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<p>In their pastiche of the linguistic register and octosyllabic versification of the medieval poet, <i>Pericles</i>’ choric monologues appear in places to be close to parody. So can audiences really ‘accept’ the authenticity of Gower’s lines, as the play’s incarnation of the poet invites them to do? This essay employs intertextual stylistic analysis to compare the poetic diction, versification, syntactic structure and overall style exhibited by Gower in the Apollonius of Tyre story in Book 8 of the <i>Confessio Amantis</i> with the Gower avatar conjured by Shakespeare and Wilkins’s play. It addresses the literary-linguistic aspects of the Gower presence in <i>Pericles</i> specifically, which—unlike the theatrical, historical and stylistic aspects of the play’s main action—have been less compellingly analysed and discussed; it argues for Shakespeare’s close involvement in the composition of all the Gower choruses, thereby modifying the conventional split-distribution theory of divided authorship and validating Shakespeare’s skilful and respectful pastiche of Gowerian verse. As much as the play appears to be imbued with self-conscious medievalism and invocations of the moral ethos of Gower’s age, this study proposes that the choric lines in <i>Pericles</i> do not constitute a replication of Gower’s ‘rimes’ but Shakespeare’s accomplished approximation of them, effectively recycling Gowerian ideals of good governance and princely virtues. It contends that the play’s framing device is not an optional ingredient to be unceremoniously discarded—as has been the case in various productions over the centuries—but a key dramatic component, and one that anticipates the resurgent strain of humanism found in this and Shakespeare’s subsequent romances.</p>

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“Accept my rimes”: an intertextual evaluation of the Gower monologues in Pericles, Prince of Tyre

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月17日

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  • Michael Ingham

摘要

In their pastiche of the linguistic register and octosyllabic versification of the medieval poet, Pericles’ choric monologues appear in places to be close to parody. So can audiences really ‘accept’ the authenticity of Gower’s lines, as the play’s incarnation of the poet invites them to do? This essay employs intertextual stylistic analysis to compare the poetic diction, versification, syntactic structure and overall style exhibited by Gower in the Apollonius of Tyre story in Book 8 of the Confessio Amantis with the Gower avatar conjured by Shakespeare and Wilkins’s play. It addresses the literary-linguistic aspects of the Gower presence in Pericles specifically, which—unlike the theatrical, historical and stylistic aspects of the play’s main action—have been less compellingly analysed and discussed; it argues for Shakespeare’s close involvement in the composition of all the Gower choruses, thereby modifying the conventional split-distribution theory of divided authorship and validating Shakespeare’s skilful and respectful pastiche of Gowerian verse. As much as the play appears to be imbued with self-conscious medievalism and invocations of the moral ethos of Gower’s age, this study proposes that the choric lines in Pericles do not constitute a replication of Gower’s ‘rimes’ but Shakespeare’s accomplished approximation of them, effectively recycling Gowerian ideals of good governance and princely virtues. It contends that the play’s framing device is not an optional ingredient to be unceremoniously discarded—as has been the case in various productions over the centuries—but a key dramatic component, and one that anticipates the resurgent strain of humanism found in this and Shakespeare’s subsequent romances.