Sir Gawain and the Green Knight In the medieval time period literature was considered a form of entertainment. The most popular type of literature as entertainment was poetry. Poetry is a way in which language is used. Language has two uses, which are to please and to teach. A poet uses language to shape it to make a form of fiction. In the poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” the unknown author uses language to create a fabulous piece of work. The story is well told but more importantly well crafted. One may look at the poem, as entertainment but the most important aspects of the poem are in its artistic designs. The three artistic designs are prosodic, narrative, and thematic. The artistic designs of the poem give it a structure and a sense of cohesiveness.Prosodic design is the study of meter. The poem is organized in a way that all the lines contain the same structure. Meaning each line contains four stressed syllables, of the four; three begin with the same sound. According to Webster the repetition of sounds in two or more neighboring syllables is alliteration. Every line is then broken up into half lines. The line is still held together because of the alliteration. Throughout the poem this holds true. In result, the poem is bind together by the structure of the lines.Further more the poem is broken up into stanzas. Once again the poem is given structural unity because of this division. At the end of each stanza there is five short lines, which are separated from the rest. These lines are referred to as the bob and wheel. The first line is called the bob and the rest are called the wheel. The bob has one stressed syllable and the wheel has two syllables in each line. Also in these lines, end rhyme is incorporated. The bob and wheel separate the stanzas from one another. This is repeated throughout the poem and because of its repetition it gives the poem structure. The largest division of the ...
