Books

Art and Tradition in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Art and Tradition in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Larry D. Benson
Published by Rutgers University Press, 1965, 318 pages

This book is an exhaustive examination of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight from the point of view of contrasting how the Green Knight is (and is not) a version of "the green man" or a "wodwos," a wild man of the woods who often stands as a "pugnacious foe to knighthood. (page 80)"

Benson covers many topics in relation to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and describes the many source materials that predate or are contemporary to the poem. For example, he discusses, among others:

Caradoc - Le Livre de Caradoc
Yder - Anglo-Norman Romance
Brun de Branlant
La Chastelaine de Vevgi - 13th century French poem
The Jeaste of Syr Gawayne
The Grene Knight
Perceval ou La Conte del Graal
Perlesvaus
Fled Bricrend / Bricriu's Feast