Both poems are mid 14thc, are written in a distinctive northern dialect, and use alliteration reminiscent of Old English use. Sir Gawain is both an Arthurian Romance of knightly 'courtoisie' and an anti-romance, very funny and brilliantly subversive, and as with all the best quest stories, the hero who sets out is not (quite) the hero who returns.... Pearl, by the same anon who wrote Sir Gawain, is a complex and sophisticated poem dealing with the eternal issues of loss and love. There is a twist in the plot: anyone joining the class is advised NOT to read ahead beyond line 200. Texts: I shall read from the original and translate as I go, but participants should have a text of the original Middle-English version of each poem (NOT in translation) as well as a modern translation. Armitage’s Gawain is good.