Note 624 — from the Origins To the Renaissance (continued 6)
Reading edition
Gower wrote two successive versions of his poem: the first about 1384, the second about 1393. In this last one, having openly taken the side of the future Henry IV. (which was very bold of him), he suppressed all allusions to Richard. In the first version, instead of,
A boke for Englondes sake,
he had written:
A boke for King Richardes sake.