John Lydgate, The Temple of Glas

Darragh Greene (University College Dublin)

Ed. by Sebastian Sobecki, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.02: English Writing and Culture: High and Late Medieval, 1066-1485.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Rory Critten (Université de Lausanne), David Fuller (University of Durham), Natalie Hanna (University of Liverpool), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast), Jamie McKinstry (University of Durham), Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool), Sebastian Sobecki (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 1412

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

The Temple of Glas is an early fifteenth-century allegorical dream-vision poem, by the Benedictine monk John Lydgate (c. 1371-1449), and written in a blend of iambic pentameter couplets and rhyme royal stanzas. The poem derives from the French courtly love tradition of dits amoureux, such as Jean Froissart’s Le Temple d’honneur, as well as Chaucer’s dream-visions, especially The Parliament of Foules, The House of Fame, and The Prologue to the Legend of Good Women (Pearsall 104-7; Spearing 171-73). There is the possibility that the poem is occasional, concerning some real-life situation, but there is no agreement on this point.

The Temple of Glas survives in two main versions in seven manuscripts as well as two additional manuscripts that contain fragments only. The earliest manuscript witness, dated to around 1420 (Hanna 1996), is British Library MS...

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1470 words

Citation: Greene, Darragh. "The Temple of Glas". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 May 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7900, accessed 09 June 2026.]

John Lydgate, The Temple of Glas

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

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