EIL 4.3 Spenser, Gawain, and Arthurian Context

British Literature Module 4.3

Study Guide: British Literature (Excellence in Literature, English 4)
Spenser, Gawain, and the Arthurian Legend

Focus Texts: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c. 1375–1400)

The Faerie Queene (Book 1) by Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1679)

You may read the assigned portions (see study guide) in an annotated version of The Faerie Queene (my favorite is edited by A. C. Hamilton) or at the links below. If you use the Gutenberg version, copy the assigned portion to a text file (choose “select all” and “copy” from the file menu), format it, and print it out for easy reading and annotation.

Faerie Queene Introductory Materials

http://cola.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl331/fq.html

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15272

Honors Text: Le Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Malory

EIL 4.3 Context Links

These links represent only the online resources referenced in this module. Instructions, background information, offline resources, and assignments are all found in the Excellence in Literature study guide listed above.

Readings

https://www.excellence-in-literature.com/letter-to-sir-walter-raleigh-by-edmund-spenser

King Arthur Legends

http://people.clas.ufl.edu/jshoaf/arthurnet/arthur-from-scratch/

https://www.arthurian-legend.com

http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/gawain.htm

https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03691a.htm

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/allegory.html

Optional additional readings

The Story of King Arthur and his Knights by Howard Pyle

King Arthur and His Knights by Elizabeth Lodor Merchant

Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

The Arthurian Companion by Phyllis Ann Karr

http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/gawain.htm

The Author’s Life

https://www.excellence-in-literature.com/edmund-spenser-author-of-the-faerie-queene

http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/spensbio.htm

http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/spenseronline/scholarly-resources/biography/

Poetry

The Idylls of the King by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

https://www.excellence-in-literature.com/idylls-of-the-king-written-by-alfred-lord-tennyson

Audio

http://librivox.org/the-faerie-queene-book-1-by-edmund-spenser/

Abridged introduction:

http://librivox.org/king-arthur-and-his-knights-by-maude-l-radford/

Le Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Malory

http://librivox.org/le-morte-darthur-volume-1-by-sir-thomas-malory/

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

http://archive.org/details/king-arthur-gordon-strong

Music

http://www.acc.umu.se/~akadkor/early/IVM2.html

https://www.excellence-in-literature.com/the-nightingale-english-madrigal/

https://www.professorcarol.com/2019/03/08/byrd-miserere/

http://www.acc.umu.se/~akadkor/early/IVM7_Byrd_William.html

Video

Gawain and the Green Knight (1973)

https://www.excellence-in-literature.com/knights-of-the-round-table-1953-movie-trailer

Optional:

Visual Arts

https://www.excellence-in-literature.com/arthurian-images-by-pre-raphaelites/

http://www.illusionsgallery.com/Guinevere.html

http://www.illusionsgallery.com/King-Arthur-Butler.html

http://www.illusionsgallery.com/Death-Arthur-Carrick.html

http://www.illusionsgallery.com/Galahad.html

Historical Context

https://www.excellence-in-literature.com/the-age-which-produced-the-faerie-queene/

https://www.ancient.eu/article/1068/the-historical-king-arthur/

http://www.lepg.org/sixteen.htm

https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/1/16th_century.htm

https://www.glastonburyabbey.com

https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Europe/The-Middle-Ages

http://core.ecu.edu/umc/Munster/index.html

Just for Fun

http://www.ehow.com/how_8330816_speak-read-old-english.html

http://www.ancientquest.com/links/ – Site under maintenance

Index of British Literature context link pages

Note: All Amazon links are affiliate links provided for your convenience; full information in footer.

British Literature Texts (recommended editions)

British Lit study guide, and links to focus and honors texts (opens in a new tab at the author’s Everyday Education site)