Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an interesting piece of literature. It is classified as a poem but seems to be more like a story. The characters in the story show a strong respect and faith in the christian/Catholic religion that is repeated through much of the first two fitts. It is clear in the story that this poem tells a tale parallel to that of King Arthur and the Knights of the round table.
The amount of detail throughout the poem is interesting in the fact that each action and main character is described in great detail, with every article of clothing and each of their features described to give the reader a sense of exactly what they look like. The Green Knight although we only encounter him once in the first two fitts is described to give the reader and exact sense of his demeanor as well as his looks. Much like a story the reader of the poem is left with a sense of wonder about who and what the Green Knight is and what will happen. The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight seems like a poem that is meant to be told as a sort of campfire or children story to display a lesson while keeping whoever may be listening to want to hear more. I am left with a question of why write this story to tale in the form of a poem rather then a story? Was this sort of method common during the time period this piece was written to covey a story or message?
Good points! I also thought that this story seemed to be more like a fairy-tale type story than something based on true facts. The poetic sound of this work makes it read like a fantasy and gives it an airy “fake” feeling. The inside look on the life inside the kingdom is always something seen in fairytales. Perhaps it was a new form of story telling that was becoming popular during this time.
The poem really does bring great detail with it and it helps us see what it might have been like to be in a place like this first hand. To me it was just like some kind of fairy tale and it reminded me of dungeons and dragons. But I do agree with you the story has some kind of moral that was probably used to be told to kids and passed down to other generations.
I agree with your statement about the immense amount of detail in the text. It created a vivid image in my mind about what each article of clothing looked like. The end of each paragraph seemed like a poem to me, but that was all. The rest of the text felt like a story to me, especially since it taught a lesson towards the end.