Symbolism of the Seasons in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Lena Geller College

At first, references to the four seasons in the Pearl Poet’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight seem to function merely as devices to paint a picture of the story’s setting. Upon further investigation, however, it grows apparent that the seasonal allusions are not simply environmental descriptions, but actually provide the foundation for the tale’s main argument. The author employs the seasons as a symbol to parallel the changing mindset of Sir Gawain and King Arthur’s court, and on a larger scale, the life and learning cycle of all human beings, asserting that change is challenging, inevitable, and necessary to one’s maturity, and is largely brought about by repentance and acceptance.

The beginning of Part II describes the year leading up to Sir Gawain’s journey to the Green Chapel, and illustrates how the changing of the seasons dictates the actions of plants and animals. For example, the author describes in vivid detail how in summer, plants “flower and flourish” (518), and in winter, “all which had risen over-ripens and rots” (528). This imagery functions to support the Pearl Poet’s argument in several ways. It conveys that all living things experience growth and change, drawing a likeness to how humans must go through the...