Which poem did J.R.R. Tolkien publish with E.V. Gordon in 1925?

J.R.R. Tolkien published Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with E. V. Gordon in 1925.

The edition presented the Middle English poem with scholarly notes and a glossary. Tolkien and Gordon’s work helped make the difficult medieval text more accessible to students and researchers while preserving rigorous philological analysis.

The poem tells of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur’s court, who accepts a supernatural challenge from the Green Knight. Its themes include courage, courtesy, temptation, honor, and the limits of human virtue. Tolkien’s deep knowledge of the poem also influenced his later creative writing and teaching.

This work is often confused with Tolkien’s own retelling, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which he later recorded and which was published after his death. The 1925 item was a scholarly edition produced with Gordon, not an original Tolkien novel or poem. Tolkien also translated other medieval works, including Pearl and Sir Orfeo.