It's a shame we don't know this guy's name, because the stuff he wrote is unquestionably awesome. Known now only as the Gawain Poet (or the Pearl Poet, for reasons you'll soon see), our dude was from a region in England called the North West Midlands. This is an area along the Welsh border of the U.K.

So, the dialect of Middle English these poems are written in is much more difficult than the London-speak Chaucer wrote in. This is mainly because the Gawain Poet's version borrows heavily from Welsh. It's also closer to the original Old English than Chaucer's version.

We only know of four works that the Gawain Poet left behind, and all of these are contained in one manuscript. You heard us: one manuscript. Period.

Like Beowulf, the Pearl Manuscript—as it's sometimes called, after one of the works contained in it—somehow miraculously beat the odds of surviving any number of horrible things that could have gone wrong since the 14th century. So we are able to enjoy it today.

The manuscript includes four poems that scholars commonly agree were written by the Gawain poet (and another, which was probably not written by the same dude). The four he probably wrote are: Pearl (an allegorical dream vision); Cleanness (a sermon about purity); Patience (another sermon, this one about—you guessed it—the value of being patient); and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. All of these poems are written in alliterative verse.

Throughout the works, the Gawain poet shows an amazing range of knowledge. He throws in details relating to everything from jewelry making to hunting, dressing game (which unfortunately doesn't mean playing dress-up with cute little animals), and seamanship.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

This is a fine example of a courtly romance. In fact, it's right up there with some of the most memorable Arthurian narratives. It also stands out in how it combines three folk tales that were popular during the Middle Ages: the beheading game (doesn't sound so fun to us), the exchange of winnings, and the chastity test.

A pretty unique mix, don't you think?

The Gawain Poet also gives us a bonus in this romance: a unique poetic stanza form called the "bob and wheel." It's five short lines that rhyme according to an ABABA, pattern. And the first of those lines is way short—only two syllables). As in: fun, fun.

Chew on This

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight isn't all idealized courtly romance. In fact, if you've ever had fantasies about being a knight, this poem'll teach you that it's not all it's cracked up to be. If the armor doesn't weigh you down (literally), then the weather will get you. Check out Quote #5 here, and riddle us this, Bat-men and -women: Why do you think the gritty, everyday details of knighthood are usually absent from most tales? What might be some other challenges of knighthood that most stories conveniently leave out?

Gawain seems like the most perfect of knights in this poem, so what's up with Lady Bertilak questioning his identity several times? Well, take a look at the description of Gawain's character in Le Morte D'Arthur. This work provides us with a very different picture of Gawain, right? In fact, far from being the epitome of courtesy, that Gawain is kind of a jerk who lets his temper get the best of him every time. Lady Bertilak's confusion kind of makes sense now. The poet, then, is playing around with the fact that there were a number of versions of Gawain floating around in the medieval ether. What do you think the Gawain Poet's choice signifies, exactly? And how might his choice relate to the Alliterative Revival, where poets reached back to a more Anglo-Saxon style verse form?