{"product_id":"the-gawain-poet-complete-works-9780393912357","title":"The Gawain Poet: Complete Works","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf the five poems contained in this book, two are acknowledged masterpieces. The plot of \u003cem\u003eSir Gawain and the Green Knight\u003c\/em\u003e, an Arthurian romance, brilliantly interweaves elements of suspense and high comedy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePearl\u003c\/em\u003e, a dream vision, presents its poignant story of the education of a misguided Christian soul in metrically intricate and verbally ornate stanzas that add up to an overarching numerical design. Together with these two, \u003cem\u003ePatience\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eCleanness\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eSaint Erkenwald\u003c\/em\u003e make up the complete works of their anonymous author. All exhibit the dramatizing powers and metrical virtuosity of a master-poet. However, none became part of the established literary canon until the second half of the nineteenth century, when the single manuscript copies in which they survive were edited and printed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTaken together, these works offer us a wide-ranging portrait of life in the late Middle Ages from the point of view of an independent-minded, learned, and cosmopolitan Englishman, a man as conversant with the conduct of life in great households as with Christian tradition and doctrine. He knew, among other things, how to sail a medieval passenger ship from its mooring to open sea, how to dress the carcass of a deer or a boar at the end of a royal hunt, and how a knight might flatter a noble and beautiful lady in the most intimate of situations while politely evading her seductive overtures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47599442002156,"sku":"9780393912357","price":36.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780393912357-the-gawain-poet-complete-works.jpg?v=1777978849","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/the-gawain-poet-complete-works-9780393912357","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}