The Song of Roland

Iliad by Homer (8th century BC)

The Iliad is one of the oldest surviving texts in the Western canon, and serves as the model for many military epics. Like The Song of Roland, Homer’s Iliad narrates a historical war that came to define the two nations involved. Homer’s depiction of the Trojan War (13-12th century BC) set the groundwork for ancient Greek identity. Like Roland, Homer’s Iliad was intended for oral delivery; both poems use repetition and formulaic structures as memory aids.

• Iliad on SuperSummary

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by The Gawain Poet (14th century)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the most studied works of chivalric literature. Originally written in Middle English by an unknown author called the “Gawain Poet,” Gawain draws inspiration from earlier French tales. Gawain places less emphasis on narratives of nationhood than The Song of Roland. Instead, the story is indicative of later romances’ attention to virtue and chivalric duty.

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight on SuperSummary

“Morte d'Arthur” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1842)

Stories of medieval chivalry grew popular in England during the Victorian era. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, one of the most distinguished poets of the time, often wrote poetry on medieval themes or subject matter. His Morte d’Arthur focuses on the death of King Arthur, legendary king of Britain. Tennyson’s primary source, 15th-century poet Thomas Malory, took these stories from Chrétien de Troyes, a 12th-century French writer of chivalric romances influenced by The Song of Roland. Tennyson’s attention to the hero’s death mirrors Roland.

“Song of Roland” by Mark Jarman (2011)

This short poem by American poet Mark Jarman demonstrates the lasting influence of Roland’s story. Jarman incorporates elements of the original Song of Roland into a poem about his “mother’s cousin” (Line 2) of the same name. By comparing the hero Roland’s death with his relative’s “congenital heart failure” (Line 27), Jarman reinvigorates the emotional content of the original Roland.