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Gawain was glad to begin those games in hall,
But if the end be harsher, hold it no wonder,
For though men are merry in mind after much drink,
A year passes apace, and proves ever new:
First things and final conform but seldom.
( 495 –499 )
This passage from the beginning of Part
The Gawain-poet warns his readers not to be surprised if his story ends unhappily. He suggests that the way to deal with the inevitable shifts in their fortunes is to maintain a light approach to life. In the original language, the author employs a metaphor in the last line that gets lost in translation. A more literal translation of that line is “the beginning and the end fold together but seldom.” This metaphor compares life to a string or a piece of fabric that doesn’t fold together evenly and neatly, recalling the Fates of classical mythology, who measure out man’s life with thread. It also highlights one of the poem’s central concerns, the relationship among birth, death, and rebirth.
