PEARL AND SIR ORFEO

While many readers are familiar with SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT (and perhaps even Tolkien's translation), these poems from the same fourteenth-century manuscript are less well known. PEARL the longer of the two, is an elegy for the poet's baby daughter, told in alliterative verse. SIR ORFEO is a Celtic version of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, complete with a happy ending that the older story lacks. Terry Jones, former member of Monty Python and a medieval scholar to boot, sounds perfectly comfortable with the rhythms and language. One even gets a taste of the original Middle English on the final side, when Jones puts these works into context by reading Tolkien's own introductions. D.B. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/MAR 01]