The Tale of Acis and Galatea (CA, II, 97-200)

Author/Editor
Beidler, Peter G

Title
The Tale of Acis and Galatea (CA, II, 97-200)

Published
Beidler, Peter G. "The Tale of Acis and Galatea (CA, II, 97-200)." In John Gower's Literary Transformations in the Confessio Amantis: Original Articles and Translations. Ed. Beidler, Peter G. Washington, D. C.: University Press of America, 1982, pp. 11-14. ISBN 0819125962

Review
Beidler summarizes Ovid's account of "Polyphemus's interruption of the love of Acis and Galatea" ("Metamorphoses" 13.738-897) and identifies ways that Gower alters this source of his own account in CA 2.97-200: he makes the characters "far more human" so that the tale is clearly applicable to Amans, increasing Galatea's attractiveness, eliminating Polyphemus's lament and much of his gigantic nature, and asserting the tale's concern with envy. [MA]

Date
1982

Gower Subjects
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations
Confessio Amantis