Professor Kittredge's Lecture.

It is unfortunate that more college men could not have heard Prof. Kittredge's lecture last night in Sever 11. The lecture was the first of a series in the Gawain Romances, the subject being the story of "Gawain and the Green Knight."

Prof. Kittredge began by reading his translation of the romance, in which he has preserved the meter of the original, and to a certain degree the alliteration and other peculiarities.

The scene opens at King Arthur's court at Christmas. During the festivities a huge knight clad in green enters and challenges anyone to exchange blows with him. Gawain accepts and testing the knight's axe, cut off his head at a blow. The Green Knight, however, unhurt picks up his head and rides off. Gawain is to go to a place called Green Chapel and receive his return blow in a year. After All-Hallow Feast, Gawain sets out for the Green Chapel. At Christmas time he comes to a castie, whose owner, a huge knight, tells him that the Green Chapel is near and asks him to be his guest for a few days. For three successive mornings while the knight and his followers are hunting, Gawain is tempted by the Lady of the Castle. He resists her blandishments, but on the third day accepts, as a love token from her, a green girdle which will preserve him from any blow that can be given him. The next day he sallies forth and meets the Green Knight at the Green Chapel and receives his blow. He is not affected by it and the Green Knight, who is of course the lord of the neighboring Castle, tells him that he knows of his wife's advances and of the girdle. He commends his resistance and lets him go. Gawain returns to the Round Table when he is received with honors.

We do not know who the author of this poem was, but we can be reasonably certain that three other stories, 'Pearl," "Cleanness" and "Patience" are also by him. A fifth poem has also been ascribed to him, but there is no real proof that it is his. The date of the poem is probably about the sixties or seventies of the 14th century. The poem is superior to any other of its kind in the English language. The plot is clear and the action is well managed. There is no padding. The great theme of all four of the author's poems is cleanness, appearing in "Gawain and the Green Knight," in Gawain's resistance to the temptations of the knight's wife.

The source from which the author took the story is not known. The story of the decapitation occurs elsewhere and cannot be traced to any one source.