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First version of ‘Once the siege…’ in the Gawain notebook

Gawain evolving drafts once crop
Notes and drafts for Simon Armitage's translation of 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' show how his working practices evolved as he worked on the poem.
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Introduction to resource, written by Simon Armitage
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Gawain evolving drafts once crop
Description of the evolving drafts in Simon Armitage's translation of Gawain
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BC/MS20c/Armitage/1/21/1 notebook p1
Drafts for first section of Gawain from Gawain notebook, page one.
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BC/MS20c/Armitage/1/21/1 notebook p2
Drafts for first section of Gawain from Gawain notebook, pages two and three.
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BC/MS20c/Armitage/1/21/1 notebook p4
Drafts for first section of Gawain from Gawain notebook, pages four and five.
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Gawain first section typed draft from Early Notes file BC/MS20c/Armitage/1/21/1
Description of first typed up draft of first stanza of 'Gawain'.
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Gawain first section early notes from BC/MS 20c/Armitage/1/21/1
Description of annotated printout of first stanza of Gawain.
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Gawain first section, draft #1 from BC/MS20c/Armitage/1/21/1
Description of first typescript draft of first stanza of Gawain
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Gawain first section typed draft #2 from BC/MS20c/Armitage/1/21/1
Description of second typed up draft for first stanza in 'Gawain'
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Gawain first section typed draft #3 from BC/MS20c/Armitage/1/21/1
Third typed draft of first stanza of 'Gawain'.
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Gawain first section typed draft #4 from BC/MS20c/Armitage/1/21/1
Fourth typed up draft of first stanza of 'Gawain'.
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Gawain Lines in detail once
Description of development of first two lines of 'Gawain'.
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Gawain Evolving drafts Now crop
Description of drafts for lines 691-739.
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Gawain Evolving drafts Now crop
Description notebook drafts for lines 691 - 739, Gawain.
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Gawain line 691 section early notes from BC/MS20c/Armitage/1/21/1 (1of2)
Typescript early notes for lines 691 - 739, Gawain.
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Gawain line 691 section typed draft #1 from BC/MS20c/Armitage/1/21/1 (1of2)
First typed draft for lines 691 - 739, Gawain.
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Gawain line 691 section typed draft #2 from BC/MS20c/Armitage/1/21/1 (1of2)
Second typescript draft of lines 691 - 739, Gawain.
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Gawain line 691 section typed draft #4 from BC/MS20c/Armitage/1/21/1 (1of2)
Third typed draft of lines 691 - 739, Gawain.
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BC/MS20c/Armitage/1/21/1 notebook p200
Notes on the introduction to Gawain, back of Gawain notebook.
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BC/MS20c/Armitage/1/21/1 notebook p199
Notes on introduction to Gawain, back of Gawain notebook.
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BC/MS20c/Armitage/1/21/1 notebook p198
Notes for introduction to Gawain, back of Gawain notebook.
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Research resources for Simon Armitage's 'Gawain'
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Extended bibliography 1
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Resources for studying Armitage and Ecocriticism
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Extended Gawain Bibliography
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Notes and drafts for Gawain go on to fill another entire notebook (known as the Gawain notebook – BC MS 20c Armitage1/21/1)

Drafts for the first stanza cover five pages, and show Armitage refining his technique as he progresses.

Within this first section, multiple columns of drafts are spread across five pages, moving from what seems a spontaneous translation to a more poetic rendering.

This style of working changes as the translation progresses and Armitage presumably becomes more certain of the style. In later stages, there are normally only two drafts per stanza, and the bob and wheel sections are worked out on separate pages.