, but then again, I'm not gonna have my head cut off.
619
00:51:00,760 --> 00:51:02,520
As far as I know.
620
00:51:14,360 --> 00:51:19,560
There's a marker here on the wall, "Lud", so that's pretty unambiguous.
621
00:51:19,560 --> 00:51:21,680
And, er...
622
00:51:21,680 --> 00:51:25,360
I guess this is where you go in.
623
00:51:26,960 --> 00:51:29,880
Bit of a scramble up these steps.
624
00:51:29,880 --> 00:51:33,320
Very wet and damp.
625
00:51:35,280 --> 00:51:39,320
Even at this point, it feels cold.
626
00:51:39,320 --> 00:51:42,760
It's a couple of degrees colder already.
627
00:51:44,720 --> 00:51:48,240
'This truly feels like a suitably pagan site.
628
00:51:48,240 --> 00:51:52,120
'Lud is actually the Celtic sun god, and if this were the inspiration
629
00:51:52,120 --> 00:51:55,240
'for the Green Chapel, it would certainly make sense.'
630
00:52:10,520 --> 00:52:14,800
"For certain," he says, "this is a soulless spot,
631
00:52:14,800 --> 00:52:20,040
"A ghostly cathedral overgrown with grass, the kind of kirk where
632
00:52:20,040 --> 00:52:24,720
"that camouflaged man might deal in devilment and all things dark."
633
00:52:28,600 --> 00:52:32,760
Gawain has now walked hundreds of miles across open land,
634
00:52:32,760 --> 00:52:35,280
and suddenly, the walls are narrowing.
635
00:52:35,280 --> 00:52:38,280
He's walked into a trap. It's a dead end up there,
636
00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:43,760
and he stands here and he listens, and he calls it ghostly and he calls it soulless.
637
00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:49,120
And then suddenly, he hears an axe being sharpened on a rock.
638
00:52:52,680 --> 00:52:56,400
"Abide, came a voice from above the bank
639
00:52:56,400 --> 00:53:00,960
"You'll cop what's coming to you quickly enough"
640
00:53:00,960 --> 00:53:04,120
"Yet he went at his work, wetting the blade,
641
00:53:04,120 --> 00:53:08,640
"not showing until it was sharpened and stropped."
642
00:53:12,040 --> 00:53:15,520
So the Green Knight appears at the top
643
00:53:15,520 --> 00:53:19,480
and makes his way down here with his axe,
644
00:53:19,480 --> 00:53:24,960
and Gawain must keep his promise, and he offers his neck.
645
00:53:24,960 --> 00:53:30,880
And we might think that this is probably the end for our hero, but...
646
00:53:30,880 --> 00:53:33,400
he's concealed about his person
647
00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:39,200
the green sash given to him by the lady in the castle.
648
00:53:39,200 --> 00:53:46,120
And if her word is true, this is going to keep him from harm.
649
00:53:53,560 --> 00:53:58,280
As with so many things in the poem, the next scene comes in threes.
650
00:53:58,280 --> 00:54:01,800
The Green Knight tries to behead Gawain on three occasions.
651
00:54:01,800 --> 00:54:04,360
The first time, Gawain ducks out of the way.
652
00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:06,880
The second time, the Green Knight misses.
653
00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:09,800
And the third time, he just nicks him on his neck.
654
00:54:09,800 --> 00:54:12,320
He just sheds a little bit of blood.
655
00:54:12,320 --> 00:54:14,760
And then Gawain escapes with his life.
656
00:54:17,240 --> 00:54:20,280
"Gawain leapt forward a spear's length, at least,
657
00:54:20,280 --> 00:54:23,640
"grabbed hold of his helmet and rammed it on his head,
658
00:54:23,640 --> 00:54:26,960
"brought his shield to his side with a shimmy of his shoulder,
659
00:54:26,960 --> 00:54:32,800
"then brandished his sword before blurting out brave words, because never, since birth,
660
00:54:32,800 --> 00:54:37,160
"as his mother's babe, was he half as happy as here and now."
661
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:52,000
All the threads of the poem are pulled together at this point.
662
00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:56,400
The Green Knight reveals to Gawain that he was Bertilak.
663
00:54:56,400 --> 00:55:01,920
He was the lord and master of the house with the big, bushy, red beard,
664
00:55:01,920 --> 00:55:06,840
and that it was his wife who was sent to tempt and to trick Gawain.
665
00:55:06,840 --> 00:55:12,400
And Gawain's full of shame and embarrassment for not revealing that
666
00:55:12,400 --> 00:55:17,600
he'd received this sash, this girdle, from the lady.
667
00:55:17,600 --> 00:55:23,680
But the Green Knight tells Gawain that he is a good man, and that's why he's being allowed to live.
668
00:55:23,680 --> 00:55:28,720
So, fully humiliated, and with his tail between his legs,
669
00:55:28,720 --> 00:55:35,240
Gawain now makes his way back to Camelot to explain his quest to the round table.
670
00:56:02,520 --> 00:56:06,280
'So the Green Knight might be a terrifying, monstrous creation,
671
00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:09,800
'but in testing Gawain, it teaches the young knight
672
00:56:09,800 --> 00:56:13,360
'a lesson in humility, one that he'll never forget.'
673
00:56:15,080 --> 00:56:18,120
'When we're young, like Gawain, we make big statements
674
00:56:18,120 --> 00:56:21,480
'about what we're gonna do in our life, what we hope to achieve,
675
00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:25,800
'and then we've to set about trying to put those things into practice.
676
00:56:25,800 --> 00:56:29,320
'And, in that sense, I think this is a poem, I suppose,
677
00:56:29,320 --> 00:56:32,400
'to use the cliche, about the journey of life,
678
00:56:32,400 --> 00:56:36,920
'and whether we can arrive at the destination that we declare.'
679
00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:50,120
I'm back at Camelot. I suppose I've come full circle,
680
00:56:50,120 --> 00:56:54,040
just as the poem turns full circle as well.
681
00:56:54,040 --> 00:56:58,160
One thing I've been thinking about across this journey is
682
00:56:58,160 --> 00:57:01,640
the idea of something lasting for 600 years.
683
00:57:01,640 --> 00:57:04,160
I mean, it's a pretty remarkable thing.
684
00:57:10,640 --> 00:57:15,800
It's not just that it's a fantastic story or a wonderful piece of writing, which it is.
685
00:57:15,800 --> 00:57:19,320
It's because we can all see a bit of ourselves in Gawain.
686
00:57:20,360 --> 00:57:23,320
And so in that sense, it's a poem about the individual,
687
00:57:23,320 --> 00:57:26,160
and if you can write a poem about the individual
688
00:57:26,160 --> 00:57:28,680
that appeals to the individual,
689
00:57:28,680 --> 00:57:31,920
then you're going to appeal to absolutely everybody.
690
00:57:35,440 --> 00:57:38,480
It's been an eye-opening and mind-expanding journey,
691
00:57:38,480 --> 00:57:41,000
quite literally full of ups and downs,
692
00:57:41,000 --> 00:57:46,960
and I've been doing a little bit of writing of my own along the way, because that's what poets do.
693
00:57:48,720 --> 00:57:50,760
"Time now to rise,
694
00:57:50,760 --> 00:57:56,200
"to strike out with clenched heart and no map, bar the view from the peak,
695
00:57:56,200 --> 00:57:59,040
"where the west wind pummels your cheeks,
696
00:57:59,040 --> 00:58:01,680
"leads with its granite fists
697
00:58:01,680 --> 00:58:06,040
"Days of rain, rain that permeates the bone
698
00:58:06,040 --> 00:58:09,320
"Personal rain, persecuting the soul
699
00:58:09,320 --> 00:58:13,240
"Days when the promised lake is a dishwater pond
700
00:58:13,240 --> 00:58:16,680
"run from a grey cloud onto a dead hill
701
00:58:16,680 --> 00:58:20,520
"Eat what the rook or crow leaves on its plate
702
00:58:20,520 --> 00:58:24,240
"Bed down where even the fox won't sleep
703
00:58:24,240 --> 00:58:27,280
"Till the way narrows and holts,
704
00:58:27,280 --> 00:58:30,560
"and you wait in armour or anorak under the ridge
705
00:58:30,560 --> 00:58:34,160
"With a campfire tan and hedgerow hair,
706
00:58:34,160 --> 00:58:38,000
"and a God looks down, silent, stony-faced,
707
00:58:38,000 --> 00:58:40,520
"bearded with living moss
708
00:58:40,520 --> 00:58:42,720
"This is the place
709
00:58:42,720 --> 00:58:45,560
"The journey over, and the story told
710
00:58:45,560 --> 00:58:49,240
"The yarn at the end of its long, green thread
711
00:58:49,240 --> 00:58:53,080
"Speak now for all that you're worth, as the blade
712
00:58:53,080 --> 00:58:56,920
"swoons in judgement over your pretty head."
713
00:58:58,160 --> 00:58:59,600
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Limited
714
00:58:59,600 --> 00:59:01,000
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk
69256
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