An unabridged Audio CD of Armitage's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, read by the author, is now available from Faber & Faber.

 

Guradian Review: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated and read by Simon Armitage (2hrs, Faber, £12.99)

Weird and wonderful doesn't come more inspiring than this epic Middle English poem about a mysterious knight, green from head to toe including his beard and his horse, who appears one Christmas at King Arthur's Round Table. In one hand he brandishes a sprig of holly, in the other "the mother of all axes, a cruel piece of kit, I kid you not". Do any of the bumfluffed bairns he challenges have the gall, the gumption or the guts to cut off his head? Armitage's translation is accessible as a comic strip, but here's the joy of it: the poetry is still there. For once the rave reviews are fully justified.