Skip to main content

‘Once the siege…’: lines in detail

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

Once the siege and assault of Troy had ceased,
with the city a smoke-heap of cinders and ash,
(Faber, 2007)

The drafting of the first two lines shows Armitage's engagement with the stress patterns and alliterative form of the poem. These drafts also show Armitage's desire to produce a translation for today, which is also loyal to the sense and sound of the original Middle English version of the poem.

Aftermath and After appear regularly in the early drafts, but are discarded in favour of Once, which fits more easily with rhythm, allowing the line to alliterate on the stressed syllable.

These drafts also show Armitage's efforts to bring more contemporary language into the poem, as can be seen from his use, and eventual rejection of the word blitz, presumably because its specific historical connotations were too strong.

Once the elements of the line are in place, the drafts show that they are still being worked on: for example, Troy moves around the line several times before becoming fixed in the later drafts.