John Gower and 'Pyramus and Thisbe'

Author/Editor
Taylor, A. B

Title
John Gower and 'Pyramus and Thisbe'

Published
Taylor, A. B. "John Gower and 'Pyramus and Thisbe'." Notes and Queries 54 (2007), pp. 282-83.

Review
Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream is indebted to Gower's version of the Pyramus and Thisbe story for the allusion to 1 Corinthians 2:9 in Bottom's speech as he awakens from his dream (MND 5.1.206-12; cf. CA 3.1417-28). Other possible similarities include the reference to a lion rather than a lioness (MND 5.1.217, CA 3.1398-1400; cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses. 4.96-97) and the lovers' conversation through a hole in the wall rather than a crack (MND 5.1.157, 198, CA 3.1370-71; cf. Met. 4.65-72). [PN. Copyright The John Gower Society. JGN 27.2]

Date
2007

Gower Subjects
Influence and Later Allusion