The Latin Works: Politics, Lament and Praise

Author/Editor
Rigg, A. G.
Moore, Edward G

Title
The Latin Works: Politics, Lament and Praise

Published
Rigg, A. G. and Moore, Edward G. "The Latin Works: Politics, Lament and Praise." In A Comanion to Gower. Ed. Echard, Siân. Cambridge: Brewer, 2004, pp. 153-64.

Review
Situates Gower's Latin writing within the trilingual culture of late 14th-century England and within the traditions of Anglo-Latin writing. The authors point out that Gower's choice of unrhymed elegiac couplets for VC represented a return to a somewhat old-fashioned practice. VC's focus on politics and history is typical of Anglo-Latin writing of the time, and the "public" quality of the work distinguishes it from the more personal CA and MO. Most of VC attempts rather typically to summon historical evidence in support of the author's moral and political views; the "Visio" and CrT, however, offer a more exceptional re-creation of historical events. The "Visio," the authors note, also has important debts to vernacular literature. [PN. Copyright. The John Gower Society. JGN 24.1]

Date
2004

Gower Subjects
Style, Rhetoric, and Versification
Vox Clamantis
Cronica Tripertita