The Man of Law's Tale: What Chaucer Really Owed to Gower
- Author / Editor
- Nicholson, Peter.
The Man of Law's Tale: What Chaucer Really Owed to Gower
- Published
- Chaucer Review 26 (1991): 153-74.
- Description
- Chaucer's primary source for MLT was not Nicholas Trevet's Chronicles but Gower's Tale of Constance. Chaucer found in Gower's tale a streamlined shape, sharper focus, a greater depth of character, and a heightened moral emphasis. It was Gower who first realized the suitability of Trevet's material and who suggested to Chaucer "the directions in which it might be taken."
- Chaucer Subjects
- Man of Law and His Tale.
- Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.