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IMC 2014: Sessions

Session 401: Special Session: Middle English Poetry in Translation - A Reading (Language: English)

Monday 7 July 2014, 19.00-20.00

Introduction:John Whale, School of English, University of Leeds
Speaker:Simon Armitage
Abstract

In 2007 Simon Armitage published his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, followed in 2012 by a translation of the Alliterative Morte Arthure, published under the title The Death of King Arthur. Armitage’s interest in medieval poetry sprang from a single word, 'wodwos', which 'leapt out' from Tolkien and Gordon's transcription of Gawain, bringing to mind the title of Ted Hughes's 1967 collection of poems. Before his death in 1988 Hughes himself translated roughly seven sections of Gawain, and, as a follower of Hughes, Armitage began to think of the poem as unfinished business. Having read Tolkien’s translation as an undergraduate, he was fascinated by the antique and baroque vocabulary, which at times struck him as being older than the original. Reading further translations and restorations, he marvelled at their linguistic accuracy and ingenuity but often felt that the alliterative music of the original had been sacrificed in the pursuit of etymological fidelity.

In this special session, Simon Armitage will read sections from his translations of Gawain and Arthur, describing the processes, excitements, and pressures of undertaking this kind of work as a practising poet rather than an academic or scholar. In the case of Gawain, he will discuss his notions of 'bringing Gawain home', the development of the text towards its inclusion in the Norton Anthology of Literature, and what led him to work on the Alliterative Morte Arthure – an 'Empire' poem if ever there was one. He will also discuss some of the reactions and responses to the published poems, his brushes with the film world, and the relationships and dialogues that take place between Middle English and the vocabulary of his contemporary work. Finally, he will also read passages from his translation of Pearl, still a work in progress, due to appear in 2016.

Simon Armitage was born in the village of Marsden, West Yorkshire, and still lives in the area. In 1999 Armitage was named the Millennium Poet and published the 1000-line poem ‘Killing Time’. He has received numerous awards for his poetry including the Sunday Times Young Author of the Year, one of the first Forward Prizes, a Lannan Award, and the Keats-Shelley Poetry Prize. In 2010 he was awarded the CBE for services to poetry, and in 2012, at the 25th Hay Festival, he was presented with the Hay Medal for Poetry. In addition to his poetry, Armitage writes for radio, television, and film, and is the author of four stage plays. Simon Armitage has taught at the University of Leeds, the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop, and as a senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. He was an Artist in Residence at London's South Bank Centre from 2009 to 2012. He is currently a visiting professor at Falmouth University in Cornwall, the Gerard Manley Hopkins Professor for British Literature at John Carroll University, Ohio, for 2014, and in 2011 was appointed Professor of Poetry at the University of Sheffield.