Here is the line-by-line paraphrase of Gower’s chorus from Pericles:

Original: Thus time we waste, and longest leagues make short;
Modern: This is how we pass time quickly and make long distances seem short;

Original: Sail seas in cockles, have an wish but for’t;
Modern: We sail across oceans in tiny boats—you only have to wish for it;

Original: Making, to take your imagination,
Modern: We’re doing this to capture your imagination,

Original: From bourn to bourn, region to region.
Modern: Traveling from boundary to boundary, region to region.

Original: By you being pardon’d, we commit no crime
Modern: With your forgiveness, we’re not doing anything wrong

Original: To use one language in each several clime
Modern: By using one language in all these different places

Original: Where our scenes seem to live. I do beseech you
Modern: Where our scenes take place. I’m asking you

Original: To learn of me, who stand i’ the gaps to teach you,
Modern: To learn from me, as I stand here to guide you through

Original: The stages of our story. Pericles
Modern: The different parts of our story. Pericles

Original: Is now again thwarting the wayward seas,
Modern: Is now once again crossing the unpredictable seas,

Original: Attended on by many a lord and knight.
Modern: Accompanied by many lords and knights.

Original: To see his daughter, all his life’s delight.
Modern: To see his daughter, who is his greatest joy in life.

Original: Old Escanes, whom Helicanus late
Modern: Old Escanes, whom Helicanus recently

Original: Advanced in time to great and high estate,
Modern: Promoted to a great and high position,

Original: Is left to govern. Bear you it in mind,
Modern: Has been left in charge. Keep in mind,

Original: Old Helicanus goes along behind.
Modern: Old Helicanus is traveling with Pericles.

Original: Well-sailing ships and bounteous winds have brought
Modern: Ships sailing well and generous winds have brought

Original: This king to Tarsus,—think his pilot thought;
Modern: This king to Tarsus—imagine what his navigator was thinking;

Original: So with his steerage shall your thoughts grow on,—
Modern: So let your thoughts follow along with his journey—

Original: To fetch his daughter home, who first is gone.
Modern: To bring his daughter home, who has gone ahead.

Original: Like motes and shadows see them move awhile;
Modern: Watch them move like dust particles and shadows for a moment;

Original: Your ears unto your eyes I’ll reconcile.
Modern: I’ll make what you hear match what you see.

Original: See how belief may suffer by foul show!
Modern: See how people can be deceived by evil appearances!

Original: This borrow’d passion stands for true old woe;
Modern: This fake grief is standing in for real, long-lasting sorrow;

Original: And Pericles, in sorrow all devour’d,
Modern: And Pericles, completely consumed by grief,

Original: With sighs shot through, and biggest tears o’ershower’d,
Modern: Pierced with sighs and drenched in heavy tears,

Original: Leaves Tarsus and again embarks. He swears
Modern: Leaves Tarsus and sets sail again. He vows

Original: Never to wash his face, nor cut his hairs:
Modern: Never to wash his face or cut his hair:

Original: He puts on sackcloth, and to sea. He bears
Modern: He puts on mourning clothes and goes to sea. He endures

Original: A tempest, which his mortal vessel tears,
Modern: A storm that batters his human body,

Original: And yet he rides it out. Now please you wit.
Modern: And yet he survives it. Now please understand this.

Original: The epitaph is for Marina writ By wicked Dionyza.
Modern: The inscription on the tomb was written for Marina by wicked Dionyza.

Original: ‘The fairest, sweet’st, and best lies here,
Modern: ‘The most beautiful, sweetest, and best person lies here,

Original: Who wither’d in her spring of year.
Modern: Who died in the springtime of her life.

Original: She was of Tyrus the king’s daughter,
Modern: She was the daughter of the king of Tyre,

Original: On whom foul death hath made this slaughter;
Modern: Upon whom cruel death has committed this murder;

Original: Marina was she call’d; and at her birth,
Modern: She was called Marina; and when she was born,

Original: Thetis, being proud, swallow’d some part o’ the earth:
Modern: The sea goddess, being arrogant, swallowed up some of the earth:

Original: Therefore the earth, fearing to be o’erflow’d,
Modern: Therefore the earth, afraid of being flooded,

Original: Hath Thetis’ birth-child on the heavens bestow’d:
Modern: Has given the sea’s child to the heavens:

Original: Wherefore she does, and swears she’ll never stint,
Modern: That’s why the sea continues, and swears she’ll never stop,

Original: Make raging battery upon shores of flint.’
Modern: Making violent attacks upon the rocky shores.’

Original: No visor does become black villany
Modern: No mask suits evil villainy

Original: So well as soft and tender flattery.
Modern: As well as gentle and sweet flattery does.

Original: Let Pericles believe his daughter’s dead,
Modern: Let Pericles believe his daughter is dead,

Original: And bear his courses to be ordered
Modern: And let his path be controlled

Original: By Lady Fortune; while our scene must play
Modern: By Lady Luck; while our play must show

Original: His daughter’s woe and heavy well-a-day
Modern: His daughter’s suffering and great sorrow

Original: In her unholy service. Patience, then,
Modern: In her terrible situation. Be patient, then,

Original: And think you now are all in Mytilene.
Modern: And imagine that you are now all in Mytilene.

In Act IV, Scene iv of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Gower appears as the Chorus to bridge the narrative for the audience. He describes how Pericles has arrived in Tarsus to visit his daughter Marina, whom he had left in the care of Cleon and Dionyza years before. Gower explains that Marina has since been murdered — or so Pericles is led to believe — and that the people of Tarsus have accepted Dionyza’s false account of Marina’s death. A monument has even been erected in Marina’s honor, giving the deception an air of legitimacy. Pericles, grief-stricken and believing his daughter to be dead, is shown the tomb.

Gower then describes the devastating effect this news has on Pericles. Upon seeing the monument and believing Marina to be gone, Pericles is overcome with profound grief. He dons sackcloth, vows never to wash his face nor cut his hair, and retreats into a deep and silent mourning. He boards his ship and departs from Tarsus, leaving behind the city and the false grave of his daughter. Gower directs the audience’s attention toward what is happening simultaneously with Marina, who is very much alive and has been taken to Mytilene, setting the stage for the events that follow in the next portion of the play.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre follows the wandering journey of Prince Pericles across the Mediterranean. The play opens with Pericles fleeing Antioch after discovering that King Antiochus is engaged in an incestuous relationship with his daughter. Fearing for his life, Pericles leaves his kingdom of Tyre in the care of his trusted advisor Helicanus and sets sail. He arrives in Tarsus during a famine, where he provides grain to the starving people, earning the gratitude of Governor Cleon and his wife Dionyza.

Continuing his travels, Pericles is shipwrecked near Pentapolis, where he washes ashore and participates in a tournament to win the hand of Thaisa, daughter of King Simonides. Pericles wins both the tournament and Thaisa’s love, and they marry. However, news arrives that Antiochus and his daughter have died, making it safe for Pericles to return to Tyre. During the sea voyage home, Thaisa gives birth to a daughter during a violent storm but appears to die in childbirth. The sailors insist her body must be cast overboard, so Pericles places her in a sealed coffin and commits it to the sea.

Thaisa’s coffin washes ashore in Ephesus, where the physician Cerimon revives her. Believing her husband and child are dead, she becomes a priestess in Diana’s temple. Meanwhile, Pericles leaves his infant daughter Marina with Cleon and Dionyza in Tarsus, asking them to raise her. Fourteen years pass, and Marina grows into a beautiful and virtuous young woman, causing Dionyza’s own daughter to pale in comparison. Jealous, Dionyza orders Marina’s murder, but pirates capture her before the deed is done and sell her to a brothel in Mytilene.

In the brothel, Marina’s purity and eloquence convert clients to virtue rather than vice, eventually leading to her release and employment as a teacher. When Pericles returns to Tarsus, Cleon and Dionyza show him a false tomb, claiming Marina died of natural causes. Grief-stricken, Pericles becomes a hermit aboard his ship. His vessel eventually arrives in Mytilene, where the governor Lysimachus brings Marina aboard to cure the melancholy stranger through music. Father and daughter recognize each other, leading to joyful reunion. The goddess Diana then appears to Pericles in a vision, directing him to her temple in Ephesus, where he is reunited with Thaisa. The play concludes with Marina’s betrothal to Lysimachus.