Evolving drafts of 'Now through England's realm...'
Simon Armitage – translating Gawain
Evolving drafts of 'Once the siege...'
First version of ‘Once the siege…’ in the Gawain notebook
Second version of ‘Once the siege…’ in the Gawain notebook
Third version of ‘Once the siege…’ in the Gawain notebook
Early drafts of ‘Once the siege…’
First draft of ‘Once the siege…’
Second draft of ‘Once the siege…’
'Now through England's realm...' in the Gawain notebook
First version of 'Now through England's realm...' in the Gawain notebook
Second version of 'Now through England's realm...' in the Gawain notebook
Third version of 'Now through England's realm...' in the Gawain notebook
Early notes for 'Now through England's realm...'
Second draft of 'Now through England's realm...'
Writing a poetic translation: defending the work
Writing a poetic translation: translating dialect
Writing a poetic translation: pronunciation
The two stanzas beginning “Now through England's realm he rides and rides" (ll. 691 – 739) form one of the most famous and recognisable sections of the poem. They describe Gawain setting off in search of the Green Chapel to fulfil his side of the deal made with the Green Knight.
The drafts show the development of this section, and illustrate the evolution of Armitage's working practice. This section of the Gawain notebook would be the last time that he worked on the stock and the bob-and-wheel simultaneously during this translation.
These drafts show Armitage exploring the use of dialect in the poem, centred around the pivotal term of "wodwos", the word which first attracted him to the idea of a translation. The work involved in translating the poem's wide, eclectic vocabulary for a modern audience also becomes clear in the differences between the Faber & Faber and Norton translations of this section, and illustrate how Armitage's translation has continued to evolve beyond its first publication.