The influence of Chaucer on the works of Robert Greene

In the investigations that follow I have been especially fortunate in having, by accident almost, been led into a consideration and investigation of Shakespeare as well as Chaucer and Greene, thus finding myself in the company of the two greatest poets in the English language and the one greatest journalist in the Elizabethan period. The five related studies that make up my major work will be seen to involve most of Greene's prose fiction of the author's romantic period, from 1580 to 1590, and three of his plays, dates of which have not been established. To these pieces are added the long poetic eulogy, A Maidens Dreame, and a love-vision thought by most scholars to be authentic, A Most Rare and Excellent Dreame. This last, with the old King Leir, is the only work of doubtful authenticity that I have seen fit to include in my analyses. Chaucer is represented by the Clerkes Tale, the Mannes Tale of Lawe, the Bok of the Duchesse, the Parlement of Foules, and a passage from the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. Shakespeare has entered into the discussion with the Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Merchant of Venice, and Sonnet CXXX