Note 3 — II
Reading edition
Page 19.—For Yule was over-past. This passage, descriptive of the flight of the year, should be especially noticed. Combined with other passages—the description of Gawain’s journey, the early morning hunts, the dawning of New Year’s Day, and the ride to the Green Chapel—they indicate a knowledge of Nature, and an observant eye for her moods, uncommon among mediæval poets. It is usual enough to find graceful and charming descriptions of spring and early summer—an appreciation of May in especial, when the summer courts were held, is part of the stock-in-trade of mediæval romancers—but a sympathy with the year in all its changes is far rarer, and certainly deserves to be specially reckoned to the credit of this nameless writer.