Editing Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (section)

=="Gawain Poet"==
{{Main|Gawain Poet}}  
Though the real name of the "''Gawain'' Poet" (or poets) is unknown, some inferences about them can be drawn from an informed reading of their works. The manuscript of ''Gawain'' is known in academic circles as Cotton Nero A.x., following a naming system used by one of its owners, the 16th-century [[Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington|Sir Robert Bruce Cotton]], a collector of medieval English texts.<ref name="ucalgary">{{cite web| title = Web Resources for Pearl-poet Study: A Vetted Selection| publisher = Univ. of Calgary| url = https://www.ucalgary.ca/~scriptor/cotton/blog.html| access-date = 1 April 2007}}</ref> Before the ''Gawain'' manuscript came into Cotton's possession, it was in the library of [[Henry Savile (born 1568)|Henry Savile]] in [[Yorkshire]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stanbury |first1=Sarah |editor1-last=Stanbury |editor1-first=Sarah |title=Pearl |date=2001 |publisher=Medieval Institute Publications |location=Kalamazoo, Mich. |isbn=978-1580440332 |url=https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/publication/stanbury-pearl |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/stanbury-pearl-introduction}}</ref> Little is known about its previous ownership, and until 1824, when the manuscript was introduced to the academic community in a second edition of [[Thomas Warton]]'s ''[[The History of English Poetry|History]]'', edited by [[Richard Price (British historian)|Richard Price]], it was almost entirely unknown. Even then, the ''Gawain'' poem was not published in its entirety until 1839, which is when it was given its present title.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Turville-Petre |first1=Thorlac |title=The alliterative revival |date=1977 |publisher=D.S. Brewer |location=Cambridge, Eng. |isbn=0-85991-019-9 |pages=126–129}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Burrow |first1=J. A. |title=Ricardian poetry : Chaucer, Gower, Langland, and the Gawain poet |date=1971 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=0-7100-7031-4 |pages=4–5}}</ref> Now held in the [[British Library]], it has been dated to the late 14th century, meaning the poet was a contemporary of [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], author of ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]'', though it is unlikely that they ever met, and the Gawain poet's English is considerably different from Chaucer's.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Black |editor1-first=Joseph |title=The Broadview anthology of British literature: The Medieval Period |date=2006 |publisher=Broadview Press |location=Peterborough, Ont. |isbn=1-55111-609-X |page=235 |volume=1}}</ref> The three other works found in the same manuscript as ''Gawain'' (commonly known as ''Pearl'', ''Patience'', and ''Cleanness'' or ''Purity'') are often considered to be written by the same author. However, the manuscript containing these poems was transcribed by a [[Scribe|copyist]] and not by the original poet. Although nothing explicitly suggests that all four poems are by the same poet, comparative analysis of dialect, verse form, and diction have pointed towards single authorship.<ref name = poet>{{cite book |last1=Nelles |first1=William |editor1-last=Magill |editor1-first=Frank Northern |editor2-last=Kohler |editor2-first=Dayton |title=Cyclopedia of World Authors |date=1958 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |location=New York |edition=4 |chapter=The Pearl Poet}}</ref>

What is known today about the poet is general. J. R. R. Tolkien and [[E. V. Gordon|E.V. Gordon]], after reviewing the text's allusions, style, and themes, concluded in 1925:
{{blockquote|He was a man of serious and devout mind, though not without humour; he had an interest in theology, and some knowledge of it, though an amateur knowledge perhaps, rather than a professional; he had Latin and French and was well enough read in French books, both romantic and instructive; but his home was in the West Midlands of England; so much his language shows, and his metre, and his scenery.<ref name = Tolkien/>}}

[[File:Wenceslas Hollar - St Erkenwald (monument) (State 2).jpg|alt=shrine of a Saint|thumb|The Shrine of St Erkenwald: the Saxon prince, bishop and saint is thought by some to have inspired the poet who wrote Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to write another eponymous poem.]]

The most commonly suggested candidate for authorship is [[John Massey (poet)|John Massey]] of Cotton, Cheshire.<ref>{{cite journal| last1 = Peterson| first1 = Clifford J| year = 1974| title = The Pearl-Poet and John Massey of Cotton, Cheshire| journal = The Review of English Studies |series=New Series| volume = 25| issue = 99| pages = 257–266| doi=10.1093/res/xxv.99.257}}</ref> He is known to have lived in the dialect region of the Gawain Poet and is thought to have written the poem ''[[St. Erkenwald (poem)|St. Erkenwald]]'', which some scholars argue bears stylistic similarities to ''Gawain''. ''St. Erkenwald'', however, has been dated by some scholars to a time outside the Gawain Poet's era. Thus, ascribing authorship to John Massey is still controversial, and most critics consider the Gawain Poet an unknown.<ref name = poet/>