I first started reading this a couple years ago, but I never got past the first canto–not because I was bored or didn’t like the story, but simply because I had been reading it on the side and I forgot to keep up with it. I remember not being terribly impressed with it, considering I wasn’t very fond of Gawain’s love, Elfinhart, or even Gawain himself. However, when I picked it up again and just read it straight through in one sitting (and aloud), I just fell in love with it. It’s so lilting and beautifully written, and while I know every Arthurian writer has a habit of calling every knight the “most virtuous” or pure or whatever, you really do start to believe it of this version of Gawain. I really can’t think of anything I disliked about it, except maybe that poetry isn’t usually my genre of choice.

What I Liked:

So, when I was maybe sixteen or so, I read the first canto of this poem in some of my spare time, and then I just didn't find time to read the rest. Between books now, I decided that, as short as it is, I would just go through it and finish the whole thing (and also start over, of course, since it's been almost three years since I'd initially started it).

When I first started reading this, way back when, I remember thinking the whole thing was ridiculous. I love Gawayne, don't get me wrong, but I was pretty infuriated that he was doing this whole thing for someone as crappy as Elfinhart. I really didn't like her, and I thought Gawayne was pretty much an idiot for agreeing to have his head chopped off just to impress her. Buuuuuuuut, in the second canto, you get Elfinhart's whole background and stuff and it all made so much more sense, and my shipper heart gave in.

Charlton Miner Lewis is an amazing storyteller, as well. I loved this cute little rhymes and narrator inserts, and I normally don't like poetry very much, but I couldn't find any fault with this poem. It was beautifully constructed, and it was also incredibly interested to compare the Gawayne in this poem with the Gawain featured in The Once and Future King, who seem like completely separate characters. One more reason why I love the Arthurian universe so much! <3