Although the poem cannot be dated with any certainty, it may come from a period in the 1420s, when Lydgate enjoyed comparative independence from the monastery. The Temple of Glas takes the form of an elusive and suspenseful - but for that reason more sensational - dream vision that demands close attention to detail and the dynamic way in which the meaning of events unfolds. It also requires some detective work. The "plot" of the dream vision is deceptive in its simplicity. In it a lady is seen confessing to a secret desire for a man she is forbidden or unable to love but with whom, in the latter stages of the vision, she becomes joined in a cryptic extramarital ceremony conducted by Venus

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