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A great amount of critical commentary has been published on "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" since the poem first appeared in print in 1839. In recent years, it has become clearer that its author is dealing with profoundly important questions when he shows Gawain alone, in a baffling and inhuman world, drawn between the demands of the perfect truth to which he has pledged himself, and his own mortal imperfection. The essays in this book show the variety of modern critical approaches to "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and to medieval literature in general. Although the emphasis of this volume is on the poem's meaning and its literary qualities, some essays throw light on the poem by examining fourteenth-century attitudes toward chivalry, or the legendary history of Gawain. The contributors demonstrate that "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is not only the finest of the Middle English romances, but one of the great English poems. -- From publisher's description.