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Shop nowThe Death of King Arthur
A New Verse Translation
Narrator
Bill Wallis
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Translator
Simon Armitage
Length
10 hours 19 minutes
Language
English
First appearing around 1400, The Alliterative Morte Arthur, or The Death of King Arthur, is one of the most widely beloved and spectacularly alliterative poems ever penned in Middle English. Now, from the internationally acclaimed translator of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, comes this magisterial new presentation of the Arthurian tale, rendered in unflinching and gory detail. Following Arthur's bloody conquests across the cities and fields of Europe, all the way to his spectacular and even bloodier fall, this masterpiece features some of the most spellbinding and poignant passages in English poetry. Never before have the deaths of Arthur's loyal knights, his own final hours, and the subsequent burial been so poignantly evoked.
Echoing the lyrical passion that so distinguished Seamus Heaney's Beowulf, Simon Armitage has produced a virtuosic new translation that promises to become both the literary event of the year and the definitive edition for generations to come.
Simon Armitage is a British poet, playwright, and novelist. He has received numerous awards for his poetry, including the Sunday Times Young Author of the Year, one of the first Forward Prizes, a Lannan Award, and the Keats-Shelley Poetry Prize. Additionally, Armitage writes for radio, television, and film, and was recently elected Oxford Professor of Poetry.
Bill Wallis has performed in over two hundred radio series and plays, while among his numerous productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company are The Alchemist, The Master Builder, and Twelfth Night. He is also a prolific film and television actor, having made numerous appearances in such productions as Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Midsomer Murders, Bad Girls, Doctors, Poirot, and as Dr. Nick MacKenzie in Dangerfield.
Simon Armitage is a British poet, playwright, and novelist. He has received numerous awards for his poetry, including the Sunday Times Young Author of the Year, one of the first Forward Prizes, a Lannan Award, and the Keats-Shelley Poetry Prize. Additionally, Armitage writes for radio, television, and film, and was recently elected Oxford Professor of Poetry.
Reviews
“A new standard in the enterprise of bringing the past back into poetry.”
“Armitage’s spectacular translation…renders this anonymous poem into modern English lines that command your full allegiance…With captivating articulation, these lines growl and roar and hiss in a way that reminds us just how much our preference for rhyme over alliteration has cost us. And amid all the viscera and gore, we find such startling moments of intimacy and grief, expressed by soldiers wholly unconstrained by our narrow, modern-day expectations of manhood.”
“Invitingly ingenious and inventive.”
“Armitage, on top form, renders [Arthur] expertly.”
“Armitage has triumphed…The verse requires attention; but, once you are attuned to the alliterative structure, it’s as swift as the swish of a sword.”
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