Gawain's Poem 'The Histrionic Arrival'

The Histrionic Arrival During the course of King Arthur’s New Year’s celebration, a mysterious stranger- who oddly is entirely green- interrupts the festivity to challenge the King himself. The green, giant-like stranger is described by the poet to be of such openhanded civility; a man who should be paid with high respects. The narrator vindicates this claim in lines 18-20, declaring “So monstrous a mount, so mighty a man in the saddle/ Was never once encountered on all this earth/ till then;”(The Gawain Poet). The isocolon and iambic pentameter found in this quote adds rhythm to the poem, to serve as the backdrop from which the musicality of the story will be revealed. By stressing the analogy found in the iambic pentameter, the narrator