First version of ‘Once the siege…’ in the Gawain notebook
Simon Armitage – translating Gawain
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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Evolving drafts of 'Once the siege...'
Description of the evolving drafts in Simon Armitage's translation of Gawain
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First version of ‘Once the siege…’ in the Gawain notebook
Drafts for first section of Gawain from Gawain notebook, page one.
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Second version of ‘Once the siege…’ in the Gawain notebook
Drafts for first section of Gawain from Gawain notebook, pages two and three.
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Third version of ‘Once the siege…’ in the Gawain notebook
Drafts for first section of Gawain from Gawain notebook, pages four and five.
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Early drafts of ‘Once the siege…’
Description of first typed up draft of first stanza of 'Gawain'.
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First draft of ‘Once the siege…’
Description of first typescript draft of first stanza of Gawain
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Second draft of ‘Once the siege…’
Description of second typed up draft for first stanza in 'Gawain'
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'Now through England's realm...' in the Gawain notebook
Description notebook drafts for lines 691 - 739, Gawain.
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First version of 'Now through England's realm...' in the Gawain notebook
Second pages of drafts
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Second version of 'Now through England's realm...' in the Gawain notebook
Third page of drafts in Gawain notebook
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Third version of 'Now through England's realm...' in the Gawain notebook
Pages of drafts from Gawain notebook.
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Early notes for 'Now through England's realm...'
Typescript early notes for lines 691 - 739, Gawain.
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Second draft of 'Now through England's realm...'
Second typescript draft of lines 691 - 739, Gawain.
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Writing a poetic translation: defending the work
Notes on the introduction to Gawain, back of Gawain notebook.
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Writing a poetic translation: translating dialect
Notes on introduction to Gawain, back of Gawain notebook.
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Writing a poetic translation: pronunciation
Notes for introduction to Gawain, back of Gawain notebook.
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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.