Ricardian Poetry: Chaucer, Gower, Langland, and the "Gawain" Poet

This study undertakes to bring together the four major literary figures of the late fourteenth century in England — Chaucer, Gower, Langland, and the Gawain poet — and to find in them common traits of style, narrative structure, and theme. Mr. Burrow argues convincingly that the work of these writers can be distinguished as "Ricardian" both from earlier and later English literature and from the fourteenth-century literature of continental Europe. Subtle in its conceptual manipulation, fluent and clear in its style, this admirably organized study will define the particular quality of Ricardian poetry for the student as well as the specialist. The author's familiarity with English poetic tradition enables him to make interesting and helpful comparative references to works both earlier and later than his chosen period. Yet he fully acknowledges the individual genius of the poets studied within the range of this period, and is thus able to cast light on those aspects of their achievement which could not have been predicted in terms of their Ricardian placement in history.