Editing John Gower (section)

==Chaucer influence==
Chaucer used octosyllabic lines in ''[[The House of Fame]]'' but eschewed [[Iamb (poetry)|iambic]] rhythm. He "left it to Gower to invent the iambic [[tetrameter]], and to later centuries of poets to solve the problems of its potential monotony; he himself merely polished the traditional Middle English short line."<ref name=Duffel>{{ cite book
 | title=A New History of English Metre | publisher=Legenda | year=2011
 | author= Martin J. Duffel  | isbn=978-1907975134
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BAAOSblbBBoC&q=+gower&pg=PA84
}}</ref>{{rp|85}}

Fisher <ref name=FisherMP/>{{rp|207}} concludes that they were living near each other in the period 1376 to 1386. They influenced each other in several ways:
# They imported Italian models and learned "to count beats in such a way as to produce a regular number of syllables."<ref name=Duffel/>{{rp| 92}} This led via ''Mirour'' to the iambic tetrameter of ''Confessio'' and Chaucer's pentameter.
# After 1376 both poets turned from love poetry to more serious topics. For Gower this was the "moralistic social complaint in the ''Mirour d l'omme'' and ''Vox Clamatis'', while Chaucer wrestled more painfully in the ''[[House of Fame]]'' and ''[[Parliament of Fowls]]'' with the relation between the style and substance of courtly poetry and social satire."<ref name=FisherMP/>{{rp|208}}
# Gower "took the risk of composing in English only after Chaucer had achieved success and fame with ''[[Troilus and Criseyde]]''."<ref name=Duffel/>{{rp| 92}}
#  Most of the individuals in the [[General Prologue]] are members of classes  criticized in ''Mirour'' and ''Vox Clamantis''. Chaucer has omitted the higher ranks of the secular and clerical hierarchies.  The language and the introduction of satire are the invention of Chaucer.<ref name=FisherMP/>{{rp| 251ff}}
# Gower is criticized in the Introduction to [[The Man of Law's Tale]]. Some commentators have interpreted these remarks to indicate a breach between the two poets. Fisher interprets them and along with the details of the Tale as a friendly competition between two poets.<ref name=FisherMP/>{{rp|292}}