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A new version of the Middle English poem Pearl, from the acclaimed poet and translator of Gawain and the Green Knight.
Simon Armitage’s version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight garnered front-page reviews across two continents and confirmed his reputation as a leading translator.
This new work is an entrancing allegorical tale of grief and lost love, as the narrator is led on a Dantean journey through sorrow to redemption by his vanished beloved, Pearl. Retaining all the alliterative music of the original, a Medieval English poem thought to be by the same anonymous author responsible for Gawain, Pearl is here brought to vivid and intricate life in care of one of the finest poets writing today.
Praise for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:
‘Takes you back closer to something of the thrill and the wonder the poem would have had in the days when it was composed. It might even be the best translation of any poem I’ve ever seen … [Armitage] was put on the planet to translate this poem.’ Guardian
‘[Armitage] captures his dialect and his landscape and takes great pains to render the tale’s alliterative texture and drive … He has given us an energetic, free-flowing, high-spirited version.’ New Yorker
Simon Armitage was born in West Yorkshire and is Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds. A recipient of numerous prizes and awards, his collections of poetry include Seeing Stars (2010), The Unaccompanied (2017), Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic (2019), Magnetic Field (2020) and his acclaimed translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (2007). He writes extensively for television…
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