By combining fantasy and realism, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight praises court life with an undercurrent of satire against a declining chivalric ideal. This edition focuses on the Middle English text, with a Modern English Verse translation on facing pages and extensive notes at the bottom of the pages.

It discusses the manuscript, the anonymous poet and his other poems, and the structure of the poem and its audience, themes, and characterisation. With this translation, Vantuono aims to adhere as closely as possible to the original without sacrificing the poem's essential meaning and mood.