Scene 2: Woodland Topography and Contrasting Seasons
Many klyf he ouerclambe in contrayez straunge.
Fer flatten fro his frendez, fremedly he rydez.
At vche warþe oþer water þer þe wyᵹe passed
He fonde a foo hym byfore, bot ferly hit were,
And þat so foule and so felle þat feᵹt hym byhode.
So many meruayl bi mount þer þe mon fyndez
Hit were to tore for to telle of þe tenþe dole.
Sumwhyle with wormez he werrez and with wolues als,
Sumwhyle with wodwos þat woned in þe knarrez,
Boþe with bullez and berez, and borez oþerquyle,
And etaynez þat hym anelede of þe heᵹe felle.
Nade he ben duᵹty and dryᵹe and Dryᵹtyn had serued,
Douteles he hade ben ded and dreped ful ofte.
For werre wrathed hym not so much þat wynter nas wors,
When þe colde cler water fro þe cloudez schadde
And fres er hit falle myᵹt to þe fale erþe.
Ner slayn with þe slete he sleped in his yrnes
Mo nyᵹtez þen innoghe, in naked rokkez
Þeras claterande fro þe crest þe colde borne rennez
And henged heᵹe ouer his hede in hard iisseikkles.
Þus in peryl and payne and plytes ful harde
Bi contray caryez þis knyᵹt tyl Krystmasse Euen,
Alone.
Þe knyᵹt wel þat tyde
To Mary made his mone
Þat ho hym red to ryde
And wysse hym to sum wone.
Bi a mounte on þe morne meryly he rydes
Into a forest ful dep, þat ferly watz wylde,
Hiᵹe hillez on vche a halue and holtwodez vnder
Of hore okez ful hoge, a hundredth togeder.
Þe hasel and þe haᵹþorne were harled al samen,
With roᵹe raged mosse rayled aywhere,
With mony bryddez vnblyþe vpon bare twyges,
Þat pitosly þer piped for pyne of þe colde.
Þe gome vpon Gryngolet glydez hem vnder
Þurᵹ mony misy and myre, mon al hym one,
Carande for his costes, lest he ne keuer schulde
To se þe seruyse of þat Syre þat on þat self nyᵹt
Of a burde watz borne oure baret to quelle
(ll. 713-52).
He clambered over many cliffs in strange countries.
Floating far from his friends, he rides as a stranger.
At each ford over the water that the man passed
He found a foe before him, unless it was a miracle:
And that so foul and so fierce that he had to fight him.
So many marvels the man finds by the mountains there
It would be too tough to tell the tenth part of them.
Sometimes he fights with wyrms [i.e., dragons], and also with wolves,
Sometimes with wild men that lived in the crags,
Both with bulls and bears, and boars other times,
And giants that pursued him from the high fell.
If he hadn’t served God and been brave and persistent,
Doubtless he would have been killed and slain many times.
For war bothered him not so much that winter wasn’t worse [i.e., winter was worse than war],
When the cold clear water was shed from the clouds
And froze before it might fall to the pale earth.
Almost slain by the sleet he slept in his irons [i.e., armor]
More than enough nights, on naked rocks
Whereas the cold burn [i.e., water] runs clattering from the crag,
And hung high over his head in hard icicles.
Thus in peril and pain and very tough plights
This knight rides the country until Christmas Eve,
Alone.
The knight quite well at that time
To Mary made his prayer,
That she direct him to ride
And guide him to some dwelling.
By a mountain in the morning he quickly rides
Into a very deep forest, that was wondrously wild,
High hills on each side and grey woods beneath
[Full] of huge old oaks, a hundred together.
The hazel and the hawthorn were all tangled together,
With rough, ragged moss staked up everywhere,
With many unhappy birds upon the bare twigs,
That piteously piped there for pain of the cold.
The man upon Gringolet glides under them
Through many marshes and mires, that man all alone,
Concerned about his surroundings, lest he should find no cover [i.e., shelter]
[Under which] to see the service for the Sire that on that same night
Was born of a woman to quell our troubles.
The images of Wales associated with the preceding stanza would serve well to illustrate these lines as well, which provide the setting for Gawain’s journey out of explicitly named locations into a more ambiguous, literary landscape (on which see especially the arguments of Gillian Rudd, for instance here). That said, based on his trajectory Gawain seems to many readers to continue heading east here, and thus further inland. As such, I include some images of the Roaches, a line of hills that includes on its northeastern side Lud’s Church (see further my discussion of the Green Chapel, below).
This image shows a path leading through the woods on the northeastern side of the Roaches.
This photograph shows a summit view from the path that leads along the top of the Roaches.
Some forest images here show how thick the vegetation remains, even when carefully managed for hiking trails. The summit views illustrate the local landscape, now mostly pastoral or urban but including patches of regrown woodland as well. The type of isolation experienced here today is certainly quite distinct from that depicted in the romance, given the ample views of human settlement and activity – and one wonders in turn how fantastical the layer between lived and imagined landscape for the text’s original audience.
This photograph shows the wind-shaped stones that feature prominently along many points of the Roaches’ ridgeline path.
This image shows stones towards the southern end of the Roaches, overlooking sheep in the fields below.
Large stones cast dramatic figures, and suggest spaces where Gawain and his mount try to hide from the winter weather – a point reemphasized by the brooding gray clouds above. Indeed, the rocks here appear all the more striking for being silhouetted against the sky, balancing as many of them are atop the top of the Roaches’ ridgeline. Anyone sheltering beneath them would, of course, remain largely exposed to the ceaseless wind and vagaries of the weather – similar to the circumstances of the questing knight.
This image shows a hillside descending through tangled tree limbs.
This image shows Hen Cloud, an escarpment at the southern end of the Roaches, from below. A pale gravel path winds back behind the final hillside towards the woods barely visible behind the rise.
Images of the forest descending the Roaches at their southern end provide a sense of the thickly woven webs of trees that Gawain passes through, though of course the modern “forest” here is ultimately but a grove – though the well-worked woodlands of medieval England would have included many open spaces and varied, ecotonal environments as well. The stony summit of Hen Cloud, meanwhile, stands out like teeth against the grey sky, lending a sense of quiet menace to the topography.