Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

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0:00:07 > 0:00:10I'm on the trail of a 600-year-old poem.

0:00:10 > 0:00:14As a piece of writing, it's got just about everything.

0:00:14 > 0:00:16It's a ghost story. It's a whodunnit.

0:00:16 > 0:00:19It's a love poem. It's a religious poem.

0:00:19 > 0:00:23It's a 2,500 line tongue-twister and you could even say

0:00:23 > 0:00:26it's one of the first ever eco poems.

0:00:29 > 0:00:33"After Britain was built by this founding father,

0:00:33 > 0:00:35"a bold race bred there.

0:00:35 > 0:00:40"men causing trouble and torment in turbulent times."

0:00:40 > 0:00:46And through history, more strangeness has happened here than anywhere else I know of on earth.

0:00:48 > 0:00:52It's generally recognised as one of the jewels in the crown of

0:00:52 > 0:00:55British poetry and we don't know who wrote it.

0:00:58 > 0:01:02A few years ago, I made a translation of the poem and I completely fell

0:01:02 > 0:01:06under its spell, but to a certain degree, it's still a mystery to me.

0:01:06 > 0:01:11And it's crossed my mind that the only way of entering the mindset of the writer

0:01:11 > 0:01:15and getting to grips with the meaning of the poem,

0:01:15 > 0:01:18is to experience some of the landscape of the poem

0:01:18 > 0:01:23and to feel the descriptions of nature and the wet winter weather.

0:01:23 > 0:01:27The poem doesn't even have a title, but over the centuries,

0:01:27 > 0:01:31it's come to be known as Sir Gawain And The Green Knight.

0:01:43 > 0:01:46It was Christmas at Camelot, King Arthur's court,

0:01:46 > 0:01:50where the great and the good of the land had gathered.

0:01:50 > 0:01:53All the righteous lords of the ranks of the round table

0:01:53 > 0:01:57quite properly carousing and revelling in pleasure.

0:01:59 > 0:02:03It's Christmas at Camelot. It's not quite how it would have been in Arthur's day.

0:02:03 > 0:02:05Santa's just arrived in a transit van.

0:02:05 > 0:02:10But it's still a time of great excitement and it's not a coincidence

0:02:10 > 0:02:15that the poem starts at Christmas, a time of great ritual and great passion.

0:02:15 > 0:02:17The ideal moment for something dramatic to happen.

0:02:28 > 0:02:32Sir Gawain And The Green Knight's the story of one of King Arthur's knights, Gawain,

0:02:32 > 0:02:36who takes up a bizarre challenge to behead a giant Green Knight

0:02:36 > 0:02:38and face the grizzly consequences.

0:02:38 > 0:02:42It's a wonderful piece of storytelling which is split

0:02:42 > 0:02:47into four distinct parts, or acts, as Gawain faces a series of death-defying adventures.

0:02:50 > 0:02:55Nobody can say with any certainty whether there was a Camelot or even an Arthur

0:02:55 > 0:03:00and there are many places across Britain that lay claim to Camelot.

0:03:00 > 0:03:07Several castles in Wales, Winchester, Carlisle, but of all the contenders, this is my favourite.

0:03:07 > 0:03:10This is Tintagel. It just seems to have everything.

0:03:10 > 0:03:13Ancient castle, fortified island,

0:03:13 > 0:03:19caves, epic landscape and coastline and the town's very much embraced it, as well.

0:03:19 > 0:03:24Every little gift shop and bed and breakfast is Arthur this or Camelot that.

0:03:32 > 0:03:37So here we are in King Arthur's court, Camelot.

0:03:37 > 0:03:41Well, it's actually an imagined recreation of it.

0:03:41 > 0:03:48So the knights are all assembled when suddenly the door bursts open and on horseback,

0:03:48 > 0:03:52in comes a knight, a very strange creature.

0:03:52 > 0:03:58He carries with him a piece of holly and the author, the poet,

0:03:58 > 0:04:01keeps back one very special detail about this knight right to the end.

0:04:01 > 0:04:07He says, "In fact, in all features, he was finely formed, it seemed.

0:04:07 > 0:04:10"Amazement seized their minds.

0:04:10 > 0:04:17"No soul had ever seen a knight of such a kind, entirely emerald green."

0:04:17 > 0:04:23Those little rhymes at the end of each section are known as the bob and wheel.

0:04:23 > 0:04:27They just draw each verse to a neat little bow.

0:04:27 > 0:04:31And this extraordinary knight, this supernatural man,

0:04:31 > 0:04:35lays down what must sound like an absurd challenge.

0:04:35 > 0:04:39He says any man here can chop off my head if they like,

0:04:39 > 0:04:42so long as in a year's time, I can chop off their head.

0:04:42 > 0:04:48"So who has the gall, the gumption, the guts?

0:04:48 > 0:04:53"Who'll spring from his seat and snatch this weapon? I offer the axe.

0:04:53 > 0:04:56"Who'll have it as his own?"

0:04:56 > 0:05:01So Gawain, the youngest knight of the round table and Arthur's nephew,

0:05:01 > 0:05:04rises and says "Let this challenge be mine."

0:05:04 > 0:05:08I think he basically sees an opportunity to prove himself.

0:05:08 > 0:05:13And he takes up the axe and he chops off the head of the Green Knight

0:05:13 > 0:05:17which rolls across the floor and the knights kick it as it goes past.

0:05:17 > 0:05:20But the Green Knight goes after it, picks it up,

0:05:20 > 0:05:24puts it back on his neck, gets back on his horse

0:05:24 > 0:05:29and says, "I will see you in a year's time. Keep your promise."

0:05:35 > 0:05:43"And then, well, with the green man gone, they laughed and grinned, again.

0:05:43 > 0:05:48"And yet, such goings-on were magic to those men.

0:05:48 > 0:05:53"And although King Arthur was awestruck at heart, no sign of it showed."

0:05:57 > 0:06:02When it was written in about 1400, the King Arthur legend was already centuries old.

0:06:02 > 0:06:06Whoever wrote the poem would have been a contemporary of Chaucer

0:06:06 > 0:06:11and it's become one of the most celebrated poems in the whole of English literature.

0:06:13 > 0:06:18I wouldn't really claim to be an expert at all in Middle English

0:06:18 > 0:06:20but I do find it really fascinating.

0:06:20 > 0:06:22It exists at that point in history

0:06:22 > 0:06:26where the English language as we know it is just coming into view.

0:06:26 > 0:06:31And it's a little bit like the poem is under a layer of frosted glass.

0:06:31 > 0:06:36It's as if you just want to breathe a little warm air onto it

0:06:36 > 0:06:39to try and get the language to come through.

0:06:39 > 0:06:42So if you take the very first line of the poem,

0:06:42 > 0:06:47"Sithen the segge and the assault was cessed at Troy" -

0:06:47 > 0:06:53that's "After the siege and the assault was ceased at Troy."

0:06:53 > 0:06:57You can hear the sibilance there, the S sound alliterating

0:06:57 > 0:07:01through that line and that's how it is all the way through the poem.

0:07:01 > 0:07:08It's the device which keeps the whole poem together.

0:07:08 > 0:07:12And it must have made it great fun to read out as well, even to remember.

0:07:12 > 0:07:16There are a lot of contemporary translations that don't follow the alliteration.

0:07:16 > 0:07:22They're more interested in the meaning of the original words or medieval history,

0:07:22 > 0:07:27but I'm a poet and what I've made is a poetic translation and for me

0:07:27 > 0:07:32the alliteration is the warp and weft of this poem.

0:07:32 > 0:07:35And without it, it's just so many fine threads.

0:07:40 > 0:07:43A year goes by and Gawain must keep to the terms of the challenge

0:07:43 > 0:07:45and go in search of the Green Knight.

0:07:47 > 0:07:52"Now, lord of my life, I must ask for your leave.

0:07:52 > 0:07:54"You were witness to my wager.

0:07:54 > 0:07:59"I have no wish to retell you the terms. They're nothing but a trifle.

0:07:59 > 0:08:03"I must set out tomorrow to receive that stroke

0:08:03 > 0:08:07"From the knight in green And let God be my guide."

0:08:10 > 0:08:15Gary Burbeck and Gandalph Strut are two latter day knights who've come

0:08:15 > 0:08:19along to teach me a thing or two about fighting and chivalry.

0:08:19 > 0:08:24What is chivalry? Because to a lot of people reading the Gawain poem,

0:08:24 > 0:08:30it seems absurd that somebody would willingly just go along and have their head cut off.

0:08:30 > 0:08:32In those days, chivalry meant everything.

0:08:32 > 0:08:36The top knights were extremely loyal.

0:08:36 > 0:08:42They had been risen to their knighthood by their lord, their liege. They owe everything to him.

0:08:42 > 0:08:47What would happen to somebody who didn't keep their honour and their pledges as a knight?

0:08:47 > 0:08:52I mean, for example, in the poem, if Gawain decided not to go and meet the Green Knight after a year.

0:08:52 > 0:08:54What would that make him?

0:08:54 > 0:08:58It would make him almost an outcast, really.

0:08:58 > 0:09:00Almost outlawed, outside the law.

0:09:03 > 0:09:07"First, a rig of rare cloth was unrolled on the floor,

0:09:07 > 0:09:11"Heaped with gear which glimmered and gleamed.

0:09:11 > 0:09:14"And on to it, he stepped, to receive his armoured suit."

0:09:17 > 0:09:23The Gawain poet devotes long sections of the poem to Gawain's armour and apparel

0:09:23 > 0:09:28and on the one hand, he stands there as heroic and a shining example of knighthood.

0:09:30 > 0:09:34On the other hand, there's something quite funny about that passage.

0:09:34 > 0:09:37It's overelaborated, almost to the point

0:09:37 > 0:09:44where I think you can afford a little chuckle at Gawain stood there in his metal suit.

0:09:50 > 0:09:53- It looked like hard work. - Very hard work.

0:09:53 > 0:09:59And how much of this is authentic in terms of what a knight would have worn at that time?

0:09:59 > 0:10:03This is a replica of a 15th-century armour

0:10:03 > 0:10:06- and it weighs a lot. - Can I have a go? Can I put a bit on?

0:10:06 > 0:10:07You certainly can. Absolutely.

0:10:07 > 0:10:16"Then comes the suit of shimmering steel rings encasing his body and his costly clothes.

0:10:16 > 0:10:19"Well-burnished braces to both of his arms.

0:10:19 > 0:10:23"Good elbow guards and glinting metal gloves.

0:10:23 > 0:10:27"All the trimmings and trappings of a knight tricked out to ride."

0:10:27 > 0:10:29- I'm just going to give you a slight punch.- OK.

0:10:29 > 0:10:33- OK, that's just a little one.- OK.

0:10:33 > 0:10:34Yeah. How much did you feel?

0:10:34 > 0:10:37I felt it. Yeah.

0:10:38 > 0:10:40Well, thanks very much.

0:10:40 > 0:10:42I really enjoyed that.

0:10:42 > 0:10:48I'm not sure it goes well with my elasticated overtrousers. It's not really a good look, is it?

0:10:58 > 0:11:02Before setting off on Gawain's epic journey, I head home to

0:11:02 > 0:11:05West Yorkshire just to get my bearings and my walking boots.

0:11:06 > 0:11:11This is the village of Marsden where I was born and brought up

0:11:11 > 0:11:13and over there, just beyond that horizon,

0:11:13 > 0:11:18that's the Peak District and that's the place where Gawain is set.

0:11:18 > 0:11:21And I think as a project for me,

0:11:21 > 0:11:25there was always something about bringing Gawain back into the north.

0:11:31 > 0:11:36When I came to translate the poem, there was something Pennine or at least non-metropolitan

0:11:36 > 0:11:40about its medieval language which I found intriguing and irresistible.

0:11:42 > 0:11:45ALL: # So I lie in in the morning

0:11:45 > 0:11:49# God save John. #

0:11:50 > 0:11:56I can read and understand Middle English now or Middle English of this poem by looking at the page,

0:11:56 > 0:12:00but I don't know how it's all pronounced, that's a very separate skill.

0:12:00 > 0:12:05But on the occasions when I have tried to read it out loud, in private,

0:12:05 > 0:12:10it's always sounded to me like the noise of a pub or a club.

0:12:10 > 0:12:12A club like this where I used to come drinking

0:12:12 > 0:12:16before I was old enough to come drinking and my dad and all his mates come here.

0:12:16 > 0:12:21There's something about the noise that this poem makes in the original

0:12:21 > 0:12:26that reminds me of the sort of chat that goes on in here.

0:12:26 > 0:12:27Just have a look at that.

0:12:27 > 0:12:31HE READS POEM IN MIDDLE ENGLISH

0:12:38 > 0:12:39Sounds like he's local!

0:12:39 > 0:12:43Tell you this, mate, it'll never sell.

0:12:44 > 0:12:46I have to tell you, you're wrong.

0:12:48 > 0:12:53"'Won't you slide from that saddle and stay awhile?

0:12:53 > 0:12:55"And the business which brings you,

0:12:55 > 0:12:58"we shall learn of later.'

0:12:58 > 0:13:00"'No,' said the knight.

0:13:00 > 0:13:05"'It's not in my nature to idle or alec about this evening."

0:13:05 > 0:13:09In this translation I use the word "alec". You aleced about.

0:13:09 > 0:13:11- Aleced about. Aye.- Alecing about.

0:13:11 > 0:13:13Alecing about.

0:13:13 > 0:13:15- Laking.- Laking?

0:13:15 > 0:13:19Laking - cos laking's in the original.

0:13:19 > 0:13:22The word "lake" is in there.

0:13:22 > 0:13:25- Meaning "plain".- Isn't it?

0:13:25 > 0:13:28Yeah. There's another word in there, as well. Sam.

0:13:28 > 0:13:30- Pick it up.- Pick it up. Yeah.

0:13:30 > 0:13:34You must have heard it. "Sam, Sam, pick up thy musket."

0:13:34 > 0:13:37And that were all based on that "sam it up". Nay.

0:13:37 > 0:13:40He knocked it down, he'll pick it up.

0:13:47 > 0:13:51Part two of the poem takes place a year after the beheading of the Green Knight,

0:13:51 > 0:13:54as Gawain heads off into the wilderness to meet his comeuppance.

0:14:04 > 0:14:11"Now, through England's realm he rides and rides, Sir Gawain, God's servant on his grim quest,

0:14:11 > 0:14:18"Passing long dark nights, unloved and alone, foraging to feed, finding little to call food,

0:14:18 > 0:14:24"With no friend but his horse through forests and hills and only our Lord in heaven to hear him."

0:14:24 > 0:14:29It's a journey through the wild borders between England and Wales

0:14:29 > 0:14:34that few at the time would have been brave or foolhardy enough to take.

0:14:37 > 0:14:40When the Green Knight bursts into Camelot, he isn't just

0:14:40 > 0:14:45challenging Gawain to a beheading game, he's challenging him to get

0:14:45 > 0:14:51outside the comfort and the warmth of the castle and to go out into the wide world.

0:14:51 > 0:14:55And I think it's at that point that Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

0:14:55 > 0:15:01becomes one of the great nature poems, perhaps the first ever great nature poem,

0:15:01 > 0:15:04and nature at that time was as much an enemy as a friend.

0:15:04 > 0:15:09And Gawain's got to go out there and strike a bargain with it.

0:15:11 > 0:15:17"Hazel and hawthorn are interwoven, decked and draped in damp shaggy moss.

0:15:17 > 0:15:25"And bedraggled birds on bare black branches pipe pitifully into the piercing cold.

0:15:25 > 0:15:33"Under cover of the canopy, he guided Gringolet through mud and marshland, a most mournful man."

0:15:45 > 0:15:49Nature's never far away in British poetry.

0:15:49 > 0:15:54Sir Gawain is a very early and fine example of a nature poem.

0:15:54 > 0:16:00It might be to do with the fact that nature in this country is very fickle, poets over time

0:16:00 > 0:16:06have responded both to its generosity and to its cruelty.

0:16:06 > 0:16:10As a poet, I recognise that situation.

0:16:10 > 0:16:15I've always felt that it's when I get up into the heights

0:16:15 > 0:16:18that the poetry starts, or the inspiration starts.

0:16:18 > 0:16:21Places where you're on your own, generally.

0:16:25 > 0:16:30There's a section in the poem which goes something along the lines of:

0:16:30 > 0:16:34"Hard on his heels over the high ground come giants."

0:16:34 > 0:16:40And it makes me wonder if this wasn't just some elaborate metaphor for weather fronts and black clouds

0:16:40 > 0:16:45which I've never seen very far away in this part of the world, at this time of the year.

0:16:53 > 0:17:00"So momentous are his travels among the mountains to tell just a tenth would be a tall order.

0:17:00 > 0:17:03"He scraps with serpents and snarling wolves.

0:17:03 > 0:17:12"He tangles with woodwose causing trouble on the crags, or with bulls and bears and the odd wild boar.

0:17:12 > 0:17:15"Hard on his heels through the highlands come giants."

0:17:15 > 0:17:20The poem makes wonderful use of British mythology

0:17:20 > 0:17:24to bring to life the dangers posed by nature.

0:17:24 > 0:17:28There are woodwose, those mysterious wild men of the woods.

0:17:28 > 0:17:32And the ghostly Green Knight, himself, owes a great deal

0:17:32 > 0:17:34to the pagan fertility spirit, the Green Man.

0:17:39 > 0:17:45Every now and again, you get a view around here that probably won't have changed much for about 600 years.

0:17:45 > 0:17:49As you are travelling through this landscape, it was uncertain,

0:17:49 > 0:17:52you didn't really know who's territory you were walking into

0:17:52 > 0:17:56or what was waiting for you down in the valley bottom, either,

0:17:56 > 0:17:59and that's what Gawain was walking into the unknown.

0:17:59 > 0:18:05"In a strange region, he scales steep slopes.

0:18:05 > 0:18:09"Far from his friends he cuts a lonely figure.

0:18:09 > 0:18:13"Where he bridges a brook or wades through a waterway,

0:18:13 > 0:18:20"Ill-fortune brings him face-to-face with a foe so foul or fierce, he's bound to use force."

0:18:28 > 0:18:33This is the River Dee near Llangollen and if Gawain had made a journey north through Wales,

0:18:33 > 0:18:39at some point he would have had to have crossed this river and here would not have been the place.

0:18:39 > 0:18:44This is nature in full flow and this is the kind of thing that

0:18:44 > 0:18:48Gawain would have had to have contended with on his journey.

0:18:57 > 0:19:03Looking for a place to cross the river, Gawain travels northwards to the village of Holywell.

0:19:03 > 0:19:06It's an important place in Christian mythology.

0:19:06 > 0:19:10The sacred well's said to have healing powers.

0:19:10 > 0:19:14Lolita Laguy tells me she was cured of osteoporosis

0:19:14 > 0:19:18after dipping in the well and came to live here soon after.

0:19:18 > 0:19:23- So this is the actual wellspring, inside.- Yes. It is. Yes.

0:19:23 > 0:19:26Could you tell me about the legend at St Winifred?

0:19:26 > 0:19:31The story of St Winifred goes back to the 7th century.

0:19:31 > 0:19:34She was a young girl of 14 and born in Holywell.

0:19:34 > 0:19:39A young prince from Hawarden called Caradoc wanted to marry her

0:19:39 > 0:19:44and she refused him and he tried to rape her, but did not rape her.

0:19:44 > 0:19:47And he beheads her to keep her quiet.

0:19:47 > 0:19:53So her head rolled down from the hill, the same hill now, and ended up here, in this spot.

0:19:53 > 0:19:57And St Beuno put her head back on. Christ gave her the power to live again.

0:19:57 > 0:20:00She lived for another 15 years.

0:20:00 > 0:20:04So, her head was replaced on her shoulders and she came alive again?

0:20:04 > 0:20:10- Yes.- You see, that's very interesting to me, because in Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, the Green Knight is

0:20:10 > 0:20:14beheaded at Camelot, and he picks his own head up,

0:20:14 > 0:20:16puts it back on his neck and lives again.

0:20:16 > 0:20:21And I think it's very possible that whoever wrote that poem

0:20:21 > 0:20:24knew about this story and used it as a motif.

0:20:26 > 0:20:29Well, I'm too much of a coward to strip off and get in,

0:20:29 > 0:20:33but my feet are quite weary from following Gawain.

0:20:33 > 0:20:38If it's all right, I might take my shoes and socks off and dip my feet in.

0:20:38 > 0:20:40By all means.

0:20:40 > 0:20:43The Gawain poet toys with us all the way through the poem.

0:20:43 > 0:20:50Gawain's a devout Christian, he's full of faith, but his world is full of superstitions, as well.

0:20:50 > 0:20:52Witchcraft, magic and folklore.

0:20:52 > 0:20:59Coming here and talking to Lolita makes me realise that Christian and Pagan beliefs existed side by side.

0:21:00 > 0:21:03- That's pretty cold. - Isn't it lovely, though?

0:21:03 > 0:21:05It's lovely, in a sort of cold way.

0:21:07 > 0:21:09Yeah. It's nice.

0:21:09 > 0:21:14- To me, it's your faith. It's your faith that heals, actually. - Not just the water?

0:21:14 > 0:21:18Normally, I would ask someone to say Jesus, do a little prayer,

0:21:18 > 0:21:20make the sign of the cross, or Hail Marys.

0:21:20 > 0:21:24"He prayed with heavy heart.

0:21:24 > 0:21:29"Father, hear me, and Lady Mary, our mother most mild,

0:21:29 > 0:21:35"let me happen on some house where mass might be heard, and matins in the morning.

0:21:35 > 0:21:41"Meekly, I ask, and here I utter my Pater, Ave and Creed."

0:21:41 > 0:21:45See if that's done the trick, then.

0:21:45 > 0:21:46Thank you.

0:21:54 > 0:21:59So, Gawain makes his way through to the north of Wales and then leaves the Isles of Anglesey on his left,

0:21:59 > 0:22:03and finally arrives at the banks of the River Dee.

0:22:03 > 0:22:08And the poem implies that he crossed somewhere here and got to the other side into the Wirral.

0:22:08 > 0:22:13It was probably a little bit more beautiful than this in its day.

0:22:13 > 0:22:15Anyway, here we go.

0:22:23 > 0:22:26- All right?- Yeah.- Yeah. Good.

0:22:28 > 0:22:32I'm not much of a one for boats, myself. I'm a bit of a landlubber.

0:22:32 > 0:22:34All right?

0:22:47 > 0:22:52It's a wonderful moment when Gawain crosses the Dee. The poets

0:22:52 > 0:23:00say something about the wayward people of the Wirral, who both God and good men have quite given up on.

0:23:01 > 0:23:07It's funny as well, though, because it's a highly industrialised area.

0:23:07 > 0:23:12The forests that Gawain might have been walking into

0:23:12 > 0:23:17are now, basically, scrap yards, pylons, power stations.

0:23:17 > 0:23:21A new kind of forest, a new kind of obstacle.

0:23:27 > 0:23:30Can you just put us down over there and I'll hop off?

0:23:39 > 0:23:40Cheers.

0:23:40 > 0:23:44Gawain must have had some kind of internal compass, because even

0:23:44 > 0:23:50though he's wandering through unmapped territories, very slowly he's homing in on his destiny.

0:23:57 > 0:24:01Back in the 14th century, the world was an unexplained place,

0:24:01 > 0:24:07and nobody really understood or knew what forces were driving things, you know, whether it was religion,

0:24:07 > 0:24:15whether it was some other power or force, and you can imagine a man like Gawain out there, alone,

0:24:15 > 0:24:20especially at night, when it starts dropping dark, which it does very quickly in the winter.

0:24:20 > 0:24:24Long nights alone, unloved.

0:24:26 > 0:24:30"With nerves frozen numb, he napped in his armour,

0:24:30 > 0:24:34"bivouacked in the blackness amongst bare rocks."

0:24:36 > 0:24:43When I started translating Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, I suppose I thought of it as

0:24:43 > 0:24:50a big adventure story that would be about his tussles with giants, and green knights,

0:24:50 > 0:24:53and woodwose, and fighting people in the crags.

0:24:53 > 0:24:59But the more I went on, I came to think that a lot of it was about

0:24:59 > 0:25:03his tussle with his conscience, a sort of fight with himself, really.

0:25:03 > 0:25:07And sometimes fighting temptation and sometimes fighting fear.

0:25:07 > 0:25:11I mean, there is something quite exciting about being out here.

0:25:11 > 0:25:14It's quite romantic in some ways. On the other hand,

0:25:14 > 0:25:16it's bloody terrifying.

0:25:30 > 0:25:35"Next morning, he moves on. Skirts the mountainside, descends a deep forest,

0:25:35 > 0:25:40"densely overgrown with ancient oaks in huddles of hundreds, and vaulting hills

0:25:40 > 0:25:43"above each half of the valley."

0:25:46 > 0:25:50The Gawain poet wasn't a prophet anticipating global warming, but he

0:25:50 > 0:25:54knew full well that medieval society lived hand-in-hand with nature.

0:25:54 > 0:26:00He recognised its brutality and ferocity as well as its captivating beauty.

0:26:06 > 0:26:08The original poet might be anonymous to us,

0:26:08 > 0:26:13but I'm sure he had particular places in mind when he was writing.

0:26:13 > 0:26:19In my translation, the poem says, "Melt water streamed from the snowcapped summits,

0:26:19 > 0:26:26"which froze as it fell to the frost-glazed earth, and high overhead hung chandeliers of ice."

0:26:38 > 0:26:44You can imagine this completely covered over with ice, all sort of crystalline up there.

0:26:44 > 0:26:46Absolutely fantastic.

0:26:46 > 0:26:49The poem really brings this out.

0:27:05 > 0:27:12"No sooner had he signed himself three times, than he became aware, in those woods, of high walls

0:27:12 > 0:27:19"and a moat on a mound, boarded by the boughs of thick-trunked timber which trimmed the water.

0:27:19 > 0:27:24"The most commanding castle a knight ever kept."

0:27:25 > 0:27:30No-one knows for sure the castle where Gawain found refuge from the ravages of winter.

0:27:30 > 0:27:33It could have been somewhere like Beeston Castle,

0:27:33 > 0:27:36with its commanding views over the Cheshire Plain and beyond.

0:27:36 > 0:27:40Today, only its ruins remain.

0:27:50 > 0:27:55So, to get a taste of life inside the castle walls, I head to Haddon Hall in the Peak District.

0:28:05 > 0:28:08This would have been a very welcome sight

0:28:08 > 0:28:15to Gawain, after all those nights out on the tops, in the woods, in caves being chased by giants.

0:28:15 > 0:28:20Finally gets himself invited into somewhere safe and secure,

0:28:20 > 0:28:25bit of civilisation, promise of warmth, heat, something to eat.

0:28:25 > 0:28:28It was too good to be true, really.

0:28:35 > 0:28:40After all his trials and tribulations in the great outdoors,

0:28:40 > 0:28:45I think Gawain probably must have thought that all his birthdays and Christmases had come at once.

0:28:45 > 0:28:52He's taken to a room, they strip him of his armour, lighten his load and then clothe him in robes.

0:28:56 > 0:29:00He's brought to a banquet, where he meets Bertilak for the first time, his host.

0:29:00 > 0:29:04This man with a big, red, bushy beard.

0:29:04 > 0:29:08And a fantastic spread, a banquet, is laid on.

0:29:08 > 0:29:15"Staff came quickly and served him in style, with several soups all seasoned to taste.

0:29:15 > 0:29:20"Double helpings, as was fitting, and a feast of fish."

0:29:20 > 0:29:25It's a feature of the poem that, when people eat well, they really eat well.

0:29:25 > 0:29:31In this particular meal, it's breads and soups...

0:29:33 > 0:29:36..fish, cooked lots of different ways.

0:29:38 > 0:29:40I've been looking forward to this bit.

0:29:40 > 0:29:43The contrast couldn't be starker for Gawain.

0:29:43 > 0:29:48One minute he's starving hungry, the next, he's tucking into a banquet fit for a king.

0:29:48 > 0:29:53The poet isn't about to let Gawain or the reader relax in the warm glow of the hearth for long.

0:29:53 > 0:29:58As with all masterful storytelling, nothing is as it seems.

0:30:02 > 0:30:09"Once dinner was done, Gawain drew to his feet, and darkness neared as day became dusk.

0:30:09 > 0:30:14"Chaplains went off to the castle's chapels to sound the bells hard,

0:30:14 > 0:30:19"to signal the hour of Evensong, summoning each and every soul."

0:30:22 > 0:30:26Up to this point, Gawain's been facing a test of his courage,

0:30:26 > 0:30:31but now there's a new theme and a new character introduced.

0:30:31 > 0:30:35And this time, the theme is temptation.

0:30:36 > 0:30:44"The Lord goes alone, then his Lady arrives, concealing herself in a private pew.

0:30:44 > 0:30:47"She was fairest amongst them, her face,

0:30:47 > 0:30:50"her flesh, her complexion, her quality,

0:30:50 > 0:30:55"her bearing, her body, more glorious than Guinevere,

0:30:55 > 0:30:57"or so Gawain thought."

0:30:59 > 0:31:03I suppose we can think of Gawain as somebody not

0:31:03 > 0:31:06even out of adolescence.

0:31:06 > 0:31:09He would be, at that stage in his life, sort of pumping with hormones,

0:31:09 > 0:31:17and this time it's a challenge not to his head, but to his heart, and to some other body parts, as well.

0:31:17 > 0:31:22He's a virile young man, is our Gawain.

0:31:23 > 0:31:29Bertilak insists that Gawain must stay and rest in bed while he goes hunting with his men.

0:31:32 > 0:31:35Before they retire to bed, Bertilak,

0:31:35 > 0:31:40the host, makes a wager with Gawain. It's rather an odd wager.

0:31:40 > 0:31:47He says, "Whatever I win out in the field while I'm hunting, I will give to you, so long as you give to me

0:31:47 > 0:31:50"whatever you win in the house during my absence."

0:31:50 > 0:31:52And Gawain agrees, it seems easy enough.

0:31:52 > 0:32:00He's fought with woodwose and trolls and giants and bears, but a greater danger lies ahead.

0:32:02 > 0:32:08We're now entering the third act of the poem, where the storytelling becomes infused with innuendo,

0:32:08 > 0:32:11as it moves deftly between the bedroom and the hunt.

0:32:11 > 0:32:16"So through a lime leaf border, the lord led the hunt,

0:32:16 > 0:32:19"while snug in his sheets lay slumbering Gawain, dozing as

0:32:19 > 0:32:25"the daylight dappled the walls, under a splendid cover enclosed by curtains.

0:32:25 > 0:32:33"And while snoozing, he heard a slyly made sound, the sigh of a door swinging slowly aside.

0:32:33 > 0:32:38"It was she, the Lady, looking her loveliest,

0:32:38 > 0:32:43"most quietly and craftily closing the door, nearing the bed.

0:32:45 > 0:32:49"The Lady comes close, cradles him in her arms,

0:32:49 > 0:32:54"leans nearer and nearer, then kisses the knight."

0:32:55 > 0:33:01It's very interesting, as well, in a poem like this, which seems on the surface to be a Christian poem

0:33:01 > 0:33:05and have a moral message, and yet, what goes on in the bedroom here

0:33:05 > 0:33:09is pretty saucy, really. It's pretty raunchy.

0:33:13 > 0:33:17The seduction is heightened by the bloodlust in the fields.

0:33:20 > 0:33:24"As the cry went up, the wild creatures quaked.

0:33:24 > 0:33:29"The deer in the dale, quivering with dread, hurtled to high ground,

0:33:29 > 0:33:33"but were headed off by the ring of beaters who bawled and roared."

0:33:38 > 0:33:42The lord and all his men return from the hunt, and then, of course,

0:33:42 > 0:33:46the terms of the contract must be kept to,

0:33:46 > 0:33:49so Bertilak will give to Gawain all the venison that

0:33:49 > 0:33:52have been shot and butchered out there in the woods,

0:33:52 > 0:33:57and Gawain must give to Bertilak what he won in the house

0:33:57 > 0:34:01during the day, which is, of course, more than he bargained for, really.

0:34:01 > 0:34:04I think it must have been playing on his mind how he's going to deliver

0:34:04 > 0:34:09this kiss to a man with a big, bushy, red beard.

0:34:14 > 0:34:19# I've been trying to show you over and over

0:34:19 > 0:34:22# Look at these, my child-bearing hips

0:34:22 > 0:34:26# Look at these, my ruby-red ruby lips

0:34:26 > 0:34:30# Look at these, my work-strong arms

0:34:30 > 0:34:34# And you've got to see my bottle full of charms... #

0:34:34 > 0:34:41The intercutting between the bedroom scenes and the hunting scenes is very cleverly done.

0:34:41 > 0:34:46So instead of any description of any sort of sexual activity, what we get

0:34:46 > 0:34:50is the hunt, all very sexually charged,

0:34:50 > 0:34:56while in the bedroom, his wife is hunting down Gawain.

0:34:57 > 0:35:00# I lay it all at your feet

0:35:00 > 0:35:04# You turn around and say back to me

0:35:04 > 0:35:05# He said

0:35:05 > 0:35:08# Sheela-na-Gig, Sheela-na-Gig

0:35:08 > 0:35:12# You exhibitionist

0:35:12 > 0:35:16# Sheela-na-Gig, Sheela-na-Gig

0:35:16 > 0:35:19# You exhibitionist! #

0:35:34 > 0:35:37"She wore nothing on her face.

0:35:37 > 0:35:41"Her neck was naked, and her shoulders were bare to both back and breast.

0:35:41 > 0:35:47"And seeing her so lovely and alluringly dressed, a passionate heat takes hold in his heart."

0:35:51 > 0:35:57These bedroom scenes are highly dramatic, even theatrical in their own way.

0:35:57 > 0:36:04Over three days, the seduction gets more and more erotic, as the hunt gets more and more visceral.

0:36:08 > 0:36:14It's the contrast that works so powerfully. This is where the Gawain poet's such a skilled writer.

0:36:14 > 0:36:18He knows exactly what these counterpointed scenes can signify.

0:36:20 > 0:36:25I guess that this sort of technique won't have changed for hundreds of years, will it?

0:36:25 > 0:36:26I wouldn't have thought so.

0:36:27 > 0:36:33'Farmer Peter Body helped me research some of the more bloodthirsty aspects of the poem.'

0:36:33 > 0:36:35I don't think I'm going to like this bit!

0:36:36 > 0:36:42'The poem goes into full, uncensored details as it devotes over 30 lines to the carving up of the deer.

0:36:42 > 0:36:47'You can't but fear for poor Gawain as the knife slices through the flesh.'

0:36:47 > 0:36:50There's another term in the poem, grollicking.

0:36:50 > 0:36:55- We've just done it. We took the stomach out, all the organs. - So, pulling out the innards?

0:36:55 > 0:36:58Pulling out the innards. You pull out the innards,

0:36:58 > 0:37:01you check all the glands, make sure it's a really healthy animal.

0:37:01 > 0:37:03Then you can dispose of that, then.

0:37:03 > 0:37:07"Then the beasts were prised apart at the breast,

0:37:07 > 0:37:10"and they went to work on the grollicking again,

0:37:10 > 0:37:13"writhing up on the front as far as the hindfork,

0:37:13 > 0:37:14"fetching out the offal.

0:37:14 > 0:37:17"Then, with further purpose,

0:37:17 > 0:37:20"filleting the ribs in the recognised fashion."

0:37:20 > 0:37:22See, that's fit for anyone.

0:37:22 > 0:37:25Fit for a queen, it is!

0:37:25 > 0:37:30"Its hind legs prised apart, they slit the fleshy flaps,

0:37:30 > 0:37:34"then cleave and quickly start to break it down its back."

0:37:34 > 0:37:37Just...snap.

0:37:37 > 0:37:39Happy with that?

0:37:39 > 0:37:41- Yeah. Thank you.- You're welcome.

0:37:41 > 0:37:44- Have you washed your hands? - THEY CHUCKLE

0:37:49 > 0:37:53On the third occasion, as well as giving him three kisses,

0:37:53 > 0:37:58she offers him a ring, which he declines, but she then offers him a sash or a girdle.

0:37:58 > 0:38:04A green girdle, which she takes off, and says to Gawain, "This is a magical girdle,

0:38:04 > 0:38:07"and if you wear it, it will protect you against any evil."

0:38:07 > 0:38:11And this is a young man who's about to have his head cut off.

0:38:11 > 0:38:15And he looks at the sash and he thinks, "That might come in handy."

0:38:15 > 0:38:17And he keeps it.

0:38:22 > 0:38:25Sex, violence and death sit cheek by jowl in the poem.

0:38:25 > 0:38:30You wonder what fate belies Gawain when Bertilak returns for one final time from the hunt.

0:38:33 > 0:38:38He meets the master in the middle of the room, greets him graciously,

0:38:38 > 0:38:42with Gawain saying, "I shall first fulfil our formal agreement,

0:38:42 > 0:38:46"which we fixed in words when the drink flowed freely."

0:38:46 > 0:38:53He clasps him tight and kisses him three times, with as much emotion as a man could muster.

0:38:59 > 0:39:01Christmas is over. It's New Year's Eve.

0:39:01 > 0:39:06It's time for Gawain to leave the comfort and safety of the castle,

0:39:06 > 0:39:09to fulfil his promise with the Green Knight.

0:39:09 > 0:39:11But he's broken his wager.

0:39:11 > 0:39:17He's kept the green sash, and that sets up the fourth and final part of the poem.

0:39:24 > 0:39:28Gawain now sets off in search of the mysterious green chapel

0:39:28 > 0:39:30to confront his nemesis.

0:39:30 > 0:39:33It's now that the poem's location can be identified

0:39:33 > 0:39:35to an area of the Peak District

0:39:35 > 0:39:38near the Staffordshire market town of Leek.

0:39:40 > 0:39:44We know from dialect words in the poem that the author came from this part of the world.

0:39:44 > 0:39:49And being here, in this locality, really brings the poem alive.

0:39:49 > 0:39:53You get a keener sense of the poem from being among its place names

0:39:53 > 0:39:56and its horizons and its landmarks, and also its people.

0:40:00 > 0:40:04I want to find out how close I am to the language of the original poem,

0:40:04 > 0:40:08and how much the language here differs from my own Pennine dialect.

0:40:08 > 0:40:12So I've come to meet local farmers, Geoff Tunnicliffe and Ben Kid.

0:40:12 > 0:40:15- Hi. Hiya. Is it Geoff?- Yeah.

0:40:15 > 0:40:17Hiya, Geoff. Simon. Nice to meet you.

0:40:17 > 0:40:19- Ben, is it?- Yeah. That's it.

0:40:19 > 0:40:20Hiya. Nice to meet you.

0:40:20 > 0:40:24One of the things about the poem is that it was written at the end of 14th century,

0:40:24 > 0:40:29but they don't know who wrote it, but they think whoever it was came from this area.

0:40:29 > 0:40:33- Aye.- Because some of these old dialect words which might be from round here.

0:40:33 > 0:40:35- Can I just read them to you?- Yeah.

0:40:35 > 0:40:39See if they mean anything to you? OK. What about the word "misey"?

0:40:39 > 0:40:42That means "tight", in't it?

0:40:42 > 0:40:45- Tight, like miserly? - Yeah. That's it. Yeah. Yeah.

0:40:45 > 0:40:50- What about "mire"? - Mire? A mire is a brook, in't it?

0:40:53 > 0:40:55Yeah, like a mire.

0:40:55 > 0:40:57You know, like a pool, really.

0:40:57 > 0:40:59Yeah. Like a swamp?

0:40:59 > 0:41:02Like a swamp. That's what a mire is.

0:41:02 > 0:41:04- That's what it is in the poem. - That's right.

0:41:04 > 0:41:10What do you think, say in a couple of hundred years, what do you think will have happened to this dialect?

0:41:10 > 0:41:15It'll be gone altogether, cos there's nobody, you know, there's no local left.

0:41:15 > 0:41:17Your money men have come and bought these places,

0:41:17 > 0:41:22and they just lose it, don't they? Cos there aren't many farms left now to what there used to be.

0:41:22 > 0:41:26Last question. Aren't you cold?!

0:41:26 > 0:41:29- No.- I am!- I am an' all! - THEY CHUCKLE

0:41:29 > 0:41:32- I'm all right.- Where there's no sense, there's no feeling.

0:41:32 > 0:41:35Yeah. He's dead right! Yeah.

0:41:39 > 0:41:44I suppose it was too much to hope that they'd still be speaking fluent Middle English,

0:41:44 > 0:41:48but there is another clue to the poem having its roots in North Staffordshire.

0:41:48 > 0:41:54The area's very special landscape, dominated by rocky outcrops, known as the roaches.

0:41:56 > 0:42:01"It looks a wild place, no sign of a settlement anywhere to be seen,

0:42:01 > 0:42:04"but heady heights to both halves of the valley,

0:42:04 > 0:42:08"and set with sabretooth stones of such sharpness,

0:42:08 > 0:42:11"no cloud in the sky could escape unscratched."

0:42:13 > 0:42:18Just across the valley from the roaches stand the ruins of the medieval Dieulacres Abbey.

0:42:20 > 0:42:25As a centre of Christian learning, it could well be connected to the Gawain poem.

0:42:25 > 0:42:28The author might even have been a monk here. Who knows?

0:42:28 > 0:42:34A possible clue has been uncovered by local historians Doug Pickford and Father Michael Fisher.

0:42:34 > 0:42:38The abbot was a considerable landowner in the community, and they

0:42:38 > 0:42:42had bands of servants, retainers, some of whom got up to no good,

0:42:42 > 0:42:49and they picked a quarrel, or they had a quarrel with a local man named John Walton, and he was killed.

0:42:49 > 0:42:53Several of these abbots' retainers struck blows

0:42:53 > 0:42:54and stuck swords in him,

0:42:54 > 0:42:58but the coup de grace was when they beheaded him.

0:42:58 > 0:43:01And this beheading, around about 1379, may or may not

0:43:01 > 0:43:05have influenced the Gawain story, which has the beheading game as a centrepiece.

0:43:05 > 0:43:12Absolutely. The poem is famously anonymous, and it's unlikely that an author will ever be named,

0:43:12 > 0:43:18but if you were to try and build up a portrait or a profile of somebody from that

0:43:18 > 0:43:21period of history who could have written such a poem,

0:43:21 > 0:43:25what kind of man, what kind of person would that be?

0:43:25 > 0:43:29I feel, first of all, that he was a local man to be able to

0:43:29 > 0:43:33write it in the local dialect, so he was aware of the local dialect.

0:43:33 > 0:43:36- Scholarly?- Scholarly, undoubtedly.

0:43:36 > 0:43:42- And as I said before, probably a bit of an impish man, I'd like to feel that he was, you know.- In what sense?

0:43:42 > 0:43:47Because I do think he's having a go, number one, at the abbot, somewhere in the beheading,

0:43:47 > 0:43:52and there's so many little things, satirical things, that he brings into it.

0:43:52 > 0:43:55And it would take a very clever person.

0:43:55 > 0:43:58And of course, I think I'm correct, the monks were probably the only

0:43:58 > 0:44:01educated people, weren't they, at that time?

0:44:01 > 0:44:02Yes. I think that's right. Yes.

0:44:02 > 0:44:05- Smart. Mischievous.- Yes.

0:44:05 > 0:44:07- And local.- I would say so.

0:44:07 > 0:44:09- Good qualities for a poet, I would say!- Indeed!

0:44:20 > 0:44:23I'm spending the last night of my Gawain odyssey

0:44:23 > 0:44:27in a small climber's cottage hewn out of the roaches themselves.

0:44:33 > 0:44:37A suitably odd and creepy place to stay the night before

0:44:37 > 0:44:40going off to find the green chapel in the morning.

0:44:47 > 0:44:50Being in this part of the world, retracing these steps,

0:44:50 > 0:44:54leads you closer to the atmosphere of the original poet somehow.

0:44:54 > 0:44:58It makes you feel a sort of kinship, I think.

0:44:58 > 0:45:02And, I guess, when you translate something, that's what you're after.

0:45:02 > 0:45:06You're trying to harmonise with this old text.

0:45:09 > 0:45:12I also recognise, I think, in the author of the poem,

0:45:12 > 0:45:18somebody who doesn't really have a moral message to give us.

0:45:18 > 0:45:21He's not somebody with a dogmatic message,

0:45:21 > 0:45:23a sort of fixed view of the world.

0:45:23 > 0:45:25The poem is much better than that.

0:45:25 > 0:45:27It's far more playful.

0:45:29 > 0:45:33"Alert and listening, Gawain lies in his bed.

0:45:33 > 0:45:41"His lids are lowered but he sleeps very little, as each crow of the cock brings his destiny closer."

0:45:41 > 0:45:45- Good morning.- You all right?- I'm well. How are you?- Good, thanks.

0:45:45 > 0:45:50The next morning, Doug picks me up to guide me towards the green chapel,

0:45:50 > 0:45:54sometimes thought to be the strange geological formation Lud's Church.

0:45:56 > 0:46:00"Then he went on his way with the one whose task was to point out

0:46:00 > 0:46:06"the road to that perilous place where the knight would receive the slaughterman's strike.

0:46:06 > 0:46:13"They scrambled up bankings where branches were bare, clambered up cliff faces crazed by the cold.

0:46:13 > 0:46:21"The clouds which had climbed now cooled and dropped, so the moors and the mountains were muzzy with mist.

0:46:21 > 0:46:25"And every hill wore a hat of mizzle on its head."

0:46:30 > 0:46:36A great many of the nature beauty spots in this country do have magic and religion,

0:46:36 > 0:46:43sometimes primitive religion, associated with them, and these peaks are no exception.

0:46:43 > 0:46:47So they're beautiful, and they're a bit spooky as well.

0:46:50 > 0:46:52You can see the boardstone just up there.

0:46:53 > 0:46:58- The boardstone is an ancient structure, said to have magical powers.- Good to see you.

0:46:58 > 0:47:04- We've arranged to meet local pagan Chris Brown at the stone.- Simon.

0:47:04 > 0:47:06- Simon. Hi.- Nice to meet you.

0:47:06 > 0:47:09Brought you a little gift, there.

0:47:09 > 0:47:12Oh, thank you very much. I'll pop this on the stone.

0:47:12 > 0:47:15Is this a pagan site?

0:47:15 > 0:47:20It's a site that's significant to members of the pagan community round here.

0:47:20 > 0:47:24It's obviously an erection that goes back to ancient times,

0:47:24 > 0:47:28and one of the tenants of the pagan faith is keeping the old ways alive.

0:47:28 > 0:47:32But, of course, the Christian church use it as well as a healing stone.

0:47:32 > 0:47:37Sick people were brought up until the 1940s, the Second World War,

0:47:37 > 0:47:40and they had to crawl underneath it to knock the devil off the back.

0:47:40 > 0:47:43I don't think I'll bother today!

0:47:43 > 0:47:46Is there a pagan element to The Green Knight?

0:47:46 > 0:47:49With it taking place in Lud's Church, which is an absolutely

0:47:49 > 0:47:52awesome place, to a pagan, you're actually going into the ground,

0:47:52 > 0:47:56you're going into the great earth mother, you're offering yourself,

0:47:56 > 0:47:58if you like, to the great earth mother.

0:47:58 > 0:48:01So it is a thing that would have great pagan significance, yes.

0:48:01 > 0:48:03- We're on our way.- All right. Yeah.

0:48:03 > 0:48:05- Cheers, Chris.- See you.- Bye.

0:48:05 > 0:48:11'So it seems as if primitive religion is alive and well on the wet and windy roaches.

0:48:11 > 0:48:14'It's as if the Gawain poet's reeling us in to the heart

0:48:14 > 0:48:19'of a pagan landscape, where the climax of the poem will be played out.'

0:48:19 > 0:48:25Here we are at a windswept Doxey Pool, the site of many a legend.

0:48:25 > 0:48:29- It's a pretty miserable place!- Yeah.

0:48:31 > 0:48:33Which direction for Lud's Church?

0:48:33 > 0:48:36Right. Well, we're turning over there. Just keep following the path

0:48:36 > 0:48:39down to the valley and turn left through the woods, and good luck.

0:48:39 > 0:48:40Thanks, Doug. Cheers. All right.

0:48:40 > 0:48:43- Ta-ra.- OK.- See you. Bye.

0:48:43 > 0:48:48"And his servant lifts his shield, which he slings on his shoulder

0:48:48 > 0:48:53"The place you head for holds a hidden peril

0:48:53 > 0:48:58"In that wilderness lives a wild man, the worst in the world

0:48:58 > 0:49:02"He is brooding and brutal and loves bludgeoning humans."

0:49:05 > 0:49:08It's almost a comic moment in the poem,

0:49:08 > 0:49:14when the guide finally brings Gawain towards the Green Chapel.

0:49:14 > 0:49:17He seems to be saying to him, "If you want to chicken out now,

0:49:17 > 0:49:21"that's fine, I won't tell, it'll be OK."

0:49:21 > 0:49:26But Gawain, um, because he's determined and he has faith,

0:49:26 > 0:49:29he's going to carry on, and so am I.

0:49:29 > 0:49:32I'm within striking distance now, and I'm looking forward

0:49:32 > 0:49:36to getting into Lud's Church, er, if only for a bit of shelter.

0:49:58 > 0:50:02At least it's not as wet here.

0:50:02 > 0:50:05I've dried out a bit down inside this valley.

0:50:05 > 0:50:08I've been trying to use the poem as a map.

0:50:08 > 0:50:12There are references to various landmarks and places here.

0:50:12 > 0:50:15He says, "He presses ahead, picks up a path,

0:50:15 > 0:50:20"enters a steep-sided groove on his steed, then goes by and by to the bottom of a gorge."

0:50:20 > 0:50:23And then there's reference as well to a river.

0:50:23 > 0:50:27"A sort of bald knoll on the bank of a brook

0:50:27 > 0:50:31"where fellwater surged with frenzied force."

0:50:31 > 0:50:34I don't know. It could be here.

0:50:34 > 0:50:38It's not exactly the Ordnance Survey.

0:50:46 > 0:50:50Of course, Gawain would have been pretty terrified at this point.

0:50:50 > 0:50:53He's about to meet his destiny. I'm looking forward to it.

0:50:53 > 0:50:57I think, for me, there's a sense of achievement and excitement

0:50:57 > 0:51:00in getting here, but then again, I'm not gonna have my head cut off.

0:51:00 > 0:51:02As far as I know.

0:51:14 > 0:51:19There's a marker here on the wall, "Lud", so that's pretty unambiguous.

0:51:19 > 0:51:21And, er...

0:51:21 > 0:51:25I guess this is where you go in.

0:51:26 > 0:51:29Bit of a scramble up these steps.

0:51:29 > 0:51:33Very wet and damp.

0:51:35 > 0:51:39Even at this point, it feels cold.

0:51:39 > 0:51:42It's a couple of degrees colder already.

0:51:44 > 0:51:48'This truly feels like a suitably pagan site.

0:51:48 > 0:51:52'Lud is actually the Celtic sun god, and if this were the inspiration

0:51:52 > 0:51:55'for the Green Chapel, it would certainly make sense.'

0:52:10 > 0:52:14"For certain," he says, "this is a soulless spot,

0:52:14 > 0:52:20"A ghostly cathedral overgrown with grass, the kind of kirk where

0:52:20 > 0:52:24"that camouflaged man might deal in devilment and all things dark."

0:52:28 > 0:52:32Gawain has now walked hundreds of miles across open land,

0:52:32 > 0:52:35and suddenly, the walls are narrowing.

0:52:35 > 0:52:38He's walked into a trap. It's a dead end up there,

0:52:38 > 0:52:43and he stands here and he listens, and he calls it ghostly and he calls it soulless.

0:52:43 > 0:52:49And then suddenly, he hears an axe being sharpened on a rock.

0:52:52 > 0:52:56"Abide, came a voice from above the bank

0:52:56 > 0:53:00"You'll cop what's coming to you quickly enough"

0:53:00 > 0:53:04"Yet he went at his work, wetting the blade,

0:53:04 > 0:53:08"not showing until it was sharpened and stropped."

0:53:12 > 0:53:15So the Green Knight appears at the top

0:53:15 > 0:53:19and makes his way down here with his axe,

0:53:19 > 0:53:24and Gawain must keep his promise, and he offers his neck.

0:53:24 > 0:53:30And we might think that this is probably the end for our hero, but...

0:53:30 > 0:53:33he's concealed about his person

0:53:33 > 0:53:39the green sash given to him by the lady in the castle.

0:53:39 > 0:53:46And if her word is true, this is going to keep him from harm.

0:53:53 > 0:53:58As with so many things in the poem, the next scene comes in threes.

0:53:58 > 0:54:01The Green Knight tries to behead Gawain on three occasions.

0:54:01 > 0:54:04The first time, Gawain ducks out of the way.

0:54:04 > 0:54:06The second time, the Green Knight misses.

0:54:06 > 0:54:09And the third time, he just nicks him on his neck.

0:54:09 > 0:54:12He just sheds a little bit of blood.

0:54:12 > 0:54:14And then Gawain escapes with his life.

0:54:17 > 0:54:20"Gawain leapt forward a spear's length, at least,

0:54:20 > 0:54:23"grabbed hold of his helmet and rammed it on his head,

0:54:23 > 0:54:26"brought his shield to his side with a shimmy of his shoulder,

0:54:26 > 0:54:32"then brandished his sword before blurting out brave words, because never, since birth,

0:54:32 > 0:54:37"as his mother's babe, was he half as happy as here and now."

0:54:47 > 0:54:52All the threads of the poem are pulled together at this point.

0:54:52 > 0:54:56The Green Knight reveals to Gawain that he was Bertilak.

0:54:56 > 0:55:01He was the lord and master of the house with the big, bushy, red beard,

0:55:01 > 0:55:06and that it was his wife who was sent to tempt and to trick Gawain.

0:55:06 > 0:55:12And Gawain's full of shame and embarrassment for not revealing that

0:55:12 > 0:55:17he'd received this sash, this girdle, from the lady.

0:55:17 > 0:55:23But the Green Knight tells Gawain that he is a good man, and that's why he's being allowed to live.

0:55:23 > 0:55:28So, fully humiliated, and with his tail between his legs,

0:55:28 > 0:55:35Gawain now makes his way back to Camelot to explain his quest to the round table.

0:56:02 > 0:56:06'So the Green Knight might be a terrifying, monstrous creation,

0:56:06 > 0:56:09'but in testing Gawain, it teaches the young knight

0:56:09 > 0:56:13'a lesson in humility, one that he'll never forget.'

0:56:15 > 0:56:18'When we're young, like Gawain, we make big statements

0:56:18 > 0:56:21'about what we're gonna do in our life, what we hope to achieve,

0:56:21 > 0:56:25'and then we've to set about trying to put those things into practice.

0:56:25 > 0:56:29'And, in that sense, I think this is a poem, I suppose,

0:56:29 > 0:56:32'to use the cliche, about the journey of life,

0:56:32 > 0:56:36'and whether we can arrive at the destination that we declare.'

0:56:47 > 0:56:50I'm back at Camelot. I suppose I've come full circle,

0:56:50 > 0:56:54just as the poem turns full circle as well.

0:56:54 > 0:56:58One thing I've been thinking about across this journey is

0:56:58 > 0:57:01the idea of something lasting for 600 years.

0:57:01 > 0:57:04I mean, it's a pretty remarkable thing.

0:57:10 > 0:57:15It's not just that it's a fantastic story or a wonderful piece of writing, which it is.

0:57:15 > 0:57:19It's because we can all see a bit of ourselves in Gawain.

0:57:20 > 0:57:23And so in that sense, it's a poem about the individual,

0:57:23 > 0:57:26and if you can write a poem about the individual

0:57:26 > 0:57:28that appeals to the individual,

0:57:28 > 0:57:31then you're going to appeal to absolutely everybody.

0:57:35 > 0:57:38It's been an eye-opening and mind-expanding journey,

0:57:38 > 0:57:41quite literally full of ups and downs,

0:57:41 > 0:57:46and I've been doing a little bit of writing of my own along the way, because that's what poets do.

0:57:48 > 0:57:50"Time now to rise,

0:57:50 > 0:57:56"to strike out with clenched heart and no map, bar the view from the peak,

0:57:56 > 0:57:59"where the west wind pummels your cheeks,

0:57:59 > 0:58:01"leads with its granite fists

0:58:01 > 0:58:06"Days of rain, rain that permeates the bone

0:58:06 > 0:58:09"Personal rain, persecuting the soul

0:58:09 > 0:58:13"Days when the promised lake is a dishwater pond

0:58:13 > 0:58:16"run from a grey cloud onto a dead hill

0:58:16 > 0:58:20"Eat what the rook or crow leaves on its plate

0:58:20 > 0:58:24"Bed down where even the fox won't sleep

0:58:24 > 0:58:27"Till the way narrows and holts,

0:58:27 > 0:58:30"and you wait in armour or anorak under the ridge

0:58:30 > 0:58:34"With a campfire tan and hedgerow hair,

0:58:34 > 0:58:38"and a God looks down, silent, stony-faced,

0:58:38 > 0:58:40"bearded with living moss

0:58:40 > 0:58:42"This is the place

0:58:42 > 0:58:45"The journey over, and the story told

0:58:45 > 0:58:49"The yarn at the end of its long, green thread

0:58:49 > 0:58:53"Speak now for all that you're worth, as the blade

0:58:53 > 0:58:56"swoons in judgement over your pretty head."

0:58:58 > 0:58:59Subtitles by Red Bee Media Limited

0:58:59 > 0:59:01E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk