I dug out my old book and according to the preface JRRT translated Sir Gawain from a manuscript dated around 1400. I'll have to go back and read it again. I'm not really into reading verse so I'm legend deprived. :)
I LOVE verse, and my senior English teacher didn't dwell on it too much, especially from the Medieval period, so I'm looking forward to doing that in homeschooling with the kids. We'll be doing Beowulf, the Kalevala, Chaucer, etc. They may not be thrilled, but I'm gonna love it!
My oldest studied Beowulf in a college English class and he said it was amusing that there have been several translations of it, with each author interpreting it in different ways! Sometimes the author would just make something up if it suited his purpose! He said his teacher favored the Seamus Heaney translation, so we may use that.