Close Reading of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Assignment
Select for analysis a passage (1-2 stanzas) of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, as translated by Simon Armitage, that you understand to be directly related to the themes of environment, encounter, and/or entanglement. After summarizing that section of the narrative in your own words, conduct a close reading of the poetic strategies used to tell Gawain’s story. Construct an interpretive thesis about how the form of the passage interacts with its meaning and provide specific textual evidence from the passage in support of your argument.
As you develop your ideas and claims, you may find it helpful to explore the following questions: How do formal elements of the stanza, including alliteration, syntax, rhythm, and rhyme, create meaningful patterns in that part of the poem? What is the relationship between literal and figurative aspects of this passage, especially in terms of the poet’s use of diction, imagery, and metaphor? Why and how do literary features of the stanza—including narration, character, setting, and plot—help the poet to establish a mood, build the story, and connect to themes of environment, encounter, and/or entanglement?
You are not permitted to write about Fitt 1, lines 179–202, the stanza that Professor Davis uses to model close reading in her Humanities Core Handbook chapter. If you choose to write about two stanzas, they must be sequential. All process writing components of this essay as determined by your seminar instructor, including a mandatory working draft, must be turned in to receive a passing grade. The final essay will be 3–5 pages in length, should follow MLA formatting and citation conventions (see Chapter 8 and the Appendix to the Humanities Core Handbook for specific instructions), and will be allocated 35% of your total writing grade.
Learning Goals
In successfully completing this assignment, writers will:
- Develop a specific, arguable, and complex thesis that reflects an interpretation of the topic and is supported through unified and coherent argumentation throughout the essay
- Devise logical and effective sequencing of ideas that leads to essay-level cohesion; produce body paragraphs organized around topic sentences that link to the thesis
- Create an adept summary of the narrative content and literary features of the selected stanza(s) in their own words
- Conduct an interpretive close reading of stanza(s) that reveals the relationship between the poem’s formal and thematic strategies
- Select, explain, and integrate evidence from the primary source using summary, paraphrase, and quotation; follow responsible attribution and citation practices in the body text and in the Works Cited page
- Express ideas clearly and effectively in language that reflects thorough revision and awareness of voice
Required Reading
You must read the following to successfully navigate the writing process of this assignment:
Armitage, Simon, translator. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Norton, 2007.
Beauchamp, Tamara. “Thinking About Your Writing in Humanities Core.” Humanities Core Handbook: Environment | Encounter | Entanglement 2025–2026. Macmillan Learning, 2025, pp. 30–45..
Davis, Rebecca. “Literary Analysis and Close Reading.” Humanities Core Handbook: Environment | Encounter | Entanglement 2025–2026. Macmillan Learning, 2025, pp. 71–87.
Fogli, Giovanna. “Generating Claims and Structuring a Paragraph.” Humanities Core Handbook: Environment | Encounter | Entanglement 2025–2026. Macmillan Learning, 2025, pp. 88–104.
Short, Gretchen. “Integrating Evidence and Citing Sources.” Humanities Core Handbook: Environment | Encounter | Entanglement 2025–2026. Macmillan Learning, 2025, pp. 105–16.
