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Not just anyone can update "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," one of English literature's oldest works -- originally written in Middle English -- into modern verse. And not just anyone can do that with an eye towards liberating it from scholars and academics to make it accessible to readers of every caste.
Of course, Simon Armitage, who will be reading from his works at Olsson's Old Town tonight, isn't just anyone.
In Britain, where they take their poetry -- and their poets -- more seriously than we do here, Simon Armitage is already an institution: widely heralded as the heir apparent to Philip Larkin, Armitage is the author of numerous collections of poetry, collections that he began publishing back in 1989 while working as a probation officer in Manchester, collections that quickly and easily established his reputation as one of the best poets in Britain. Proud of his Northern England, West Yorkshire, working-class origins, Armitage is no rebel when it comes to poetic tradition, however. He works easily and comfortably in the verse forms that have shaped English poetry for the last seven centuries. And yet the lyric quality of his verse is often contrasted with unsettling and unsentimental subject matter.
DCist managed to corner Armitage for a brief interview about his latest poetic endeavor and his work in general:
What is it about the tale of Sir Gawain that compelled you to translate it? Is it the story itself, or the challenge of updating Middle English into a verse translation that the modern reader could enjoy?
The story, yes, because we never tire of good tales, no matter what some contemporary poets might tell you! But also the idea of bringing the poem home, back into the territory of Northern England where it was written and set.
Speaking of challenges, did translating this work in particular provide you with any previously unforeseen ones? How did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge is that of consistency, keeping the same tone going, building a believable universe within the poem and trying to maintain it. A single word, especially a modern word, can destroy that universe in a fraction of a second, yet I was determined not to limit myself to historical or archaic diction. Whether I overcame them is for the reader to determine, I guess.
Your poetry has often been compared to Philip Larkin's. Do you think that's an accurate comparison? Why or why not?
I suppose there's something in it. We're both English with a capital E -- couldn't really be from anywhere else. I think I share the same interest in form and scene-setting and psychodrama and trying to write lyrical, quotable verse. But our backgrounds are different -- mine more working class and less literary. It was always said of Larkin than he was the man next door, but he didn't live next door to me.
Which poets have inspired you? Your favorites? Any favorite contemporaries?
Ted Hughes. Paul Muldoon. Peter Reading. James Tate. Charles Simic. Billy Collins. Elizabeth Bishop. Robert Lowell. Then we're looking at Larkin, Hardy, Clare, Wordsworth, Donne, Chaucer... But Shakespeare is the greatest ever writer. He could speak to the highly literate and the completely illiterate in a single line, and move them equally and simultaneously. Unsurpassed.
Simon Armitage will be reading from and signing copies of his translation of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" tonight at 7 p.m. at Olsson's Books in Old Town, 106 S. Union St., Alexandria, Va.
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