middle English – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Pearl; Sir Orfeo

By Scott J. Pearson | March 7, 2020March 7, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

The Oxford don J.R.R. Tolkien is mostly known for composing the Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, before this trilogy, he built his academic career as an acclaimed expert on Anglo-Saxon culture, language, and literature. In his work, he translates three works from the Middle English into modern idiom. The quality of the translation demonstrates the vastness of Tolkien’s literary brilliance. Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales are the two most-read works from the Old English…

The Canterbury Tales: A New Unabridged Translation

By Scott J. Pearson | September 19, 2019October 11, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is a classic that most high schoolers read excerpts from in high school. Burton Raffel here offers a new, full-length translation. The translation mostly succeeds (at least in oral format) as it conveys the sense of the work fairly well. While reading, it struck me how essentially medieval Chaucer’s setting is. While he is often talked about as one standing at the cusp of an enlightened England, his roots are thoroughly planted…