This is a very famous epic poem from Medieval France, sometimes even called the “National Epic” of France. But in reading it… I have no idea why. I wouldn’t call it a good story that I’d recommend. The basics of the story itself were interesting: Charlemagne’s Army, in returning to France from the wars in Muslim Spain, has the hero Roland and his peers guarding them in the rear. They are attacked by the Muslim forces, and most of the story is Roland and his group’s heroic last stand to protect the rest of Charlemagne’s army. So it’s a heroic last stand story, similar to 300. What’s not to like about that? Basically, the portrayal of Muslims and non-Europeans is just terribly hateful. Distractingly so. And it’s often blatantly racist. On top of that: the heroic feats of the main characters become just unrealistic, almost like superheroes. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this. El Cid, a similar epic poem from medieval Spain, has a much more developed, respectful, and just interesting take on this subject matter.

Also, this translation felt very awkward and un-poetic. It’s difficult to translate poetry, but I have seen it done much better than this.

Would still recommend reading this for purely historical pursuits, however. If someone desires to look into the literature (good and bad) of the medieval era, this is still a very significant text.

Absolutely fascinating - kind of "Iliad" but set in early days of French kingdom and instead of Greek Gods, St.Gabriel visits Charlemagne in a dreams to warn him about upcoming danger. Obscure poet Turold might or might have not been responsible for this masterpiece of epic saga that probably used to be recited out loud by the fires and to remind generations about heroic deeds by real people who actually fought at some point in history - naturally it is all embellished (Charlemagne was not two hundred years old, for the start) but names are real and yes, these people actually existed, lived and died very much as described here. So it could be taken as a historical document or poetic memory of something that occurred at the southern border of France. Names and historical figures abound - they can all be checked - focus is exclusively on warriors and their fights, horses and weapons so not much of romance and frills (two single female figures appear and they both faint while men are doing the fights) but fights are fierce and there is a blood everywhere - I am surprised Hollywood have not filmed this, because it reads as some swashbuckling spectacle made for big screen.

Its Christians against Muslims so naturally it reflects its time - I guess this was just around First Crusade - of course we read it differently now and have different sensibility than people back than, however it does describe even enemies as noble and brave in order to make them more dangerous towards our heroes - each knight is listed by name and we got detailed description of what they wore and their image, on both sides. It is not Muslims or their king but Christian lord Ganelon who is the ultimate villain and he gets classic, unforgettable treatment which by the way was quite popular back than.
Excellent - I enjoyed this so much that I might even re-visit it again.

The Song of Roland is a classic and a beautifully written epic poem, but it is not the greatest of its kind. Other epics like Homer's Odyssey and Beowulf have more entertaining stories, but the Song of Roland stands on its own against the others. What particularly comes to mind is the overt Christian message and the graphic bloody descriptions all done poetically. While The Song of Roland might not be the best epic poem for today's reader it is certainly a fine work and one worth reading.

Le sigh.

A good book but there too many scenes of battles...

Well I don't know how it compares to other medieval poetry but this was masterful! It even made me like slant rhymes which i never thought if change my mind on! Although it's VERY of its time in outlook and world view it is wild to see so much of what we would now call Hollywood epic movie tropes in here, added another interesting layer to it