Exerpt from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
translated by Marie Borroff 1
Then they showed forth the shield, that shone all red,619
With the pentangle portrayed in purest gold,
About his broad neck by the baldric he casts it,
That was meet for the man, and matched him well.
And why the pentangle is proper to that peerless prince
I intend now to tell, though detain me it must.
It is a sign by Solomon sagely devised625
To be a token of truth, by its title of old,
For it is a figure formed of five points,
And each line is linked and locked with the next
For ever and ever, and hence it is called
In all England, as I hear, the endless knot.630
And well may he wear it on his worthy arms,
For ever faithful five-fold in five-fold fashion
Was Gawain in good works, as gold unalloyed,
Devoid of all villainy, with virtues adorned
..............................in sight.635
...............On shield and coat in view
...............He bore that emblem bright,
...............As to his word most true
...............And in speech most courteous Knight.

And first, he was faultless in his five senses,640
Nor found ever to fail in his five fingers,
And all his fealty was fixed up the five wounds
That Christ got on the cross, as the creed tells;
And wherever this man in melee took part,
His one thought was of this, past all things else,645
That all his force was founded on the five joys
That the high Queen of heaven had in her child.
That therefore, as I find, he fittingly had
On the inner part of his shield her image portrayed,
That when his look on it lighted, he never lost heart.650
The fifth of the five fives followed by this knight
Were beneficence boundless and brotherly love
And pure mind and manners, that none might impeach,
And compassion most precious – these peerless five
Were forged and made fast in him, foremost of men.655
Now all these five fives were confirmed in this knight,
And each linked in other, that end there was none,
And fixed to five points, whose force never failed,
Nor assembled all on a side, nor asunder either,
Nor anywhere at an end, but whole and entire660
However the pattern proceeded or played out its course.
And so on his shining shield shaped was the knot
Royally in red gold against red gules,
That is the peerless pentangle, prized of old
..............................in lore.665
...............Now armed in Gawain gay,
...............And bears his lance before,
...............And soberly said good day,
...............He thought forevermore.