11 100 2176 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Surviving in one manuscript apiece, the Castilian CA is based on the Portuguese translation once thought to be lost, but rediscovered in the 1990s (210). Portuguese translator Robert Payn belonged to Queen Philippa of Lancaster's entourage, suggesting she commissioned the work (212-14). Iberian readers may have valued the CA as a mirror for princes (used as a source by Philippa's son King Duarte), a redaction of ancient lore, and a trove of sentimental romance, which may have influenced the earliest Iberian examples of the genre (214-17). [LBB. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 37.2.] Author/Editor Author/Editor Pascual-Argente, Clara. Published Pascual-Argente, Clara. "Iberian Gower." In Ana Sáez-Hidalgo, Brian Gastle, and R. F. Yeager, eds. The Routledge Research Companion to John Gower (Oxford and New York: Routledge, 2017), pp. 210-221. Gower Subject Facsimiles, Editions, and Translations Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Iberian Gower. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review The CA survives in two Iberian manuscripts, one in Castilian and one in Portuguese. The Castilian version is based on the Portuguese translation once thought to be lost, but rediscovered in the 1990s (110-11). Scholars generally agree on dating the Castilian MS to the late fifteenth century (11-12). By merging the Latin and English CA into a continuous vernacular text, the original translator has crucially altered its meaning (112). The Portuguese MS, dated by the scribe to 1430 and copied in Ceuta, North Africa, offers a gold mine of evidence on the history of book ownership and dissemination (112-14). Manuscript history shows the Iberian CA to have been preserved in "learned, humanistic circles" (114). [LBB. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 37.2.] Author/Editor Author/Editor Sáez-Hidalgo, Ana. Published Sáez-Hidalgo, Ana. "Iberian Manuscripts of Gower's Works." In Ana Sáez-Hidalgo, Brian Gastle, and R. F. Yeager, eds. The Routledge Research Companion to John Gower (Oxford and New York: Routledge, 2017), pp. 110-116. Gower Subject Manuscripts and Textual Studies Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Iberian Manuscripts of Gower's Works. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review As his title suggests, Horobin's essay concerns methodology; no mention of Gower. [RFY. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 44.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Horobin, Simon. Published Horobin, Simon. "Identifying Scribal Hands: Principles and Problems." Speculum 99.3 (2024): 688-96. Gower Subject Manuscripts and Textual Studies Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Identifying Scribal Hands: Principles and Problems. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2024 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Sadlek, Gregory M Published Sadlek, Gregory M. "Idleness Working: The Discourse of Love's Labor from Ovid through Chaucer and Gower." Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2004 ISBN 9780813213736 Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis) Review Sadlek includes the Confessio Amantis in a Bakhtinian study of "the ideologically saturated discourse of love's labor" as present variously in as well the "Ars amatoria," "De amore," "De planctu Naturae," "Roman de la Rose," and "Troilus and Criseyde." His chapter on Gower revises and enlarges an earlier essay, "John Gower's Confessio Amantis, Ideology, and the 'Labor' of 'Love's Labor'" in Re-Visioning Gower: New Essays, ed. R.F. Yeager (1998; rev. JGN XVII.1). Sadlek's focus is Book IV, in which "Genius and Amans grapple with the question of what it means to be slothful in love, and whether Amans is guilty of this sin" (168). His contention is that "Gower's favored labor ideology is one that presents work as a necessary but positive human activity, one whose value derives not merely because it is an antidote to idleness but primarily because of its material contributions to the common profit" (171). This is an idea Sadlek finds consistent in Gower's work, from the Mirour de l'Omme forward; he cites the discussion of Accedie in MO 5125-6180 (186-89). Pointing out that "labor and productivity issues . . . played an important role in late fourteenth-century England, Sadlek surveys and assesses the impact of the Black Death on available labor and consequences for worker value, religious reforms aimed at the apparent idleness of what Wyclif termed "clerks possessioners" and changes in attitudes toward time-keeping brought on by the introduction of clocks (174-81). These "were essential parts of the writing context for both Chaucer and Gower" (181). The problem for Amans and Genius is that--far from being idle--Amans is ceaselessly working to win his lady's love. Genius shows him, however, that "Amans's labor ideology here is inconsistent. Although . . . he argued that he was not guilty of idleness because he kept himself busy, he [later] admits (IV.1757-60) that just keeping busy, just countering the vice of sloth, is not enough. One's work must produce results"(197). Sadlek clarifies helpfully that although Amans recognizes that "he is an idle man" (198), he does so "not on the basis of Christian morality, but rather on the basis of a labor ideology that equates labor with productive activity" (198). Such activity Amans equates with his lady falling in love with him--a goal he has failed to achieve, rendering his "busyness" mere wasted time (200). But Gower's concern is broader than Amans' compass. Genius goes beyond Amans' immediate situation to add other concepts of labor, including "the dignity of intellectual labor" (202). The result is that Book IV ultimately "contains a dialog among various ideologically colored voices," including "traditional medieval ideology of work based on . . . the Seven Deadly Sins;" "aristocratic voices" emphasizing amorous idylls and chivalric combat; and "finally, the voice of a humanist work ethic in process" (203). "In short," Sadlek posits that "Gower's ideology of labor in Book 4 is neither simply traditional nor avant-garde, neither completely aristocratic nor bourgeois. It is an ideology in process, mirroring to some extent ideological shifts in Gower's language and his society . . . a 'site of action' in which various late-medieval labor ideologies undergo a 'sustained literary engagement'"(204). [RFY. Copyright. The John Gower Society. JGN 29.2] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Idleness Working: The Discourse of Love's Labor from Ovid through Chaucer and Gower. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Catholic University of America Press, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Akbari summarizes her book as follows: "'Idols in the East' explores the continuities linking medieval and modern discourses concerning Islam and the Orient in order to unearth the roots of modern Orientalism, and to examine the categories, hierarchies, and symbolic systems that were used to differentiate the Western self from its Eastern other" (1). In chapter 1--"The Shape of the World"--Akbari traces the paradigm shift that started in the twelfth century and culminated in the fourteenth century in which the properties of heat and cold, traditionally associated with the south and the north respectively, were transferred to the east and the west. This resulted in "the production of a binary opposition of East and West, the first a torrid climate populated by irascible people having weak, swarthy bodies, the second a cool climate populated by rational people having strong, fair bodies" (15). Akbari draws attention to Gower's brief descriptive geography in Book VII of CA, which is "after the forme of Mappemounde" (VII, 530). Even though Akbari does not dwell long on Gower she describes Gower's "Mappemounde" as an "extraordinary recasting" of "mappa mundi" conventions (47). She notes that Gower follows the conventional tripartite division of Asia, Europe, and Africa, in which Asia is the largest continent and is "defined in terms of the sun" but that he also unusually defines Asia as "coterminous with the Orient itself" ("Of Orient in general / Withinne his bounde Asie hath al," VII, 554-55). Akbari further states that Gower follows "Augustine, Isidore, Hrabanus Maurus, Vincent of Beauvais, and Bartholomaeus Anglicus" in the division of the tripartite world into two parts: "Orient and Occident, occupied by Asia, on the one side, and Europe and Africa on the other" (47). Commenting how "this two-part division of East and West is in tension with the competing binary opposition of frigid north and torrid south," she demonstrates how Gower invokes the two-part division of the world into east and west and positions the west as aligned with cold and the east with "overwhelming heat, understood in both a literal and a moral sense" (48): "In occident as for the chele, / in orient as for the hete" (VII, 582-83). Akbari concludes by placing Gower in a collection of "certain medieval texts [and authors]," like Bartholomaeus Anglicus and Chaucer, that participate "in the construction of a cold, dispassionate, northerly Occident" (48). [TZ. Copyright. John Gower Society eJGN 41.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Akbari, Suzanne Conklin. Published Akbari, Suzanne Conklin. Idols in the East: European Representations of Islam and the Orient, 1100-1450 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 2009), pp. 46-48. Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Idols in the East: European Representations of Islam and the Orient, 1100-1450. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Faccon, Manuela Published Faccon, Manuela. "Il testimone mutilo della traduzione castigliana della 'Confessio Amantis'." eHumanistica 18 (2011), pp. 366-84. Gower Subject Manuscripts and Textual Studies Confessio Amantis Review This Italian article by Manuela Faccon focuses on the only manuscript of the medieval Spanish version of CA, the "Confysion del Amante," translated out of the Portuguese. Her main purpose is to explain the lacunae in the translation (Book IV, chs. 17-26), which she undertakes both through a very detailed codicological examination of the manuscript and by comparing the omissions in Spanish with the Portuguese "Livro do Amante," where there is no textual gap. The thorough description of hands, layout, inks and watermarks of the "Confysion," as well as the edition of the Portuguese fragment intended to show what is missing in Spanish, are materials drawn from Faccon's dissertation, a comparative study and a critical edition of Books I-IV of the Portuguese and Spanish texts (Universitá degli Studi di Verona 2007; published in Zaragoza 2011; see the reviews in JGN 28.2 and 30.2). Here, after revision, Faccon very succinctly suggests the possibility that this fragmentary codex could be a composite of two different copies of the Spanish "Confessio" (381). Some further exploration of it would have been welcome, however, as hers is here only a suggestion, with no proof put forward. Fortunately, the increasing scholarly attention on the Iberian versions of the CA is giving us an opportunity to know these texts and their manuscripts better: some members of the Gower Society heard the paleographer Mauricio Herrero's in-depth study of the manuscript presented as a plenary lecture at the II Gower Congress in Valladolid in 2011; a revised version of his talk will be published in a collection of essays forthcoming from the University of Valladolid Press. [AS-H. Copyright JGN 31.2] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Il testimone mutilo della traduzione castigliana della 'Confessio Amantis'. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Gower "seems to have been the first English literary author to create an illustration program for his work," and the first in English to use illustrations "which feature an author-persona as part of a story's action" (117). For the VC, he commissioned the picture of an archer shooting an arrow at the world, underscoring his self-conceived, Bible-based role as a preacher and prophet excoriating abuses (118-21). For the CA, he used the statue from the dream of Nebuchadnezzar to picture the world's decline (121), and the highly self-conscious image of the author as Amans confessing to Genius (124-26). Two late manuscripts have more illuminations, in one case alleged to especially feature women (126). [LBB. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 37.2.] Author/Editor Author/Editor Coleman, Joyce. Published Coleman, Joyce. "Illuminations in Gower's Manuscripts." In Ana Sáez-Hidalgo, Brian Gastle, and R. F. Yeager, eds. The Routledge Research Companion to John Gower (Oxford and New York: Routledge, 2017), pp. 117-131. Gower Subject Manuscripts and Textual Studies Vox Clamantis Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Illuminations in Gower's Manuscripts. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Brief biography of Gower and list of his works; Gower moved ". . . one foot over into the new camp when he had reached the age of about 60." [RFY1981]. Author/Editor Author/Editor Ward, A. C. Published Ward, A. C. Illustrated History of English Literature. 3 vols. Chaucer to Shakespeare, vol. I. London: Longmans, Green, 1963, pp. 32-34, 70, 83n, and 167. Gower Subject Biography of Gower Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Illustrated History of English Literature. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1963 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Gower figures prominently in sections 2-4 of Todd's work, as well as in his Introduction. Todd points out that he usually deals with Gower before Chaucer, not because he gives "precedence in respect to talents" (xxvi), but because of "chronological propriety" (xxvi); later writers generally considered Gower to have been the senior and, to some extent, prior writer. Section 2 provides a copy of Gower's will, along with a deed from 1346, witnessed by a John Gower (and to which another hand, at least a century later, added "Sr. John Gower the Poet"). In the Introduction (see especially xii-xxi), Todd argues that the poet's bequests in his will show his wealth and opulence. The will also suggests that Gower was nobly born, which he must have been if he was able to study in the Inns of Court. The deed in section 2 further demonstrates that he was of the House of Stitenham in Yorkshire. Section 3 provides an overview of the extant manuscripts of Gower's work, with descriptions of their contents and history. Special attention is given to the CB, from which a number of ballads are transcribed. Todd also suggests that the MO is no longer extant, and that prior critics have mistaken it for the Traitie (111). One additional Gower manuscript is mentioned amid the discussion of Chaucer's works (127). Section 4 of Todd's book includes the dedication and preface from Berthelet's 1532 edition of the CA; the Tale of the Caskets (from Book 5); a short selection from Book 6 (about gratification derived from the sense of hearing); and some commentary. In his comments, Todd compares The Tale of the Caskets to various analogues. He also argues that the selection from Book 6 shows Gower's skill as a poet (Todd compares him to Milton), and as a lover of romances. There are, finally, a few sporadic references to Gower in the rest of Todd's work (see, for instance, the discussion of Gower's contribution to the Flower and the Leaf debate (275-80). [CvD] Author/Editor Author/Editor Todd, Rev. Henry J Published Todd, Rev. Henry J. "Illustrations of the Lives and Writings of Gower and Chaucer collected from authentic documents." London: Woodfall, 1810 Gower Subject Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Vox Clamantis Cinkante Balades Biography of Gower Facsimiles, Editions, and Translations Confessio Amantis Traitié pour Essampler les Amants Marietz Manuscripts and Textual Studies Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Illustrations of the Lives and Writings of Gower and Chaucer collected from authentic documents Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Woodfall, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1810 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Brief biography of Gower. [RFY1981]. Author/Editor Author/Editor Bale, John. Published Bale, John. Illustrium Maioris Brytanniae, Hoc Est Angliae, Cambriae, ac Scotiae Summariu. London: John Overton, 1548, p. 524. Gower Subject Biography of Gower Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Illustrium Maioris Brytanniae Scriptorum Hoc Est, Angliae, Cambriae, ac Scotiae Summariu. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1548 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Rayner invokes John Burrow's "Ricardian" periodization (in "Ricardian Poetry" [1971]), in some measure to reassess its currency in light of subsequent scholarship, in some measure to go beyond it by offering fresh, clos(er) readings of CA, "Piers Plowman," "Pearl," "Cleanness," "Patience," and "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," and a variety of Chaucer: "Lak of Stedfastnesse," "Ballad of Fortune," "Complaint of Chaucer to His Purse," the Dream poems, "Troilus and Criseyde," and "Canterbury Tales," ultimately with an aim to "show that the instabilities of the Ricardian label can resolve themselves into some solid conclusions about the ways in which major poets of the period responded to kingship" (4). She devotes her first chapter to Gower, focusing almost exclusively on Book 7 of CA, with very occasional forays into other Books and works, on the ground that "this establishes the widest exempla of references to kingship" (4). Rayner has a way with a summation, and one can do no better than to quote her on her own work: "Gower is the poet most openly concerned with the theme of kingship, and his 'Confessio' relentlessly examines the different types of king and the effect of their rule on their subjects. Yet even he contains this exploration within a very specific framework of an individual's journey towards greater self-governance, and one, moreover, who is not a king. Amans's behavour [sic] is paralleled with the kings who [sic] Gower discusses, but he is never described as anything other than a rather lowly cleric; though Gower includes a Mirror for Princes in Book VII of his work, it is to Amans that Genius directs it, and Amans turns out to be none other than Gower himself. What Gower indicates is that such advice is universally applicable, and that kingship is not only the responsibility of the king himself. All subjects must try to be like an ideal king, like Apollonius, whom Gower holds up as the epitome of wise and effective governance. The moral governance is the vital aspect of Gower's treatment of kingship, and it is this that transcends any other relevance to real kings that he makes in his poem" (161). Although Rayner offers few original insights about Gower per se, she nonetheless chooses insightfully among secondary sources, and quotes judiciously from, in particular, Nigel Saul, Russell Peck, Diane Watt, Kurt Olsson, and James Simpson in support of her points. Her reading of Book 7 is a satisfyingly cohesive one, its strength residing chiefly in how she applies a similar insightful judiciousness to selecting passages from CA. Indeed, often she calls attention to lines seldom dwelt upon--and in so doing succeeds in refreshing Gower's work in surprising ways, much as a washing and new paint can make familiar facades seem suddenly new. [RFY. Copyright. The John Gower Society. JGN 28.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Rayner, Samantha Published Rayner, Samantha. "Images of Kingship in Chaucer and His Ricardian Contemporaries." Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2008 ISBN 9781843841746 Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Images of Kingship in Chaucer and His Ricardian Contemporaries. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available D. S. Brewer, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Freedman's use of Gower is--per usual with historians until very recently--exclusive to Book I of the "Vox Clamantis," the "Visio Anglie," with two brief excursions into the "Mirour de l'Omme," and functions as support for claims about abuse of the peasantry by the elite classes. A sample: "The most sustained hysterical attack on rebellious peasants, likening them to animals, is book I of John Gower's 'Vox clamantis,' in which the rabble takes on the aspect either of domestic beasts that have escaped control (asses, oxen, swine, dogs) or of wild or verminous creatures (foxes, flies, frogs). At the end of book I, with the suppression of the revolt, the peasants have become draught animals, oxen, who have returned to the yoke after a terrifying episode in which they left the fields, forgot their nature, and turned into lions, panthers, and bears" (142-43). [RFY. Copyright. The John Gower Society eJGN 40.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Freedman, Paul. Published Freedman, Paul. Images of the Medieval Peasant. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Images of the Medieval Peasant. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Brown identifies the topic of his essay as "the way in which the use of literary images in secular writing becomes embroiled in the [late-medieval] controversy over religious images," particularly how the "radical ideas promoted by the Lollard followers of . . . John Wyclif" (308) are reflected or refracted in Gower's 'Vox Clamantis' and in the portrait of Chaucer found in manuscripts of Thomas Hoccleve's "Regiment of Princes." Brown finds engagements with the controversy by each author to be "contradictory" (312): both "ostensibly adopt and articulate one position (different in each case), [while] their literary practice points in another direction" (318). Gower's contradiction, Brown argues, lies in the clash between the poet's stated, though restrained, opposition to religious images in VC II.10--at points, "remarkably similar" in attitude to the Lollard "A tretyse of ymagis" in London, British Library, MS Additional 24202--and his depictions in Book I of the rebels of 1381 where "where images of his own sprout and flourish in abundance as if from some 'Vox clematis'" (311). Brown acknowledges that the "customary explanation" for the vehement imagery in Book I is that it was written after the 1381 Uprising--Books II-VII, written before--but he goes on to suggest that the "sharper and fuller perceptiveness" (311) inherent in the dream-vision genre evokes a kind of reflective interiority in Book I--not inconsistent with contemplative meditation--by which Gower "abrogated to himself the creation and control of elaborate, awe-inspiring, vivid representations of a world turned upside-down" that both is, and is not, consistent with his "Lollard-leaning view on the functions of images" later in the work (312). The image of the Cross, Brown argues, complicates Gower's treatment of images, as does the dedication of VC to Archbishop Thomas Arundel, enemy of the Lollards. Similar intricate contradictions, Brown shows, haunt Hoccleve's use of the Chaucer portrait as an "image designed to stir reading (or listening) memories" (313), "analogous to the use of images in religious meditation" (314). Neither writer is a "crypto-Lollard" (312) in Brown's analysis, but each rejected images while deploying them, struggling "to reconcile the imperatives of their social existence (as producers of literature within a network of patron, audience and political faction) with the often contradictory and uncomfortable priorities that develop as a consequence of reflective writing" (318). [MA. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 42.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Brown, Peter. Published Brown, Peter. "Images." In Peter Brown, ed. A Companion to Medieval English Literature and Culture, c. 1350-c. 1500. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Pp. 307-21. Gower Subject Vox Clamantis Style, Rhetoric, and Veersification Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Images. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Benson, C. David. Published Benson, C. David. Imagined Romes: The Ancient City and Its Stories in Middle English Literature. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019. Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Review Benson sets out to answer the question, "how did Middle English poets imagine the city of ancient Rome?" (1) His book is an attempt "to understand how each poet [John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Langland, and John Lydgate] makes use of the ancient city and its stories, reshaping and reimagining them for his own purposes." (7) "Gower," Benson states, "presents Rome as a model of civic governance--not because its leaders were always good, but because the wider community of Rome had the capacity to correct bad leaders and come together to repair damage done to the city." (8) Benson turns to consider Gower in his third chapter, "Civic Romans in Gower's 'Confessio Amantis,'" noting that "Gower, Chaucer, Langland and Lydgate all focus on people rather than places, on ancient Romans rather than on the fabric of the city." (59) Gower's Rome is "almost always the ancient pagan city;" he "says little about its early Christian martyrs and has only a limited interest in the medieval city." (60) In general Benson's views very closely follow Winthrop Wetherbee's notion that central to Gower's idea of what Wetherbee has termed the "Rome world" (JGN 27.1) is "wise governance." Consequently, Benson claims that "Gower takes two general civic lessons from the ancient city: (1) leaders are strongest when they govern in harmony with the larger community, and (2) a good city is one that is able to sustain itself and its values even when a leader fails." (60) Benson develops these ideas in brief studies of "Mundus and Paulina," the "Policie" section of Book VII, wherein he highlights Maximin, Gaius Fabricius, Constantine, Trajan, Antonius, Pompey, the "Tale of Julius and the Poor Knight," the "Tale of the Emperor and the Masons," "Lucrece," and "Appius and Virginia" (63-74). In Constantine, especially (and interestingly) while he is a pagan ("Constantine and Sylvester") more than after his conversion, Benson finds a model for Gower's idea of a good ruler: "In addition to being a man of pity, the Confessio's pagan Constantine also practices three of the four points of policy that Genius in Book 7 says are required of a good ruler: truth . . . justice . . . and largesse." (75) Not surprisingly, Benson finds Gower's antithesis to Constantine in Boniface VIII, whose tale is told in Book II (77-78), and points out that Gower's critique of the Church of his time offered in the Prologue exhibits his belief that Boniface's corruption extended past his fall. [RFY. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 38.2.] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Imagined Romes: The Ancient City and Its Stories in Middle English Literature. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Crowley, James Patrick Published Crowley, James Patrick. "Imagining and transmitting medieval literary authority: William Langland to Ezra Pound." PhD thesis, University of Michigan, 1999. Open access at http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqm&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:9959736 (accessed January 22, 2023). Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Review "This study considers the nature of medieval literary authority, and the ways in which it has been constructed in several important medieval and non-medieval texts and contexts. Most of the editorial and critical work with medieval manuscripts has operated under the assumption of a single, static, and non-historicized authority behind each text, but literary authority is always potentially diffuse. Works we currently know in more than one version receive the majority of attention here, because they show in a very tangible way the results of dynamic interaction among authors, audiences, and other agents of literary production and consumption. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Imagining and transmitting medieval literary authority: William Langland to Ezra Pound Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999 Type The nature or genre of the resource Thesis NonPeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Drawing particularly on, but not confining herself to, "Neighbor Theory" as advanced by Kenneth Reinhard and George Edmondson, and grounded by the ontology of Emmanuel Levinas, Houlik-Ritchey sets out to sketch the "imaginations of Iberia within romance" (23). She arranges her book into three "clusters," one devoted to versions of Fierabras, one to Floire and Blancheflor, and the third, to "De-Networking Iberia and England in the Constance story" (167-208). Gower's version of the last figures as the centerpiece of the third cluster, which should be read keeping in mind Houlik-Ritchey's goal, to bring together "disparate texts to foreground attention to the contrapuntal or uneven dimensions of their relationality, analyzing the dissonance that emerges within their affinities" (29-30). The "Tale of Constance" interests her not only because it was translated into Portuguese and Castilian, but also because it "is the most illuminating in terms of Iberia's comparability with Northumbrian England" (169). Following Edmondson, she sees the two places as "neighbor[ing] one another" (174): that is, they reflect each other even in their differences, which are extreme--but also in their similarities. Gower's Northumbria begins as "a place of fellowship" (176) while Iberia (where Constance is almost raped) exemplifies "qualities of solitary, self-serving interest, taken at the expense of others" (177). Yet Houlik-Ritchey finds resemblances one to the other: there is a near-rape in Northumberland, there is murder, and once again Constance is set adrift by her mother-in-law, in the boat that took her from Syria, and this time to Spain. Ultimately Houlik-Ritchey offers "a rigorous interrogation of the religious and geopolitical logic that ushers in both English-Roman alliance [i.e., through Moris] and Christian hegemony throughout the Mediterranean and North Atlantic" (178), which she sees as the fulcrum of Gower's endeavor. For her the changes brought to Gower's text in the Portuguese and Castilian translations, which "reimagine" (195) both Northumbria and Iberia, bears this out. She rightly makes much of the marriages of John of Gaunt's daughters to the kings of Portugal and Castile (180-87, with attention to the "Man of Law's Tale') as defining the world of the fifteenth-century translators as different "geopolitically" from Gower's. Theirs reflects Iberian cultural centrality, recognizing Islamic communalities and the Portuguese and Castilian courts as power centers, Houlik-Ritchey argues via a keen analysis of both translations. This in her view diminishes the Anglo-Roman, Christian "Weltanschauung" Gower's version projects. "In spite, then, of the tale's [i.e., Gower's] resounding resolution of alliance and empire, Iberia elucidates what routes and alliances do not result, precisely because others were being forged instead" (208). [RFY. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 42.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Houlik-Ritchey, Emily. Published Houlik-Ritchey, Emily. Imagining Iberia in English and Castilian Medieval Romance. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2023. Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Facsimiles, Editions, and Translations Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Backgrounds and General Criticism Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Imagining Iberia in English and Castilian Medieval Romance. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Attending little to Gower and his works, Davis's book explores interwoven complexities of inheritance, succession, moral legacy, and literary patrimony in the late medieval and early modern imaginary. It covers a wide range of poetry, prose, and drama by Chaucer, Lydgate, Hoccleve, Spenser, Shakespeare, and Bunyan, along with less-studied works such as the Latin "Ordo de Ysaac et Rebecca," the "Tale of Gamelyn," and the genealogies and Great Picture of Anne Clifford. Tension between inheritance and emergent commercialism is Davis's focus in chapter six where he addresses, primarily, Chaucer's "Man of Law's Tale" (with brief mention of Gower's Constance narrative) and Shakespeare's 'Merchant of Venice.' In this context, Davis discusses Gower's depiction of fraud ("Triche") in the international wool trade ("Mirour de l'Omme," 25237-55 and 25369-80) as straightforward "conservative estates satire" and "flat condemnation" (237-38), contrasting it with the "much more innovative" (235) and complicated "Libelle of Englyshe Polycye" and the "[v]ery nearly trenchantly paradoxical" (239) "Debate of the Horse, Goose, and Sheep" by Lydgate. For Davis, MO stands as representative of the "complaints . . . found in innumerable sermons and homilies produced throughout the Middle Ages" (234), a depiction of trade as "alien entity within traditional medieval culture" (247), and, lacking paradox or tension, it seems, not quite premodern. Elsewhere in the book, Gower is mentioned only twice in passing: the poet presents Henry as conqueror by force in "Cronica Tripertita" (103n17) and, at a moment in "H. aquile," the poet offers a "paradoxical formulation [that] balances competing intuitions of change and continuity" (109), perhaps a bit premodern after all. [MA. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 43.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Davis, Alex. Published Davis, Alex. Imagining Inheritance from Chaucer to Shakespeare. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. [xiii], 297 pp.; 11 b&w illus. Gower Subject Mirour de l'Omme Cronica Tripertita Minor Latin Poetry Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Imagining Inheritance from Chaucer to Shakespeare. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Lowe's book is divided roughly into halves, the latter portion focusing mainly on the rise of humanism during the late fifteenth century and the reigns of the pre-Elizabethan Tudors. The medieval portion presents adherents and arguments concerned with two discourses on war that governed in the period--"jus ad bellum" and "jus in bellum," i.e., "law or right to go to war" and "ethical behavior in war" (2). John Gower, Lowe argues, whom he inexplicably deems "'a man of peace' (as opposed to …'pacifist')," which--his book title notwithstanding--he considers "anachronistic" (36), "developed the most substantial appraisals of the just war" (36), being more committed to, and more sophisticated in his understanding of, the issues--particularly economic--involved in waging war and bringing peace during the Hundred Years' War, than his contemporaries Chaucer, Langland, or Lydgate. Although, as a good Augustinian, Gower probably took no issue with the idea of some wars being just "in theory" (38), by 1369 his views of the French War were changing, so that "over the next twenty years Gower turned completely against the war and in both major works of the period, 'Vox clamantis' and 'Confessio amantis,' condemned the bloodshed on strictly moral grounds" (82). In the latter work, "Gower complained vehemently about the use of the just war by the nobility and 'greedy lords' to amass great wealth" at the expense of the common people (142). Lowe sees Gower's critique becoming "standard over the next century" (142-43) and, through the publication by Caxton and Berthelette of the CA having an impact on the "pacifism" of early humanists, like Erasmus (147-50). [RFY. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 42.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Lowe, Ben. Published Lowe, Ben. Imagining Peace: A History of Early English Pacifist Ideas. (State College: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997). Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Vox Clamantis Confessio Amantis Influence and Later Allusion Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Imagining Peace: A History of Early English Pacifist Idea. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Galloway here examines the "idea" of "the literary" (or "literariness") in medieval English writings. The bulk of his essay is a lengthy and lucid survey of critical attempts to clarify "the literary" in general terms and specifically in Old and Middle English writing--addressing in impressive fashion key points of classical poetics, linguistic structuralism, and Renaissance humanism; modern theoretical attention to modes, genres, and aesthetics; and individual critics' attention to allegory, metaphor, the "accessus" tradition, oral delivery, prologues, dream visions, recreation, authorial self-consciousness, Lollard thought, and more. Galloway frames this survey with his own assessment of the literary/aesthetic qualities of the brief Towneley/Wakefield play, "The Salutation of Elizabeth," and he attends recurrently to Chaucer and to relations between medieval English "literariness" and that of classical and Continental traditions. In his very brief comments on Gower, Galloway treats, not the "moral didacticism and political sycophancy" attributed to the poet in traditional criticism, but how Gower is "most innovative"--and presumably most "literary"--in adapting classical conventions, especially Ovidian ones. He offers a single, sharp example of Gower's response to Ovid's hint toward a "possible lament for the coming of dawn by the goddess of dawn herself, Aurora" in "Amores" 1.1.339-40. Quoting the "Confessio Amantis" Book IV, 3232-27, Galloway observes that Gower "elaborates just how Cephalus would pray for the sun to come slowly, when he is in bed with Aurora" so that "Ovid's passing counterfactual becomes Gower's entire independent aubade" (226-27). [MA. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 42.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Galloway, Andrew. Published Galloway, Andrew. "Imagining the Literary in Medieval English." In Tim William Machan, ed. Imagining Medieval English: Language Structures and Theories, 500-1500. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pp. 210-37. Gower Subject Backgrounds aand General Criticism Confessio Amantis Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Imagining the Literary in Medieval English. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Walther's dissertation focuses on the "ideological horizon of expectations"--a concept derived from Hans Robert Jauss, modified by Mikhail M. Bahktin and Pavel N. Medvedev--evident in "Piers Plowman," considering the work's use of vernacular English, its rural and legal vocabularies, and its rustic protagonist as reflections of audience expectations. He compares and contrasts these features with those found in Gower's "Vox Clamantis," the play "Mankind," and various works by Chaucer to show how such features can help modern readers understand the perspectives of targeted medieval audiences. Walther's treatment of the VC is limited largely to observing that Gower's use of Latin in the work restricts its audience, along with commentary on his use of legal vocabulary and on the use of English in the "Confessio Amantis." [MA] Author/Editor Author/Editor Walther, James Thomas. Published Walther, James Thomas. Imagining the Reader: Vernacular Representation and Specialized Vocabulary in Medieval English Literature. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of North Texas, 2000. ii, 166 pp. Dissertation Abstracts International A62.07. Fully accessible via ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global and at https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2592/. Gower Subject Vox Clamantis Confessio Amantis Language and Word Studies Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Imagining the Reader: Vernacular Representation and Specialized Vocabulary in Medieval English Literature. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Neatly situated among discussions of "translatio studii et imperii" and recent developments in translation studies, Stoll's dissertation "examines the importance of the trope of translation as a means for writers to conceive of their creative process throughout the Middle Ages . . . [exploring how translational] metaphors for textual production have a shaping influence on their narratives" (65). Her focus is medieval French literature that engages the story of Troy and recurrently posits a lost (presumably fictive) Trojan book as a source. Unusually, she includes Gower in this context, setting aspects of his three major works against two by Christine de Pizan ("Epistre Othea" and "Cité des Dames"; see Stoll's chapter three) for the ways they respond to the "tradition of conceiving textual production . . . as a form of translation" (62). Acknowledging that neither Pizan nor Gower wrote a detailed narrative of the Trojan War, nor that either "claims to have translated their texts," Stoll nevertheless includes them because they present a "distinctive concept of fiction" that is "structured" in a way similar to translation "through the concept of the example." Further, both writers "envisage their textual production in relation to Trojan material" and "introduce the figure of Carmentis," mythic inventor of the Latin alphabet, as a provocative figure of transmission (64-65). Gower's multilingualism is central for Stoll insofar as he "frequently puts passages from one of his own texts in one language into another, as well as quoting and translating from other texts" and "blurs the boundaries between translation and multilingual production" (64). Linking Gower's multilingualism, exemplarity, concerns with translation, and allusions and references to Troy (some deeply embedded) with French literary tradition, Stoll explores the poet's ideas about poetic creativity and cultural transmission in "Mirour de l'Omme," "Vox Clamantis," and "Confessio Amantis." [MA] Author/Editor Author/Editor Stoll, Jessica. Published Ph.D. Dissertation. King's College London, 2014. 312 pp. Fully accessible via https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/studentTheses/imagining-troy/ (accessed February 23, 2026). Gower Subject Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Mirour de l'Omme Vox Clamantis Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Imagining Troy: Fictions of Translation in Medieval French Literature. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Per Olsen's argument, most of the critical response to Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseyde" has been overly sympathetic to Troilus, forgiving his faults, while anachronistically hostile to Criseyde and Diomede. To recapture a more authentic, fourteenth-century view of the three characters, Olsen maintains, we can turn to their portrayal in the works of John Gower, where Troilus erred from his first sight of Criseyde (4), and Diomede was not without honor. The works of Gower provide us with a more nuanced view of the famous love triangle. Troilus, while given credit in the Vox Clamantis as faithful unto death, according to the Confessio Amantis was guilty of "sacrilege" due to the setting of his first attraction to Criseyde--a religious service (4). Never does Gower refer to Criseyde as a prostitute, as does Robert Henryson in "Testament of Cresseid," Olsen notes; rather, by leaving her "lief" (Troilus) to love Diomede, a "levere," she "changed lovers out of a genuine preference for the second man" (5). In the VC, Gower cites the serial seducer Jason, never Diomede, as archetype of the unfaithful male (5). In fact, Olsen asserts, there is no textual proof in any version of the story that Diomede had a lover before Criseyde, or that he ended his relationship with her (8). Crucial to Olsen's argument is the appearance of all three characters, more or less together, in the "Lovers' Paradise" of CA Book VIII (6). All of the company, including Diomede, are classed as "gentil folk" (6). By this evidence, "both men would still lay claim to Criseyde after death and . . . Criseyde would still find it difficult to choose between them" (7). According to Olsen, Diomede's life course should be understood by the French expression "il s'est range / he has put himself in order," which refers to a man who has settled down to a stable domestic life after sowing his youthful oats (8-9). Gower's portrayal of Diomede is thus "less puritanically English" than the later tradition, as exemplified by Henryson, and thus more in harmony with the bilingual court culture of Richard II (9). [LBB. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 39.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Olsen, Alexandra Hennessey. Published Olsen, Alexandra Hennessey. "In Defense of Diomede: 'Moral Gower' and Troilus and Criseyde." In Geardagum: Essays on Old and Middle English 8 (1987): 1-12. Gower Subject Vox Clamantis Confessio Amantis Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource In Defense of Diomede: "Moral Gower" and "Troilus and Criseyde." Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Kobayashi clarifies the Tudor reception of Gower, arguing that William Thynne included Gower's "In Praise of Peace"--and identified as Gower's--in his edition of Chaucer's "Workes" (1532) at least in part because the poem expressed the humanist ideal of universal peace as "cherished and promulgated by Erasmus and his English friends" (246), a circle that included Thynne's putative collaborator Brian Tuke, Richard Pace, Thomas More, and William Leland. In the two decades preceding Thynne's edition in 1532--the same publication year as Thomas Berthelette's edition of "Confessio Amantis", with its own humanist presentation, as Kobayashi notes--European peace was promoted as a stay against the expansionism of the Ottoman Turks, and Anglo-French peace was as crucial to such efforts in the early sixteenth century as it was when Gower penned PP more than 100 years earlier (for dating, see David Watt's essay in this volume). Kobayashi identifies parallels between the poem and various humanist orations and letters of the time--Erasmus' own letter to Henry VIII celebrating the Treaty of London, "[a]lso known as the Treaty of Universal Peace" (238), and Richard Pace's published oration on the Treaty which shares mirror-for-princes motifs, themes, and imagery with Gower's poem. Letters written by More--who, with Tuke, negotiated a truce between England, France and the Holy Roman Empire "in the late 1520s" (243)--"testify to the powerful influence that the ideal of universal peace," Kobayashi observes, and a "vestige of that humanist ideal can be discerned" as late as Leland's 1546 poem on the Peace of Campe (244). Leland may well have been directly influenced, Kobayashi argues, by Pace's oration, and he certainly admired Gower's poem, as Kobayashi shows. He knew Berthelette, whom he believed to have had a hand in Thynne's edition, a likely possibility, "given the fact that [Berthelette] lent to Godfray [Thynne's publisher] the woodcut border used on the title page" of Thynne's Chaucer (234).We have no direct evidence of why Thynne included Gower's "In Praise of Peace" in Chaucer's "Workes," but Kobayashi makes clear that Gower, as the "author of an English 'laudation pacis'," is "transformed into a humanist 'orator'" (246) when Thynne first prints the poem, seemingly as an expression of the humanist ideal. [MA. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 39.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Kobayashi, Yoshiko. Published Kobayashi, Yoshiko. "In Praise of European Peace: Gower's Verse Epistle in Thynne's 1532 Edition of Chaucer's Workes." In Martha Driver, Derek Pearsall, and R. F. Yeager, eds. John Gower in Manuscripts and Early Printed Books. Publications of the John Gower Society, no. 14. Rochester, NY: Brewer, 2020. Pp. 231-46. Gower Subject In Praise of Peace Facsimiles, Editions, and Translations Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource In Praise of European Peace: Gower's Verse Epistle in Thynne's 1532 Edition of Chaucer's "Workes." Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Gower was more capable temperamentally of carrying out the original plan of "The Canterbury Tales" than was Chaucer; had Gower written the poem, it would no doubt have been finished. [RFY1981] Author/Editor Author/Editor Bronson, Bertrand. Published Bronson, Bertrand. In Search of Chaucer. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1960, p. 70. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource In Search of Chaucer. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Among the other genres of which it partakes, Rytting argues, Confessio Amantis can also be read as a marriage or conduct manual on the model of T"he Goodman of Paris," "he Book of the Knight of La Tour-Landry,"and Christine de Pizan's "he Three Virtues." In presenting its ideal of a good marriage, it may be addressed specifically to Richard II, but it also certainly intended for a wider sphere, and its marital advice is continuous with its political concerns since for Gower "good government begins with self-government; [and] private morality leads to public morality" (115). The exploration of marriage takes place outside of the formal framework of the poem since so many of the most relevant tales arise only incidentally to the discussion of the Seven Deadly Sins, but the pattern that these stories create is nonetheless "carefully arranged" (116) in order to demonstrate the qualities of both good and bad spouses. The five important qualities of a good spouse, Rytting finds, are "honesty, compassion, mutual counsel, fidelity, and appropriate displays of affection" (118). Rytting discusses how these qualities are exemplified in the positive examples of "Florent," "Mundus and Paulina," "Constance," and "Tobias and Sara," and in the negative examples of "Iphis," "Albinus and Rosemund," "Tereus," and "Orestes." The final tale of the poem, "Apollonius of Tyre," summarizes the preceding lesions by providing examples of each of the qualities of a good spouse. It arises, moreover, out of the discussion of incest, which might be seen as the "direct opposite of marriage" since it is "a type of love that by church law cannot end in matrimony" (116). Following the tale, Venus cures Amans of his love which, "while not incestuous in any narrow sense, is unlikely to lead to marriage because of Amans' age, impotence, and failure to attract the interest of his beloved " (117). Her action stands in contrast to her intervention of behalf of the lover's plea in the tale of "Pygmalion." Implicit in this contrast "is the message that fruitful love (love with marriage potential) should be developed, while unfruitful love (love without marriage potential) should be avoided" (ibid.). As a marriage manual or conduct book, CA differs from the other well-known examples in that it is evidently addressed to men as well as women, and while the expected obedience of the wife is not absent from the poem, the qualities of a good spouse that Gower extols are expected of both spouses and they are reciprocal. [PN. Copyright The John Gower Society: JGN 22.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Rytting, Jenny Rebecca Published Rytting, Jenny Rebecca. "In Search of the Perfect Spouse: John Gower's Confessio Amantis as a Marriage Manual." Dalhousie Review 82 (2002), pp. 113-126. ISSN 0011-5827 Gower Subject Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource In Search of the Perfect Spouse: John Gower's Confessio Amantis as a Marriage Manual Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2002 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Repeats James R. Lowell's (1871) claim that "Gower's work is painfully dull," and Thomas Lounsbury's opinion that Chaucer surpassed Gower "in popularity, in poetical skill, and in true merit." Describes MO as a "sermon," VC as a "moral allegory, and CA as a "collection of tales in verse illustrating that 'love' which was the topic of chivalrous romances." Treats Gower as Chaucer's "friend" and generally inferior poetic colleague, among the "lesser lights" of the age. [RFY1981; rev. MA] Author/Editor Author/Editor Jenks, Tudor. Published Jenks, Tudor. In the Days of Chaucer. New York: Barnes, 1904, pp. 110, 113, 215, 217-22, 227, 250 Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource In the Days of Chaucer. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1904 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review This essay examines the treatment of "poetic making" in VC Book II, with particular attention to the way in which such making is related to "the relationship between the human artistic and the divine Creator" (35). Through a series of careful textual readings that surely spring from their work on a forthcoming translation of the VC, Batkie and Irvin argue that "Gower's poetics, while grounded in Aristotelian rationality, are Christological in their making, a poetics of Incarnation" (36). Human creativity is best exercised not as a matter of invention, but of "ornamentation" or "thickening," a process that allows the artist "to participate directly in Christian 'cultus'" (42-45). As Batkie and Irvin sum up the analogy lying behind their analysis: "For God it is the fundamentally historical work of creation and redemption, in which God overcomes even the diversity between himself and creatures to enter and orient human history. For the human, participation in that 'opus' is 'cultus,' the praise that ornaments the historical 'opus,' and which develops out of the 'sensus' which God created in the human being specifically to flame into love and develop that 'cultus.' While that 'sensus' would require no other stimulation in Eden than consciousness of creation, in this fallen world, Gower sees poetry as the stimulation to that 'sensus,' and thus the production of 'cultus': in praise, but also in the critique of wickedness, which occupies much of the rest of" VC (56). [EK. Copyright. The John Gower Society eJGN 40.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Batkie, Stephanie L. Irvin, Matthew W. Published Batkie, Stephanie L. and Matthew W. Irvin. "Incarnational Making in 'Vox Clamantis' II." In Studies in the Age of Gower: A Festschrift in Honour of R. F. Yeager. Ed. Susannah Mary Chewning. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2020. Pp. 35-56. Gower Subject Vox Clamantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Incarnational Making in "Vox Clamantis" II. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Chaucer's Man of Law correctly reads Gower's intent in treating incest, that is, as sin unmitigated by "lawe of kinde." The story of Canace and Machaire, often cited as evidence of Gower's acceptance of natural responses when followed in innocence, is better understood as "the essential image" of the "wild aberration of sexual love." Since Chaucer never offers us characters who finally abandon themselves in passion, Gower's courage exceeds his friend's here; yet because of his willingness to portray passion directly, Gower "seems unable to provide any practical penitential 'remedy' for those enslaved by such sins." As a result, CA is a flawed penitential effort, although "a more complex literary achievement than we might expect from 'moral' Gower. [PN. Copyright the John Gower Society. JGN 4.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Benson, C. David Published Benson, C. David. "Incest and Moral Poetry in Gower's Confessio Amantis." Chaucer Review 19 (1984), pp. 100-109. ISSN 0009-2002 Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Incest and Moral Poetry in Gower's Confessio Amantis. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Penn State University Press, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Archibald, Elizabeth. Published Archibald, Elizabeth. Incest and the Medieval Imagination. Oxford: Clarendon, 2001. Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Mirour de l'Omme Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Review Essentially, Archibald's study is a taxonomy of variations on the motif of incest in medieval literature, with attention to mother-son, father-daughter, and sibling sexual relations, contextualized with classical and biblical backgrounds, and complex cultural understandings (note the plural) of incest that broaden beyond the fundamental notion of "intercourse between blood relatives" (6) to include in-laws, god-parents, and other social and religious relations in medieval Christian communities. Gower has a minor but sustained presence throughout, including a possibly surprising appearance in Archibald's conclusion. Archibald comments that Gower's "mixed views on incest laws" (25), found at the opening of Book 8 of the "Confessio Amantis," reflect--but notably modify--Augustine's idea that consanguinity in marriage was necessary to populate the earth soon after it was created and that instinctive revulsion successfully curbed it over time; Gower, Archibald tells us, accepts the initial necessity of familial incest, but papal prohibition is the curb for him. Archibald also observes that Gower's Dame Incest in "Mirour de l'Omme" entails a concept broader than "what we would expect" (39), emphasizing sex between monks and nuns as incestuous, along with sex within nuclear families. In a portion of her chapter on "The Classical Legacy," Archibald focuses on medieval adaptations of Ovidian narratives, mentioning Chaucer's possible "gibe" (80) at Gower in the "Man of Law's Prologue" and assessing Gower's "Tale of Canace and Machaire." She follows A. C. Spearing (1993) in finding the love between these siblings to be sympathetic but paradoxical--both natural and unnatural, and an example of the "dangerous power of love" (83). Modern readers, Archibald surmises, may see it as "a rare instance of sibling love presented in a fairly positive light, as a mutual and genuine passion, though also a fatal one" (83-84). For Archibald, Gower's account of Philomena "seems to be interested not so much in incest [even though Tereus is Philomena's brother-in-law] as in the fact that Tereus is already married, and that Philomena is a virgin" (90), emphases also evident in the "Ovide moralisé," Chaucer, and Lydgate. Following her own 1991 study of the story of Apollonius of Tyre, Archibald recounts that Gower's version of the story is "an exception" to the tradition in that he "emphasizes the strong attraction" between Apollonius and Thaise in their recognition scene, and that Gower "suggests that it would be quite natural for an unrecognized father and daughter to feel drawn to each other" (98-99), repeating this claim verbatim later in her study (186). Here, as in his account of Canace and Machaire, "Gower uses incest to represent love out of control" (80), detrimental to the common good but not unnatural or especially perverse, as it is often represented elsewhere. Indeed, at the close of her study, Archibald loosely aligns Gower's view of Apollonius's attraction to Thaise with the "immaculate 'incest' of Mary and her Father/Brother/Son in the salvation of mankind" (244). [MA. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 44.1] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Incest and the Medieval Imagination. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2001 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review According to Donavin's analysis, incest is not merely the worst example of sexual desire unrestrained by law and reason in CA; it provides the basis for the moral structure of the entire poem, in two aspects. As represented in Venus and Cupid, first of all, it defines the moral failings of all who imitate Venus by serving her in the "court of Love." But as in common medieval interpretations of the Song of Songs and of Mary's relationship with Christ, it is also a figure for the transcendance of passion and for the soul's desire for union with God. During the course of the poem, Amans is brought from his more literal imitation of Venus' incestuous passion to a repudiation of the court of love and to an appreciation of the figurative, redemptive union which Venus and Cupid parody. Genius leads the way for Amans by means of his own deepening understanding of the meaning of incest in the tales in which it appears. These tales appear throughout CA. In "Canace and Machaire," Genius' obfuscation of the real issues in his attempts to excuse Canace and to evoke pity for her reveal the incompleteness of his moral development at this stage of the poem. In citing her lyrical complaint to Machaire, he mistakenly believes that the echoes of the practices of love's court ennoble their incestuous passion; in fact, they reveal the moral degeneration which is the prelude to the social chaos of the tale's conclusion. The tale offers a warning to Amans that his own pursuit of his lady is immoral. Incest is manifested in more sublimated form in the tale of "Orestes," in which the hero's lawless sexual violence against his mother is provoked by the gods and leads to social breakdown in a different form; and in "Constance," in which the two mothers-in-law are led to destructive violence by their jealous incestuous affection for their sons. "Constance" also reflects the redemptive aspect of incest in the heroine's relation with her father, in which incestuous passion is transcended, and which is transformed at the end of the tale into a "figure for the soul's arrival in heaven." The tale of Peronelle and the "Three Questions" also uses the incestuous overtones of the father's relation with his daughter as an allegory for the soul's merging with the divine. Both positive and negative aspects of incest culminate in the final tale of the poem, "Apollonius of Tyre." In Antiochus, literal incest is revealed most clearly to be a form of tyranny, both in the father's rule over his daughter, and more personally, in passion's rule over reason. Apollonius illustrates the conquest of both forms, in his escape from Antiochus and in his control of his feelings for his daughter. The final redemptive moment in the tale, moreover, is his reunion with Thaise, in which the potentially incestuous relation becomes the vehicle for Apollonius' spiritual emancipation. The tale provides the model for Amans' rejection of Venus' tyranny and his turning towards contemplation of God in the poem's conclusion. This summary hardly does justice to Donavin's case, which is presented both earnestly and with considerable subtlety. Her argument in general classes her among those who find that the purpose of the confession is to lead Amans away from his love, and in her allusions, for instance, to Amans' "complicity in incest" and his "overwhelming, ruinous lust" (p. 6), and to his "mental degeneration" (p. 38), we have some of the strongest statements in all of published Gower criticism of the notion that Amans' love for his lady is by its very nature wrong. Others have drawn a connection between the tales of literal incest in the poem; Donavin's most original contribution is to see the non-literal possibilities of the tales in which incest is only implicit. This is precisely, however, where her argument seems most strained. She must labor to prove that some of her examples even belong in a discussion of incest at all. Concerning Constance's first mother-in-law, for example, she writes, trying to compensate for Gower's inexplicitness on the matter: "The mother's motivation for murder is fear that some of the privileges of her 'astat' shall be transferred to Constance. And what shall be the main privilege of Constance's new 'astat' but the advantage of being the Sultan's consort, his sexual partner?" (p. 44); and on the next page, only the analogy of the first mother-in-law provides any explanation of the motivation of the second. Her treatment of Orestes' vengeance on his mother as a subminated act of incest instead of righteous wrath requires even greater distortion. To use Peronelle as a positive example of incest transformed, on the other hand, Donavin must not only read her relationship with her father overly subtly, but she constructs an allegory in which Alphonse, Peronelle's husband, stands in both for Jesus and for sinful mankind. What is missing in her discussion of this tale and those of Constance and Apollonius, and in her restriction to so small a number of tales from so long a poem, is sufficient recognition of the importance Gower gives to virtuous marriage, both as a goal for the lover and as an antidote to sin. For those who feel that the purpose of the confession, until the final scene, is to lead Amans to a more virtuous practice of love rather than to a renunciation of love altogether, neither the pattern that she draws nor her treatment of individual tales will be altogether compelling. [PN. Copyright The John Gower Society. JGN 13.1]. Author/Editor Author/Editor Donavin, Georgiana Published Donavin, Georgiana. "Incest Narratives and the Structure of Gower's Confessio Amantis." ELS Monograph Series, 56 . Victoria, BC: Englsig Literary Studies, 1993 ISBN 0920604641 Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Incest Narratives and the Structure of Gower's Confessio Amantis Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Englsig Literary Studies, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Deschamps' influence upon his English contemporaries lay not in their direct borrowing or quotation, Yeager demonstrates, but more generally, in providing an example of how to escape the dominant model for lyric poetry set by Machaut. Metrically, Deschamps made popular the decasyllabic line, eschewed by Machaut in his shorter poems which, even when not sung, were still closely tied in his mind to their musical origins. This "littérarisation" of the lyric (75)--the separation of the written poem from its musical setting--opened the way for a wide broadening of themes, including the many occasional poems among Deschamps' ballades, which provided the inspiration for poems such as Chaucer's "Adam Scriveyn" and "To His Purse," which, along with at least one copy of "Truth," also follows Deschamps' example in the addition of an envoy. Gower, writing in French, is keenly aware of the Englishness of his audience. In the "Traitié," he apologizes for his lack of skill in French, and in condemning adultery, which he associates with the French, he has a predecessor in Deschamps, "dont les ballades adoptent un ton moral proche du sien" (whose ballades adopt a moral tone close to his). In the "Cinkante Balades," written in response to the French "Livre des cent balades," he follows Deschamps' formal example in his regular use of an envoy. Yeager uses as another point of comparison the fifteen poems marked with a "Ch" in the Pennsylvania "chansonnier" (Philadelphia, Van Pelt Library, Codex 902, olim MS French 15). He gives much too early a date for the manuscript (70), and while he does not accept Wimsatt's suggestion that the "Ch" stands for Chaucer, he does assume that it is meant to identify a single poet for all 15, which is not at all certain, and that the poet must have been English, for which there is no real evidence, either linguistic or otherwise; but this little bit of confusion does not affect his argument on either Chaucer or Gower. [PN. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 39.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Yeager, R. F. Published Yeager, R.F. "Influences de Deschamps sur ses contemporains Anglais, Chaucer et Gower." In Le Rayonnement de la cour des premiers Valois à l'époque d'Eustache Deschamps. Ed. Miren Lacassagne. (Paris: Presses de l'Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2017). Pp. 69-79, 183-91. Gower Subject Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Style, Rhetoric, and Versification Cinkante Balades Traitié pour Essampler les Amantz Marietz Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Influences de Deschamps sur ses contemporains Anglais, Chaucer et Gower. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Taylor sees a correspondence between alchemy as Gower understood and valued it and the project of moral and political reform in CA. In view of widespread contemporary condemnation of alchemical practices, "Gower's endorsement of alchemy in Confessio book IV is at odds not only with the usual exposés of transmutation, but also with his own intolerance of fraud in language and deed" (170). But when Gower criticizes alchemy, it is for "falling away from a true essence" that he "nevertheless endorses" (173). Taylor identifies two aspects of alchemy that were useful to Gower's ethical design. Alchemists placed great faith in the reliability of surface appearance as a sign of essence: "Alchemical continuity embodies a kind of sacramentalism, the visible sign of invisible truth" which "makes it an apt model for Gower's ideal integrity of reference in all spheres – politics and ethics as well as language" (175). It was also a "science of transformation" (175), which "promises that the face of nature can be made plainly legible" (176). "Having shielded alchemy from the suspicion of offences against political authority and referential truth, Gower can use it to forge his ideal of kingship in book VII" (176). In a key passage, however (7.3545-52), Gower concedes the need for the king sometimes to adopt a "calculated dissimulation" (176). In the tale of Lucrece, Gower explores both the dilemma that results for the heroine when her outward appearance (her violated body) does not correspond to her inner essence (her virtue) and Brutus's transformative power, able to bring her virtue to expression and to bring about better governance as well.[PN. Copyright. The John Gower Society. JGN 30.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Taylor, Karla Published Taylor, Karla. "Inside Out in Gower's Republic of Letters." In John Gower, Trilingual Poet: Language, Translation, and Tradition. Ed. Dutton, Elisabeth, and Hines, John, and Yeager, R.F. Cambridge: Brewer, 2010, pp. 169-81. Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Inside Out in Gower's Republic of Letters Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Brewer, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book Section PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Holchak, Paul. Published Holchak, Paul.  Intelligent Bodies and Embodied Minds: Reading Religious Performance in Middle English Writing from Syon Abbey, Nicholas Love, William Langland, and John Gower. Ph.D. Dissertation. City University of New York, 2017. x, 239 pp. Dissertation Abstracts International A78.07(E). Freely accessible via ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global and at https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1915/. Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Review In his dissertation Holchak uses current ideas from cognitive scientists and philosophers of the mind (e.g., Andy Clark, Alva Nöe, Antonio Damasio, Martha Nussbaum, and Daniel Kahneman) to argue for "a new reading of the relationship that texts have to performance, bodies have to agency, and that social construction has to literary criticism as these matters relate to the study of religious practice in late medieval England" (iv). It emphasizes the interrelation of embodiment, cognition, environment, and action in religious practice as evident in "The Myroure of Oure Ladye" and "The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ" from Syon Abbey, Nicholas Love's "Meditationes Vitae Christi" and "Treatise on the Sacrament," and fictive representation of pilgrimage in "Piers Plowman" and of confession in "Confessio Amantis," treating the latter two as similar in several ways: "the interest, energy, and narrative focus shift in both poems to zones of interactive participation in which the activity of bodies matters. In navigating those zones, an ability to use implicit, partially unstated information proves crucial to the protagonists' projects. As a consequence, Will and Amans learn that when they no longer expect their actions to be controlled discursively, the process of participating in devotion changes, and how one participates appears more significant than how far along one is in completing the performance" (220). For CA, Holchak focuses all but exclusively on the end of Book 8. After Amans resists confession throughout earlier portions of the poem, Holchak tells us, and tracing various shifts near the end of the poem--discourse to recognition, stasis to motion, Genius to Venus, Amans to Gower--Holchak argues that Gower "accepts and affirms that he does not really know what love is" (214), relaxing his "reliance on discursivity" and enabling him "to leave a narrative in which Amans had been trapped, (218), heading ambiguously but significantly "Homward" (8.2967). [MA] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Intelligent Bodies and Embodied Minds: Reading Religious Performance in Middle English Writing from Syon Abbey, Nicholas Love, William Langland, and John Gower. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Pearsall, Derek Published Pearsall, Derek. "Interpretive Models for the Peasants' Revolt." In Hermeneutics and Medieval Culture. Ed. Gallacher, Patrick J. and Damico, Helen. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989, pp. 63-70. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Vox Clamantis Review Pearsall considers various interpretations of the Peasants' Revolt in late-medieval literary and historical accounts, including the "Visio" of "Vox Clamantis." His general point is that it is necessary to recognize "the shaping power of interpretive models" in the study of history as well as in the study of literature, but without reducing objective knowledge to thorough-going illusion (an idea Pearsall attributes to the relativism of Karl Popper) because "the possibility of falsifiability implies the existence of truth, however difficult of access" (69). Pearsall treats Gower's depiction of the 1381 Uprising in Book 1 of "Vox Clamantis" in a brief paragraph, associating it with "the prevalent image or model of the well-being of the commonwealth" found in petitions against laborers that depict them as "mindless." For Pearsall, Gower's is "the most powerful and sustained account of the Peasants' Revolt in terms of the image of reason and nature overturned" but "Gower is not, to be frank, much interested in the actuality of the event, rather in the image of primal chaos and reversion to bestiality which follows on the challenge to the established political order" (65). Elsewhere, actuality is suggested--and a greater sense of historicity achieved--Pearsall shows, in several other versions of the Uprising (the "Anonimalle Chronicle," "Tax has tenet us alle," Froissart's account), distinguishing them from Gower's (and Walsingham's) by their degrees of "authenticating realism," a notion Pearsall draws from Morton Bloomfield's 1964 study of realism in Chaucer. [MA] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interpretive Models for the Peasants' Revolt Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available State University of New York Press, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1989 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book Section PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Hallam, Henry. Published Hallam, Henry. Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries. 4 vols. London: J. Murray, 1837, I, 63. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Language and Word Studies Review Modest praise of Gower in comparison with Chaucer: though not "a poet of nature's growth," Gower helped to render English "less rude," and is "always sensible, polished, perspicuous, and not prosaic in the worst sense of the word." [RFY1981; rev. MA] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1882 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Introduces thirteen essays, collected in a special double issue of "South Atlantic Review," all based on work first presented at the III International Congress of the John Gower Society, 2014. [PN. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 35.1.] Author/Editor Author/Editor McShane, Kara L Yeager, R. F Published McShane, Kara L and Yeager, R. F. "Introduction: John Gower's Twenty-First Century Appeal." South Atlantic Review 79.3-4 (2015), pp. 1-5. ISSN 0277-335X Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Introduction: John Gower's Twenty-First Century Appeal Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article NonPeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Harriss considers Gower with reference to Henry V and discusses Gower's relation to the politics and society of his time. Harriss uses the works of Gower, Hoccleve, Lydgate, and a number of anonymous poets to illustrate prevailing concerns with government and kingship among the educated urban class of late medieval England. The repeated calls for "good governance" among the commons following the many disturbances of the end of the fourteenth century "only thinly concealed their own bewilderment and lack of effective remedies." It is in this context that Gower's political writings are to be seen. "Of all the Ricardian poets Gower is most representative of the middle and 'professional' stratum of free society which in the late fourteenth century had become alienated from royal government, and impotently voiced its grievances and remedies in a wide range of the surviving literature" (p. 2). The "strictly defined role" of this class "in the political hierarchy restricted their own capacity to effect reform" (p. 4). Hence they looked to the king, both as a model and as a leader. The bulk of Harriss' essay is taken up with a survey of the prevalent ideals of kingship, divided among the following topics: the role of the king, justice, counsel, finance, political harmony, chivalry, war and peace, and religion. Henry shared the same ideals, Harriss asserts, and made them the program of his reign; and his ability to win the confidence of his subjects was due not to his innovations but to his fulfilling the expectations of kingship as they had already been defined. All these topics are familiar, of course, from Gower's writing, and Gower is frequently quoted as Harriss defines the ideals that Henry attempted to put into practice. Harriss' survey also does much to set Gower's poetry in the context of other contemporary writing on political themes.[PN. Copyright The John Gower Society. JGN 8.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Harriss, G. L. Published Harriss, G. L. "Introduction: The Exemplar of Kingship." In Henry V: The Practice of Kingship. Ed. Harriss, G.L.. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985, pp. 1-29. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Introduction: The Exemplar of Kingship Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Oxford University Press, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book Section PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review In this essay McShane and Gastle--guest editors of this issue of SMART dedicated to teaching Gower's works--contextualize Gower pedagogy, describe useful Gowerian resources available online and in popular anthologies, and provide summary introductions to the four essays that the issue includes. The editors touch on recent trends in pedagogy ("topics such as gender, identity, and class"), comment on Gower's reception and on relations with Chaucer and other contemporaries, and clarify why Gower is "not taught more widely today," arguing that he should be, because "Gower's works offer a surprising amount of material to address . . . marginalized topics" (7-8), and because his multilingualism is appropriate in our current global politics and particularly useful in helping students to "deal with . . . the practices of medieval reading--which counts upon a dialogue between the text and marginal commentary" (9). This essay, and the four it introduces, address undergraduate study only and the "Confessio Amantis" almost exclusively, but McShane and Gastle make their case for presenting "new perspectives and possibilities for teaching Gower's works" (13). [MA. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 42.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor McShane, Kara L. Gastle, Brian W. Published McShane, Kara L. and Brian W. Gastle. "Introduction: Why Teach Gower's Works?" Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching 30.1 (2023): 7-16. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Introduction: Why Teach Gower's Works? Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Williams, Tara Nicole Published Williams, Tara Nicole. "Inventing womanhood in late medieval literature." PhD thesis, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey - New Brunswick, 2004. Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Review "This dissertation uncovers the origins of the word womanhood in the fourteenth-century works of Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower. It then traces the evolution of the term and concept through the fifteenth century, combining philology with feminist readings. Although many feminist medieval projects have analyzed female characters, the underlying idea of womanliness has received little attention. I argue that post-plague social and economic shifts created a linguistic gap: new ideas about women's roles necessitated new vocabulary. Chaucer invents several terms to address this gap, including femininity and wifehood, but womanhood becomes particularly significant and its meanings evolve through various late medieval texts. Womanhood does consistently involve two issues: whether it is primarily interior or exterior (and, by extension, whom it includes or excludes) and whether it restricts or enables feminine forms of power. . . . While Chaucer focuses on its internal virtues, Gower imagines womanhood as embodied and performed; Chapter Three explores his divergent usage in the Confessio Amantis. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Inventing womanhood in late medieval literature Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004 Type The nature or genre of the resource Thesis NonPeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Williams identifies the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries as a turning-point when "Middle English writers experimented with new ways of imagining and representing women's lives and experiences" (3). She centers her study around "womanhood" as a "gendered term," "both because it directly invokes the conceptual problem of what defines women collectively, beyond specific experiences or roles, and because it was used so widely and in such interesting ways in the late Middle Ages" (3). The book accords a chapter each to Chaucer, Lydgate and Henryson, Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe; chapter 2 treats "Beastly Women and Womanly Men: Gower's Confessio Amantis." Citing Judth Butler, Williams finds that Gowerian gender is "performative" (51). Gower is interested in transformations, which for him are "physical and explore how any figure can combine elements of womanhood, manhood, and beastliness. The intersections of these identities intrigue Gower and he locates them in many figures, including Amans . . . the loathly lady in the 'Tale of Florent' . . . Achilles and Iphis" (52). He also "is interested in the relationship between womanhood and social power," focusing on "how [womanhood] can act as a register of the morality of others, especially men" (52). These concerns lie behind the larger purpose of the frame narrative, which is "to teach Amans how to be a man" by showing him "how he should think about and react to women, especially the lady who is the object of his desire" (52). "The chapter connects Gower's concept of womanhood in the tales with the figure of Amans' lady in the frame narrative. As parts of his attempt to educate Amans on how to be a man and hence how to react to women, Genius persistently interprets his exempla, and even those with female protagonists, as lessons about male behavior. Only by understanding and sympathizing with female victims can Amans absorb the morals of the tales, but his continuing insensitivity toward his lady signals his inability to read women's experiences accurately" (53). The chapter has three sections. The first, "Beastly Women," treats the tales of "Florent," "Tereus," "Neptune and Cornix," and "Calistona" (53-65); the second, "Womanly Men," treats the "Tale of Achilles and Deidamia," "Sardanapalus," and the "Tale of Iphis" (65-72) ; the third, "'Mi ladi, which a womman is'," focuses on Amans' divided and underdeveloped understanding, revealing "his beastliness in his desire to violate the lady, like Tereus, and his womanliness in his inability to allow reason to overcome love, like Sardanapalus" (72-85, quote at 72). Amans' larger problem, in Williams' view, is that he suffers under an illusion: he expects his lady to act in accord with romance conventions while she, realistically, resists that stereotype. Ultimately, forced by Venus to acknowledge reality, Amans discovers himself, and a new purpose. [RFY. Copyright. The John Gower Society eJGN 40.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Williams, Tara. Published Williams, Tara. Inventing Womanhood: Gender and Language in Later Middle English Literature. (Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 2011). Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Inventing Womanhood: Gender and Language in Later Middle English Literature. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review "From the late fourteenth through the fifteenth century, Middle English writers experimented with new ways of imagining and representing women's lives and experiences," Williams asserts. "Two especially significant aspects of that experimentation were the coining of a number of new gendered terms, including 'womanhood' and 'femininity,' and the refashioning of others already in use, such as 'motherhood.' This book suggests that Middle English writers used these words . . . to signal moments where the writers are . . . exploring new ideas about femininity" (3). "Womanhood" she finds "particularly important, both because it directly invokes the conceptual problem of what defines women collectively . . . and because it was used so widely and in such interesting ways in the late Middle Ages" beginning with appearances in the work of Chaucer and Gower (3). Chapter 3 ("Beastly Women and Womanly Men"), 51-85, is devoted to the "Confessio Amantis," which she finds "crucial to the development of womanhood, providing a version that is at least as influential as Chaucer's for later writers" (51). "Gower constructs womanhood as analogous to both manhood and beastliness" and because it is "characterized by observable signifiers," identities can change, and also "be learned or feigned." Hence, "Gowerian gender is performative" (51); and "one must be able to interpret those signals accurately. This is the challenge that the frame story presents to Amans" (52). Genius' goal, in Williams' view, is to "teach Amans how to treat women," showing him their vulnerabilities by presenting "the effects of sin on female victims," an approach "that values women as worthy not only of pity but also of a respect and consideration that would have recognized and honored their virtue . . . . The epithet 'moral Gower' . . . remains apt in reference to Gower's portrayal of women" (52). The rest of the chapter is divided into three parts: the first on "'beastly women,' female characters who either seem to be or literally become beasts," the second on "'womanly men,' men who adopt feminine roles or characteristics" (53), and the third on the character of Amans--how he develops, or fails to. Under "beastly women" Williams examines the Loathly Lady from the "Tale of Florent" (where, she asserts, "Gower's exploration of womanhood begins" [54]), and the transformations of Philomena and Procne, Cornix, and Calistona. Gower innovates by depicting the effects of sin on women, and "underscores their significance in purely human terms" (58-9), though at the same time, through Genius' depictions of the maidenhead as a woman's "treasure"--which, like treasure, can belong to others (a husband, a father), raises "disquieting" issues he leaves unresolved (61-62). In the continuation of Calistona's love for her infant son even after her transformation into a bear Williams finds another aspect of womanhood for Gower: "it involves specific emotions" and "persists in observable ways: not in appearance, but actions" (64). Under "womanly men," Williams considers the tales of Achilles and Deidamia, Sardanapalus, and Iphis, in disagreement with Diane Watt, as examples not of "transgressive genders" but as narratives that "reveal that any person might show evidence of womanhood or manhood, because those conditions are identified by appearance" (65). While this applies particularly well to Achilles and Sardanapalus, who "choose their identities," Iphis, who "has an identity imposed upon him/her," poses a more complex case (70), which Williams interestingly resolves by positing that desire, "like clothing and actions," is learned behavior (72). In the third section, "'Mi ladi, which a woman is', argues that Amans' problem is not his lady's lack of love for him, but rather her failure to conform to the model of the lady-love made available in chivalric stories. He falls into the same traps as Tereus, "in his desire to violate his lady" (beastliness), and Sardanapalus, "in his inability to allow reason to overcome love" (womanliness). (74). It takes the "shock" of Venus' revelation of his age and impotence to bring Amans to see the error of his ways, in the vision of lovers he has while swooning. "In this vision, Amans . . . is able to censure male misbehavior, sympathize with female victims, and recognize female virtue" (84). [RFY. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 39.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Williams, Tara. Published Williams, Tara. Inventing Womanhood: Gender and Language in Later Middle English Writing. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2011. Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Language and Word Studies Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Influence and Later Allusion Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Inventing Womanhood: Gender and Language in Later Middle English Writing. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Edwards sets out the terms of his inquiry early in his introduction: "The central argument I want to advance is that literary authorship develops in medieval England from discrete acts of invention--that is, from the discovery of expressive possibilities within and against established conventions of reading and writing. As this description implies, authorship is at once rhetorical and literary, historical and poetic" (xi). He amplifies this a bit later, noting that "we must look . . . to moments when writers claim authorship and locate themselves in relation to literary culture . . . . These moments are not simply exemplary but constitutive; they are the primary record of writers acting within historical contexts to inaugurate themselves as authors" (xxviii). Clearly, Gower figures large in Edwards' subsequent analysis of writers and their works that carry his points. For Edwards, Gower is "the poet who most overtly seeks to become an author in trilingual medieval England. Throughout his career, Gower employs the textual apparatus of biblical and classical commentary to frame his poems. He sees his major works--the "Mirour de l'Omme," "Vox Clamantis," and "Confessio Amantis"--as comprising a literary canon, and he generates paratexts to sustain the structure of his canon, even as the works themselves undergo development, revision, and contextualization. Authorship figures internally in the Mirour and the Vox through the voice of an exemplary self, preacher, and prophet. It is marked externally in Gower's glosses in the Confessio and his creation of the persona of a lover whose final dismissal from erotic service coincides with Gower's return to his earlier body of didactic writing. Gower is also the custodian of his reputation as an author. Here he has his precedents in [Walter] Map obliquely and Marie [de France] explicitly, while his contemporaries embed their authorship with their fictions. Moreover, after completing the Confessio, Gower creates a secondary and parallel canon of shorter poems, in three languages, that stands as a commentary and extension of his major poem" (xxix-xxx). He devotes chapter 3 ("John Gower: Scriptor, Compositor, Auctor," 63-104) of the monograph to a work-by-work commentary on Gower's poems, major and minor, in all three languages. Again, Edwards sets out the terms of his larger argument very clearly: "In most reckonings, Gower figures as a poet who writes as a moralist" (65). However, as Edwards establishes in subsequent pages, for Gower the role of moralist was inseparable from--even dependent upon--his self-establishment as auctor: "Gower functions as a moralist precisely by being an author . . . . Gower's poetic career reflects a sustained and continually renewed performance of authorship in the service of ethical and political reflection. Authorship is the necessary condition of 'moral Gower'" (66). [RFY. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 36.2 Author/Editor Author/Editor Edwards, Robert R. Published Edwards, Robert R. Invention and Authorship in Medieval England. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 2017. ISBN 9780814213407. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Manuscripts and Textual Studies Language and Word Studies Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis) Vox Clamantis Confessio Amatis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Invention and Authorship in Medieval England. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Simpson explores the discrepancies and contradictions created by the juxtaposition of differing traditions in the Prologue and Book 1 of CA, partly in answer to those who see the unity of the poem in Gower's subordination of his presentation of love to the ethical scheme within which it is framed. The opening of Book 1 presents love as an irresistible force and denies the possibility of its control by reason, directly contrary to the sentiments of the Prologue, which denounces men who blame external influences for their own suffering. Such an attitude towards love cannot be a sub-branch of the ethical wisdom of the Prologue, as A.J. Minnis claims: indeed one of the works that Minnis cites for his notion of the "extrinsic" and "intrinsic" prologues helps clarify the distinction between philosophical wisdom and the blind appetites that are the subject of Book 1. Gower's reference to his change of "Stile" (1.8) is also significant, for it alludes to the distinction between the satiric mode of the Prologue (in the manner of Juvenal) and the poetry of delight alone (the manner of Ovid) to which satiric verse was traditionally hostile. Genius himself partakes of a similar "juxtaposition of traditions," and is too ambivalent in nature to resume the moral authority of the Prologue. The tales he tells (Simpson limits himself to Book 1) leave doubt concerning his moral authority on the central question of reason's control of love. A different kind of instability is created by the tendency of the tales to break the bounds set by the opening of Book 1 and to repeatedly invoke the political concerns of the Prologue. The effect is to remind the reader that, despite Genius' fumbling and despite the artificial separation created by the narrator, one cannot treat either politics or sexual control without reference to the other. Gower is very much a poet rather than a philosopher; his wish for a new Arion is closely related to his purpose with CA, but he works within the ironic traditions of Jean de Meun and Chaucer rather than as a compiler of philosophical lore. [PN. Copyright The John Gower Society. JGN 9.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Simpson, James Published Simpson, James. "Ironic Incongruence in the Prologue and Book I of Gower's Confessio Amantis." Neophilologus 72 (1988), pp. 617-632. ISSN 0028-2677 Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ironic Incongruence in the Prologue and Book I of Gower's Confessio Amantis. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Nicholson, Peter Published Nicholson, Peter. "Irony v. Paradox in the Confessio Amantis." In John Gower, Trilingual Poet: Language, Translation, and Tradition. Ed. Dutton, Elisabeth, and Hines, John, and Yeager, R.F. Cambridge: Brewer, 2010, pp. 206-17. Gower Subject Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Style, Rhetoric, and Versification Confessio Amantis Review Nicholson addresses "some common threads" in the recent studies of James Simpson (Sciences and the Self in Medieval Poetry), Diane Watt (Amoral Gower) and J. Allan Mitchell (Ethics and Exemplary Narrative), all of whom in his view "offer alternatives to reading the [Confessio Amantis] as a series of straightforward moral lessons addressed by a priest to his penitent" (206). All resort to taking the CA ironically, if any resemblance to cohesion at all is to be wrung from the poem they all three find fraught with "inconsistencies, either in its overall structure (comparing, for instance, the beginning to the end), or between lessons, or even within single passages, which are interpreted as reflecting either the inadequacies of Genius as moral instructor or as either the inability or the refusal of Gower himself to advance a coherent morality" (206). Nicholson however finds irony characteristic of Chaucer (207-09) but an inaccurate adjective for the CA, where because its subject is Love Gower continually foregrounds paradox. "Love is both beyond and also necessarily subject to reason: that simple proposition helps account for a great many of the more puzzling features of the Confessio, and it also provides a model--better than 'irony'--for the conceptual structure of the poem" (213). Nicholson sees Gower responding directly to his subject ("fallen human nature--including both the inevitability of sin and the necessity of virtue") in the CA -- a subject inconsistent and self-contradictory at its core. Hence: "Irony is not a characteristic mode for Gower, but paradox is . . . . Things are what they seem in the Confessio Amantis, but they are far from simple, and taking the poem at its word does not simplify it; it restores its complexity" (216). [RFY. Copyright. The John Gower Society. JGN 30.1] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Irony v. Paradox in the Confessio Amantis Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Brewer, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book Section PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Murchison asks "it is worth considering whether textually constructed audiences were simply approached with more flexibility in medieval literary contexts" (499). She suggests this issue would have mattered more for didactic texts and entertainment texts, which then frames how she will divide the remainder of her essay. Murchison first examines the "ars predicandi" beginning with Gregory the Great's "Pastoral Care." She later notes Alan de Lille's assertion that "both approach and subject matter should match the needs of one's actual audience" (502). She goes on to examine other examples in this genre before then moving into didactic works with narrower audiences. Speaking to religious guides, Murchison observes stark specificity in guides intended for one audience as opposed to another, but then she adds that "we cannot conclude from these examples alone that medieval writers and audiences were comfortable with such diversity" (505). She then examines the "Ancrene Wisse" and its constructed audience as well as the opportunities some texts would take to add constructed audiences. Shifting her attention to the "ars poetica," Murchison describes a similar expected diversity of audiences for poetic texts. In particular, she looks at Gower's textually constructed audience in the "Confessio Amantis." Murchison details the history of the poem with its initial constructed audience being Richard II then changing to Henry IV, concluding, "A deliberate act of adaptation such as this one suggests that writers of more secular texts, much like the writers of sermons, were attuned to the importance of audiences" (512). This change, however, does not lead Gower to change his other implied audiences, which, Murchison suggests, reflects his understanding of the diversity of audiences. [JGS. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 43.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Murchison, Krista A. Published Murchison, Krista A. "Is the Audience Dead Too? Textually Constructed Audiences and Differentiated Learning in Medieval England." Modern Language Review 115, no. 3 (2020), pp. 497-517. Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Manuscripts and Textual Studies Style, Rhetoric, and Versification Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Is the Audience Dead Too? Textually Constructed Audiences and Differentiated Learning in Medieval England. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Merrilees, Brian Pagan, Heather Published Merrilees, Brian and Pagan, Heather. "John Barton, John Gower and Others: Variation in Late Anglo-French." In Language and Culture in Medieval Britain: The French of England c. 1100-c.1500. Ed. Wogan-Browne, Jocelyn and Collette, Carolyn and Kowaleski, Maryanne and Mooney, Linne R and Putter, Ad and Trotter, David. York: York Medieval Press, 2009, pp. 118-34. ISBN 9781903153277 Gower Subject Language and Word Studies Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis) Review Although Merrilees and Pagan begin by introducing the "Donait" ("grammar") of John Barton, a Cheshireman schooled in Paris in the early fifteenth century, and examine three chronologically descending passages from the "Anglo-Norman Prose Brut" to 1332, their primary study is of Gower's French as exemplified in the Mirour de l'Omme. (They do not include the balades in their surveyed texts.) Noting that "John Gower's French works seem until recently to have fallen between the cracks in both French and Anglo-Norman scholarship" (123), and that he was "set aside as not being part of the Anglo-Norman canon" in the first edition of the 'Anglo-Norman Dictionary'" (123) ], he is set to make an appearance in the second edition, forthcoming at time of press. However much they approve of this revision (as they seem pleased enough by it), Merrilees and Pagan nonetheless use their chosen excepts from the MO to assert that "Gower's use of the French language seems particular" (124); indeed, "here we are dealing with a quite different 'niveau de langue,' consciously literary, and an Anglo-French that seems closer to continental than insular forms" (125). They position Gower in between continental and insular linguistic models (e.g., in the MO, most rhymes are continental, but "the orthography retains some Anglo-Norman features" (126). They note as well that this is not truly surprising, as "Gower is writing in a century that saw a flourishing of lexical creativity in French" and his reading demonstrably included both Anglo-Norman and continental poetry (126). In support they offer "a small sample of Gower's vocabulary, the letters A-E," selecting for four categories: 1) "words that appear to be restricted to French used in England;" 2) "words from continental French . . . but not recorded in Anglo-Norman;" 3) "words that, to date, we have not found other than in the works of John Gower;" 4) "words that may be debatable in their form or use but which should be considered in any treatment of Gower's French" (126-27). In addition to a number of detailed, technical observations, Merrilees and Pagan offer by way of general assessment that 1) "his adoption of fairly newly minted words" from the continental indicates "his familiarity with contemporary French" (130) and 2) "certainly Gower's French seems more standard than that of John Barton, and his overall ability to assimilate contemporary forms, and even to create his own, show a significant comprehension of French" (132). They posit as well that Gower, like "chancery officials, when addressing diplomatic documents in French to continental recipients," possibly "reduced the number of Anglo-Norman features" in his language--perhaps "recognizing or hoping for a wider audience than merely English" (134). [RFY. Copyright. The John Gower Society. JGN 29.2] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Barton, John Gower and Others: Variation in Late Anglo-French. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available York Medieval Press, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book Section PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Street generally argues that Gower is caught between his own age and the sentimentality of courtly love fashionable in France two centuries earlier (230). In the course of this argument, Street also comments on everything from Gower's politics to his style. After a brief discussion of Gower's disaffection with Richard II, Street describes the Prologue of the CA as idealistic, foggy, and vague. There are only brief moments – such as his criticism of the clergy – where Gower approaches "the close analysis and clear vision of Langland" (230). In addition, Gower's "modern" (232) quality is that he opposes fatalism and thinks independently. The latter quality is demonstrated by his habit of inserting odd digressions and morals into his tales. At the same time, Gower makes "heroic efforts to be consistent" (232); the CA is unified by Gower's critical reconstructive spirit and his honesty" (232). After these general comments, Street pursues her main theme: Gower's treatment of courtly love. Whereas Andreas Capellanus and Chrétien de Troyes treat love as "illicit and adulterous" (234), Gower prefers monogamy and Christian love. The most important figure in his allegory is "Daunger" and Gower never "idealises amorous abandonment" (235). Street increasingly compares Gower to Chaucer, and argues that Gower delights in sentimentality, manners, and abstract moralizing, whereas Chaucer specializes in realism, humour, and psychology (although Gower is the better sociologist). Street also briefly praises Gower's "In Praise of Peace" and describes Gower's style as smooth and graceful. Gower uses images primarily for clarity (rather than ornamentation) and his wisdom tends to the proverbial and the commonplace (239). Street illustrates these stylistic features by comparing Gower and Chaucer's versions of the story of Medea. She concludes with a brief description of the story of Petronella to show that while Gower is no match for Chaucer, he should nevertheless be appreciated for his "fine pathos . . . delicacy of sentiment . . . [and his] smooth verse" (241). [CvD] Author/Editor Author/Editor Street, Ethel Published Street, Ethel. "John Gower." London Mercury 24 (1931), pp. 230-242. Gower Subject Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Style, Rhetoric, and Versification In Praise of Peace Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1931 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Peck, Russell A. Published Peck, Russell A.. "John Gower." In Dictionary of Literary Biography. Ed. Helterman, Jeffrey and Mitchell, Jerome. Detriot: Gale Research, 1994, pp. 178-90. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Biography of Gower Review Peck attempts to provide a one-chapter overview of Gower and his works. It begins with a list of Gower's works (including a selective bibliography of manuscripts and editions); it offers a discussion of Gower's biography and then of each of his works in turn; and it concludes with "References," a bibliography that includes the major book-length studies of Gower and a handful of important articles. About half of the section on Gower's life is concerned with his relation to Chaucer. Separate paragraphs treat Agnes Groundolf, the date of Gower's birth and his ancestry, his property dealings, his relation to the Priory of St. Mary Overey's, and his lost writings, including Fisher's speculation on Gower's participation in the "Pui." The discussion of the major works is given over mostly to their structure and a to summary of their contents. MO is labeled a "complaint against the ills of the world." Like Fisher, Peck gives only a passing reference to the catalog of the virtues, and he describes the poet turning at the end of the poem from the foolish songs of his youth to "a new song of disenchantment," passing over the penitential and redemptive spirit of the life of the Virgin with which the poem concludes. His discussion of VC gives a standard account of the textual history and revisions of the poem, of its contents, including Book 1 and the "Cronica Tripertita," and of its sources. In describing CA, Peck refrains from repeating the arguments of his own published writing on the poem, either his 1978 book on "Kingship and Common Profit" or his most recent essay on "The Phenomenology of Make Believe" (see JGN 14, no. 1), though both are rightfully included in his list of references. He gives a fairly detailed account of Gower's revisions of CA, then treats briefly the frame of the confession, the characters of Genius and Amans (each amusing in his partial understanding), the arrangement of the lessons, and the implications of the Prologue and the epilogue for Gower's penitential purpose. The "strength" of the poem, however, which he repeatedly describes as a delight, "lies in its stories," and he concludes with a list of the dozen tales that he finds most notable (p. 189). The chapter ends with brief accounts of Gower's shorter poems. Consistent with the format and purpose of the volume in which it is found, there is little in Peck's chapter that is new. Most, in fact, can be found in either Macaulay or Fisher, and though he takes a critical view of the notion that Gower's revisions in CA reflect a public change of allegiance (p. 188), Peck repeats some of the more speculative inferences about his relationship with Chaucer (p. 180), and he adopts the idea that Gower had his own scriptorium (pp. 178, 182) which most others who have worked on the text have by now pretty much discarded. There are a few other quibbles one could raise: his account of the revisions of CA suggests that the "third" recension evolved from the "second" when it is more sensible to think of it as a separate revision of the "first;" and Gower didn't receive his first collar of S's from Henry after his accession (Peck, p.189) but in 1393 (see Fisher, p. 68). Otherwise, Peck has presented in brief form a useful summary of what is currently known about the poet and his works, and his chapter could be a good starting point for students who are making their first acquaintance with his writing. [Copyright. The John Gower Society. JGN 18.2.] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Gale Research, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book Section PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Wetherbee, Winthrop Published Wetherbee, Winthrop. "John Gower." In The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature. Ed. Wallace, David. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 589-609. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Review Wetherbee's chapter on Gower is proportionally only slightly longer than Russell Peck's in the "Dictionary of Literary Biography" (vol. 146, pp. 178-90. Detroit: Gale, 1994), something under 10000 words compared to about 8000 for Peck, but it offers a great deal more to grapple with, giving far more space to interpretive issues than to the purely factual. Gower's biography is reduced to a single footnote (p. 590), there is a single sentence on his acquaintance with Chaucer (same page), and one has to search hard for any hint that CA is arranged in books that are identified with the Seven Deadly Sins (it's in the middle of p. 604). There is a great deal, however, on the comparison between Gower's and Chaucer's "projects," and even more on Gower's sometimes ambivalent relation to the literary traditions from which he drew. That is perhaps the greatest difference between these two essays. Peck acknowledges Gower's debt to literary sources, but he emphasizes the poet's depiction of contemporary society. Wetherbee acknowledges the poet's self-defined role as social moralist, but he emphasizes the "evolving engagement with poetic tradition" evident in all three of his major works; and with reference to MO and VC, he declares, "the traditional emphasis on their doctrinal content has tended to distract attention from Gower's skill and versatility as a poet" (p. 591). The details of his account take a couple of surprising directions. As similar in content as MO and VC may be, each is referable to a distinct tradition of literary form associated with the language that Gower chose. MO draws from the popular vernacular homily and to traditions of penitential discourse. It is also, according to Wetherbee, marked by an engagement with the "Roman de la Rose": the "psychology of mankind, suspended between Reason and the World, recalls the Amant of the Rose, challenged by Reason and Cupid, but unnerved by Dangier and a latent fear of love's power" (p. 593), and Gower's French "is everywhere alert to the corrupting power of the courtly language it deploys" (ibid.). VC is drawn from traditions of learned Latin satire, despite Gower's claim to express the "vox populi." Wetherbee also discovers, in the conclusion to the "visio" in Book 1 and elsewhere, echoes of the anxious self-definition of the poet in Alan of Lille's "De Planctu Naturae" and Ovid's "Tristia" and "Ex Ponto." This "evolving engagement" culminates in the "synthesis" of CA, but CA is also a work of a different and more complex sort. Because of its dialogic structure, "moral judgments presented directly in the earlier works now sit in unresolved contradiction with a vision of man and the world that continually call the judge's assertions into question" (p. 598). This is a view of CA that has been expressed before but never with quite as much force or on the basis of so thorough a knowledge of the poem. Wetherbee cites the form of the poem, of course, with its English verse crowded by the Latin marginalia and epigrams: the tension among their different views "is part of a long-standing debate between poetry and the conventional scholarly assumptions that define its place in medieval pedagogy" (p. 600). Genius is as divided as the poem itself, speaking for both "cultural" and "natural" values, for both "courtoisie" and for chivalry, "a virtue which in its sexual aspect brings love into association with aggression and violence" (p. 601). Chivalry, Wetherbee declares, "is in effect the villain of the 'Confessio,' at odds with Gower's teaching in virtually every area" (p. 602), an assertion that he defends with a brief examination of a number of Gower's tales. Gower's goal is "a cultural system capable of controlling not only relations between the sexes but social relations of all sorts. And implicit in his treatment of love and chivalry is an awareness that the resources provided by courtly-chivalric culture are inadequate to this task" (p. 603). This awareness is reflected in the numerous contradictions in the poem, as "conventional paradigms fail to exercise a controlling function" (p. 603). It is also reflected in the inclusion of Book 7, whose departure from the form of the rest of the poem suggests that "the perfect synthesis of moral self-governance, courtly-chivalric 'gentilesse' and enlightened royal policy may finally be beyond the ordering power of Genius and his poet" (p. 604). Gower backs away from the full implications of his form and argument, however, ending his poem with "a ringing affirmation – in English and in his own voice – of the place of man in a divinely ordered universe"(p. 607-8), and in that Wetherbee finds the greatest difference between Gower and Chaucer, despite their substantial affinity. Where Chaucer's view is fragmented, Gower retains a "guarded faith that the 'well-meaning' love of Apollonius is finally accessible to his society and can prevail" (p. 607). This is a challenging view of the CA and it is unfortunate that Wetherbee has only the space of a chapter to develop it. While his argument is clear, he isn't able to deploy all of the evidence that we might expect. The issues in Gower's tale of Paris and Helen, for instance, are too complex to be summarized in a single sentence; the assertion that chivalry is the villain of the piece needs more than a paragraph of justification; and the argument on the fragmenting and unifying aspects of Gower's structure deserves more than the few pages that Wetherbee gives us here. We can only respond with a challenge of our own: Wetherbee owes us an entire book on Gower. [Copyright. The John Gower Society. JGN 18.2.] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Cambridge University Press, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book Section PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Commentary and bibliography through 1985. Continues on pages 2399-2418, updating and replacing the section in J. E. Wells, A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050-1400 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1916) and its supplements through 1951. Author/Editor Author/Editor Fisher, John H. Hamm, R. Wayne Beidler, Peter G. Yeager, R.F Published Fisher, John H. and R. Wayne Hamm, Peter G. Beidler, and R. F. Yeager. "John Gower." In A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050-1500, Volume VII. Ed. Severs, J. Burke. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1986. Pp. 2195-2210. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Bibliographies, Reports, and Reference Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Archon Books. Type The nature or genre of the resource Book Section PeerReviewed Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Macaulay opens his biographical account of Gower's life and oeuvre by situating him within the history of vernacular English. Whereas it was above all Chaucer who reconciled the English language with French tastes, Gower also had some small part to play. Since Chaucer's wide reading of continental literature can hardly be regarded as typical, the "normal development of English literature in its progress towards general acceptance" can better be illustrated by Gower, "though he is a man of talent only, not of genius" (134). Macaulay provides a brief biography of Gower's life, during which he argues that there is insufficient evidence of a quarrel with Chaucer. He further suggests that the development of Gower's political opinions may best be traced in his writing. Of note is Gower's revision of Book 6 of the VC to put more blame on Richard II. In the recensions of the CA we also gradually witness Gower become "more and more embittered" (137) with Richard's self-indulgence and arbitrary rule. Finally, the CrT brings new hope in the person of Henry IV. The longest part of Macaulay's essay introduces Gower's three major works and their literary, as opposed to didactic, qualities. The MO, first of all, describes the virtues and vices "to such inordinate length that the effect of unity is almost completely lost, and the book becomes tiresome to read" (141). After noting some redeeming features, and providing a brief description of Gower's French verse style, Macaulay argues that the most valuable part of the MO consists of the review of the various classes of society. Similarly, the most interesting part of the VC is the description of the Peasants Revolt, even though this portion (the Visio) may have been added to the manuscript as "an afterthought" (144). The VC develops the doctrine of man as microcosm introduced in the MO, and dwells in more detail on contemporary politics. When it comes to language and meter, Gower's practice of borrowing couplets and longer passages from other authors means that "we must be cautious in giving him credit for any particular passage" (144). Next, Macaulay suggests that Gower's decision to write the CA may have been caused not necessarily by the meeting with Richard on the Thames, but also by the stimulus of Chaucer's recent work in the vernacular. Macaulay denies the influence of Gower's work on The Legend of Good Women and posits that the opposite is rather true. The most noteworthy aspect of the CA is its partial renunciation of didacticism. However, the unity of the CA is marred by a series of unnecessary digressions, the most egregious being the interpolation of Book 7. Another blemish is Genius's awkward characterization as both moralist and the high-priest of love. After a discussion of Gower's sources and their adaptation, as well as praise for the "taste for simplicity" (152) evident in Gower's poetical style, Macaulay concludes with a brief appraisal of the minor works. [CvD] Author/Editor Author/Editor Macaulay, George Campbell Published Macaulay, George Campbell. "John Gower." In The Cambridge History of English Literature. Ed. Ward, A. W. and Waller, A. R. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1908, pp. 133-155. Gower Subject Style, Rhetoric, and Versification Minor Latin Poetry Cinkante Balades Cronica Tripertita Confessio Amantis Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations In Praise of Peace Vox Clamantis Biography of Gower Traitié pour Essampler les Amants Marietz Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Cambridge UP, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1908 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book Section PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Considers Gower a skillful, readable poet. [RFY1981] Author/Editor Author/Editor Kaplan, [Theodore H.?] Published Kaplan [sic]. "John Gower." [London] Times Literary Supplement, no. 1594 (August, 1932): 573-74. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1932 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream is indebted to Gower's version of the Pyramus and Thisbe story for the allusion to 1 Corinthians 2:9 in Bottom's speech as he awakens from his dream (MND 5.1.206-12; cf. CA 3.1417-28). Other possible similarities include the reference to a lion rather than a lioness (MND 5.1.217, CA 3.1398-1400; cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses. 4.96-97) and the lovers' conversation through a hole in the wall rather than a crack (MND 5.1.157, 198, CA 3.1370-71; cf. Met. 4.65-72). [PN. Copyright The John Gower Society. JGN 27.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Taylor, A. B Published Taylor, A. B. "John Gower and 'Pyramus and Thisbe'." Notes and Queries 54 (2007), pp. 282-83. Gower Subject Influence and Later Allusion Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and 'Pyramus and Thisbe' Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Weiskott, Eric. Published Weiskott, Eric. "John Gower and 'John of Bridlington': An Unnoticed Borrowing." Notes and Queries 68.2 (2021): 160-62. Gower Subject Cronica Tripertita Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Influence and Later Allusion Review Weiskott asserts that a line cited by Lawrence Warner ("Latin Verses by John Gower and 'John of Bridlington' in a Piers Plowman Manuscript [BL 35287]," N&Q 55 [2008]: 127-31)--"Tristia post leta. post tristial sepe quieta"--as the opening line of the "Cronica Tripertita" part III is borrowed from Bridlington's prophecy (160). Weiskott opines that Gower knew and used John Erghome's Latin commentary on Bridlington, and suggests some of the structure of the "Cronica" may be based on Bridlington, noting as well that both Gower and Erghome had connections with Austin priories. He calls for "further source study and renewed attention to those aspects of Gower's Latin poetry that reflect his immersion in the difficult and explosively popular genre of insular political prophecy" (162). [RFY. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 41.1] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and "John of Bridlington": An Unnoticed Borrowing. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Taylor, acknowledging that Bottom's Dream ("Midsummer Night's Dream" V.i.206-12) "contains a debt to Paul's discussion of 'the deep things of God'" (282), points out that " . . . it has escaped notice that John Gower also links 1 Corinthians 2: 9 and Pyramus in 'Confessio Amantis'" (III. 1417-28), a poem "Shakespeare knew well" (282). Taylor cites as Gowerian also the lion (changed from Ovid's lioness) and "there is also the hole in the wall" (282) which he attributes to Confessio III. 1370-71(283). [RFY. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 42.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Taylor, A. B. Published Taylor, A. B. "John Gower and 'Pyramus and Thisbe'." Notes and Queries 54 (2007): 282-83. Gower Subject Influence and Later Allusion Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and "Pyramus and Thisbe." Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Green offers a fresh take on an old chestnut, the "quarrel" between Chaucer and Gower, seeing their interaction not as a "battle of the books," but rather as Chaucer's "way of establishing a rival claim to the use of Ovidian material" (98). Green probes "a group of tales in the 'Confessio' ["Geta and Amphitrion," "Vulcan, Mars, and Venus," "Babio and Croceus," "Hercules and Faunus"] that have been taken to represent Gower's own attempts at treating fabliauesque material to see what they can tell us about his attitude to the genre, and how it might diverge from Chaucer's" (83). In the process he examines two fabliau-like schoolroom Latin plays, Vitalis of Blois' "Geta and the Comedia Babionis," that Gower must have read as a boy and re-worked into the CA as moral exempla. Gower, he concludes, "could never have brought himself to render either of them straight;" he "thoroughly disapproved of the schoolboy humor of these Latin comedies" (89)--and hence, Green posits, also of Chaucer's tales of the Miller and the Reeve, each of which Gower parodied in, respectively, his "Babio and Croceus" and "Hercules and Faunus"--"the influence having flowed from Chaucer to Gower" (95). Gower's response shows him turning to Ovid, "sanitizing" away (97) the disreputable bits, and offering these fabliau-like exempla as a better model for Chaucer to follow. Chaucer's response is the "Man of Law's Prologue," and the "Manciple's Tale," which latter "perhaps we should read . . . as Chaucer's answer to the "Tale of Hercules and Faunus" (99). [RFY. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 42.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Green, Richard Firth. Published Green, Richard Firth. "John Gower and Chaucer's Fabliau." In Richard Firth Green and R. F. Yeager, eds. "Of latine and of othire lare": Essays in Honour of David R. Carlson (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 2022). Pp. 82-100. Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and Chaucer's Fabliaux. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Weber, Edwart. Published Weber, Edwart. John Gower and G. B. Shaw: Antipoden einer Abendlandischen Entwicklung. Bad Homburg: Weber, 1968. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Review Contrasts Gower's maintenance of medieval status quo with Shaw's socialism. [RFY1981]. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and G. B. Shaw: Antipoden einer Abendlandischen Entwicklung. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1968 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Anonymous, Published Anonymous,. "John Gower and his Works." The British Quarterly Review 27.53 (1858), pp. 3-36. Gower Subject Biography of Gower Confessio Amantis Vox Clamantis Cinkante Balades Cronica Tripertita Review The anonymous author reviews Gower's works, life, and reputation, likely in response to the publication of Pauli's CA in 1857. After a description of Gower's tomb, the author suggests that Gower should be remembered mostly for his contribution to the rise of the English vernacular (4). A brief history of the decline of Gower's reputation follows, as well as a synopsis of Gower's life that borrows heavily from Sir Harris Nicolas. The author feels that Gower likely was not a lawyer, though he could have met Chaucer as a student at the Inner Temple. Gower was likely a "gay and courtly esquire" (6) in the reign of Edward III. Gower may also have seen the battlefield in France or at least jousted, given "the lofty views he entertained of the knightly character" (6). Gower's income from multiple manors gave him independent standing, although he was part of Richard II's court and likely took up service in the house of Henry of Lancaster. Gower's supposed shift in allegiance from Richard to Henry can be explained quite simply: "the dedication [of the CA] proves that Gower offered his homage to Henry of Lancaster while he was only Earl of Derby, and when the chance of his becoming King was scarcely within the bounds of possibility" (9). If there was one thing that may have been distasteful to Richard, it was Gower's sharp criticisms of the Lollards, since many of Richard's nearest relations favoured Wyclif's ideas (10). Chaucer may have been annoyed that Gower shared Lancastrian patronage, and perhaps this explains the rift in their friendship (11). After a brief discussion of Gower's will, the author gives summaries of Gower's major works. Lyrical works like the CB are preferred over the satire of the VC and once more the author notes Gower's contribution to the vernacular in the CA. Despite Gower's accomplishments, though, he is rated well below Chaucer and Langland (36). [CvD] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and his Works. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1858 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review In their self-appointed roles as public poets, both Gower and Lydgate meditate on ancient and medieval ideas of rhetoric, the aspect of practical politics by which the eloquent presentation of words can "improve, provoke, enable and judge the social order" (569). At the same time, when their texts depict characters using rhetorical craft, we find great ambivalence about rhetoric's benefits and hazards, its rewards and risks. Despite rhetoric's pragmatic power, it remains constrained by 'human ineptitude and powerlessness,' narrative complexity, and the contingencies of audience response" (570). Although rhetoric expects response from audience, it cannot guarantee results. Gower expresses his optimism about rhetoric through two legendary harpists: Arion (in the Confessio's Prologue) and Apollonius of Tyre (in its Book 8). They frame the CA and "embody a rhetorical ideal" that pacifies, unifies, and rules society. In this idealized past, rhetoric is a subsidiary component of ruling a kingdom. Book 7, however, complicates this picture by recategorizing rhetoric into a "verbal science that employs but is not bound to possess congruity or integrity" (573), as shown by Gower's exempla of Ulysses, Tiresias, Phebus' crow, and Laar. Here, expediency trumps morality, tales and their lessons are misaligned, and exemplary lessons within the CA contradict one another. Rather than suspecting Gower of undermining exemplary rhetoric, we should remember that rhetoric is a practical art, provoking readers "to think 'about' rather than simply 'along with' the rhetoric" (575). In these and other examples, Gower provides his readers a way to conduct the ethical work of finding "the middle weye" (Prol 13). Lydgate also presents rhetoric as an effective necessary component for civil society. As his nostalgic depictions of Cicero in "Fall of Princes" indicate, however, rhetoric frequently fails to fulfill its civic functions. Like Gower, Lydgate promotes rhetoric's practical benefits; he also emphasizes the ways a refined language can civilize a people. Despite this affirmation of aureation, Lydgate is "highly conscious of the problems and possibilities of verbal artifice" (578), an awareness displayed in such poems as 'See myche, Say Lytell, and Lerne to Soffar in Tyme,' 'Say the Best, and Never Repent,' and the 'Churl and the Bird,' which explore the complex and frequently paradoxical referentiality between surface and core meanings. [CB. Copyright. The John Gower Society. JGN 28.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Mitchell, J. Allan Published Mitchell, J. Allan. "John Gower and John Lydgate: Forms and Norms of Rhetorical Culture." In A Companion to Medieval English Literature and Culture c. 1350--c.1500. Ed. Brown, Peter. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007, pp. 569-84. ISBN 9780631219736 Gower Subject Style, Rhetoric, and Versification Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and John Lydgate: Forms and Norms of Rhetorical Culture. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Blackwell, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book Section PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Provides a brief but comprehensible account of what we know of Gower's language--a mixture of Kentish and Suffolk forms (consistent with Gower's family background) that would have been "fairly easily accommodated" (69) within the great variety of London speech at the time but that might have struck some as a bit old-fashioned--and equally helpfully, of how we know it. Smith also points to the remarkably conservative character of scribes' spelling habits in the later MSS of CA as an example of the perpetuation of one of several competing "standard" forms of the language, this one serving the very specific purpose of disseminating Gower's text. [PN. Copyright. The John Gower Society. JGN 24.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Smith, Jeremy J Published Smith, Jeremy J. "John Gower and London English." In A Companion to Gower. Ed. Echard, Siân. Cambridge: Brewer, 2004, pp. 61-72. Gower Subject Language and Word Studies Manuscripts and Textual Studies Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and London English Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Brewer, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book Section PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Allen characterizes late-medieval Southwark as a noisy, bustling suburb, separate from but affected by many of the social and political restraints and opportunities of the City of London. She credits Martha Carlin's 1983 University of Toronto dissertation for many of her details and emphases, and offers her own interpretive perspective that seeks to align Gower's outlooks with the environs in which he lived for "most of his adult life" (111): "Gower's situation, near but not in the City, and among some of the most wealthy and powerful of the land, seems to have consolidated his moral and political interests" (114). Even though "Gower lived in and for the world of books and wrote with extreme veneration for the past and its writers which screens out direct record," we can nevertheless, Allen tells us, "trace something of Gower's Southwark in his . . . allegories and moral narratives" (115). Enticing as it is, this goal is accomplished in only a very general way. Allen describes noteworthy features of Southwark, identifies Gower's likely affiliations with personages of the area, describes a number of events in Gower's life and times, and offers an engaging survey of his major works, focusing on narrative devices and intended audiences. Mention of Southwark in this survey of the poetry is infrequent, however, so that links between Southwark and Gower's works are neither specific nor clear. As commentary rather than biography or analysis, the essay is well worth reading for its details, perspectives, and energetic prose, but its potential is unfulfilled, perhaps necessarily so. [MA. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 40.2.] Author/Editor Author/Editor Allen, Rosamund S. Published In London and Europe in the Later Middle Ages, ed. Julia Boffey and Pamela M. King (London: Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, 1995), pp. 111-47. ISBN 978-1-870059-07-7. Gower Subject Biography of Gower Backgrounds and General Criticism Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and Southwark: The Paradox of the Social Self. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Unexamined. [RFY1981]. Author/Editor Author/Editor Pickford, T. E. Published Pickford, T. E. John Gower and the Apollonius Tradition. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Waikato, New Zealand, 1974. Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and the Apollonius Tradition. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Driver argues that, unlike other surviving illustrations of the CA, the illuminations of Morgan M. 126 ". . . do not act precisely as guides to Gower's meaning. Rather, they perform alternative readings or elaborate imaginatively on the stories they introduce" (99). Further, she suggests that "these pictures are consciously used to highlight some of Gower's own oddities in the text and to focus the reader's attention that are sometimes otherwise overlooked; for example, Gower's absolute fearlessness in addressing subject matter (none of Chaucer's prim pussyfooting around the story of Canace, for example) and the surreal transformation, often drawn from Ovid and other sources, of certain of Gower's characters." (99). Thus, rather than emphasizing the "moral" aspects of Gower's tales, "the artists embellish, even celebrate the more unsavory, taboo, or violent aspects of Gower's narrative" (100). Driver pursues this reading both through a fascinating exegesis of several of the images in M. 126 as well as a comparison of these images with a similar program of illustrations in the Rosenbach Lydgate. [EK. Copyright. The John Gower Society eJGN 40.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Driver, Martha. Published Driver, Martha. "John Gower and the Artists of M. 126." In Studies in the Age of Gower: A Festschrift in Honour of R. F. Yeager. Ed. Susannah Mary Chewning. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2020. Pp. 99-115. Gower Subject Manuscripts and Textual Studies Confessio Amantis Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and the Artists of M. 126. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Discerns two views of history in Gower's writing: the apocalyptic -- emphasizing decline and punishment -- and the redemptive and penitential -- emphasizing the individual's ability to correct and improve himself. Gower found the models for both these views in the two dreams of Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel. Peck surveys other borrowings from Daniel in medieval literature to demonstrate that Gower's use of this source was exceptional, at least for secular writers. He then discusses how Gower used his model in VC and CA. VC is the more apocalyptic work: Gower draws on a number of eschatological sources in his Prologue, in preparation for Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the composite statue, representing the degeneration of mankind, in Book 7. In CA, Gower's two different views of history are juxtaposed. Even the dream of the statue in the Prologue is surrounded by imagery that is more penitential in nature and by repeated references to mankind's responsibility, and the Prologue ends with expressed hope for a new Arion (from the Book of Isaiah) who will bring about a new Golden Age. The penitential mode becomes dominant in Book I, in which Gower shifts from Nebuchadnezzar's first dream to his second, moving the apocalyptic rhetoric to the background and setting the tone for the remainder of CA. [PN. Copyright The John Gower Society. JGN 9.2]. Reprinted in Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800, ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 264 (Detroit: Gale, 2017), pp. 177-88. Author/Editor Author/Editor Peck, Russell A. Published Peck, Russell A.. "John Gower and the Book of Daniel." In John Gower: Recent Readings. Papers Presented at the Meetings of the John Gower Society at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, 1983-88. Ed. Yeager, R.F.. Studies in Medieval Culture (26). Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University, 1989, pp. 159-87. Gower Subject Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Vox Clamantis Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and the Book of Daniel Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Western Michigan University, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1989 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book Section PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Gradon points out that Gower's Golden Age, described in the Prologue, already has "the whole hierarchical structure of the medieval state" (62), including the rule of law. To the modern reader, such references to justice may have "the air of being loose moral platitudes" (62), but Gradon argues in her essay that the opposite is the case. Of particular importance is Gower's usage of the word "ryhtwisnesse" and the terms "justice" and "equity." Gradon points out that in the MO 14195-98 Gower adopts the commonplace definition of Justice as rendering to each his due ("Iustitia est constans et perpetua voluntas ius suum cuique tribunes," as Justinian's Institutes puts it). Medieval sources reveal that this definition was understood to refer in part to "the observance of pre-ordained hierarchical patterns" (64). As such, Justice meant obedience of superiors, fair-dealing to equals, and correction of inferiors. Even lawyers in the Middle Ages therefore understood the virtue of Justice to be a broader concept than merely a legal one, comprising instead a general idea of right conduct (and social relationships) that affects all human actions. Gradon next turns to Gower's notion of equity, which she compares to the maxim "Aequitas est justicia dulcore misericordiae temperate" ("Equity is justice tempered by the sweetness of mercy"; 66). Gradon shows that Gower opposes justice (or equity) to covetousness, a vice that is in turn remedied by love. The relevance of this to the CA is obvious, for the virtue of equity does not only apply to the state but also "enables a man to control himself by maintaining a balance between reason and will" (67). This also implies that "the theme which binds the whole poem together … is neither Empedoclean love nor yet the theme of caritas … rather the theme is equity or justice in its broad sense. That is to say, just as Gower requires righteousness, that is justice, for the right functioning of the state, so the Confessor requires righteousness of the lover; that is, self-examination and judgment, submission to the rule of reason and the right direction of the will" (70). [CvD] Author/Editor Author/Editor Gradon, Pamela Published Gradon, Pamela. "John Gower and the Concept of Righteousness." Poetica: An International Journal of Linguistic-Literary Studies 8 (1977), pp. 61-71. ISSN 0287-1629 Gower Subject Vox Clamantis Confessio Amantis Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and the Concept of Righteousness Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1977 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Macaulay's edition of the CA notes a number of similarities between Gower's work and Boccaccio's De Genealogica Deorum and Dilts suggests some additional borrowings. These include the metamorphosis of Phillis into a "Notetre" (CA 4.867) and the reference to the island of "Chyo" (5.5413; "Chium" in Boccaccio) in the Tale of Theseus and Ariadne. While some of the similarities can be found in other sources, only the Genealogia contains all the parallels. It is likely, then, that Gower consulted the work during the composition of the CA. [CvD] Author/Editor Author/Editor Dilts, Dorothy A Published Dilts, Dorothy A. "John Gower and the De Genealogia Deorum." Modern Language Notes 57 (1942), pp. 23-25. Gower Subject Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and the De Genealogia Deorum Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1942 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review A taxonomy of five types or models of exempla used in the "Confessio Amantis" structures Yeager's essay. He affiliates the exempla of CA with those found in homilies, crediting G. R. Owst's landmark study, "Literature and Pulpit in Medieval England," and he sets out "to demonstrate in what ways Gower makes use of the exemplum in constructing his most successful poem" (307). The "secular" exempla of CA, Yeager tells us, are essential to making the CA "readable" as both "pleasing fiction, and, in a very real way, as sermon" (312); the device is clearly signaled by Gower (Yeager lists numerous instances where "ensample" refers to a tale or tales, pp. 312-13), helps to justify Genius's role as priest and confessor (310-11), and, Yeager suggests, may help to explain both the poet's "plain writing" (313), and his didactic mode. In short, "Gower made use of the exemplum as a paradigm for narration" in CA (314). Description and elucidation of the five types or models follow: detailed explications of single representative tales drawn from Book 1 of CA, read in light of their sources. The "Tale of Capaneus" represents Gower's straightforward "extraction of a narrative from its source" (315); in Narcissus he borrows with added details "to adapt a tale more precisely to his needs" (318); and in the Trojan Horse, the horse is not just an "object" in a plot but an "emblem" (322) of the vice it illustrates. The other two types of exempla, Yeager shows, work by negation; for instance, the "Tale of Florent" dramatizes a "direct negation of 'Murmur and Complaint'" (323), and the "Tale of Three Questions" negates Pride by presenting the "offsetting virtue" (325) of Humility in complex ways. Indeed, the intricacy of Yeager's analysis of humility as theme in the "Three Questions" is quite subtle, as are, for example, his emphasis on psychological process in "Florent" and the suggestive diction of feigning in the "Trojan Horse." Yet, these matters operate outside the parameters of Yeager's taxonomy. He is attentive to detail and nuance and his close readings disclose Gower's successful integration of style, form, and theme, but the five categories are quite general and, Yeager admits, subject to "variations" (330) elsewhere in the CA. The categorization antedates and adumbrates the critical examination and theorizing of exempla and "exemplarity" of many later studies--including Yeager's own "John Gower's Poetic" (1990). Here it structures Yeager's readings of five individual tales [MA. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 42.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Yeager, R. F. Published Yeager, R. F. "John Gower and the Exemplum Form: Tale Models in the "Confessio Amantis." Mediaevalia 8 (1982): 307-35 Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and the Exemplum Form: Tale Models in the "Confessio Amantis." Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1982 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review In the Prologue to the CA, Gower relates Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the composite statue. Gower's account, however, differs from other Middle English sources, and indeed from the biblical Book of Daniel. In particular, Gower does not explicitly designate Belshazzar as the son of Nebuchadnezzar (although Regan notes that he does so in the MO), and he does not mention the Medes as conquerors of Babylon. The source that mostly closely approximates Gower's version is Boccaccio's De Casibus Illustrium Virorum, passages of which Gower may have memorized as part of his practice of writing "cento." Regan further surveys medieval interpretations of the world empires that are traditionally associated with the precious metals of the statue, and suggests that Gower's decision to associate silver only with the Persians, and not with the Medes, makes sense given his theme of gradual "division" during the course of history. If Gower had divided the Chaldean empire among the Medes and the Persians he would have damaged the climactic quality of his verse. Silver remains a noble metal and the end of the Chaldean empire occurs at a time when the world had only just begun to change for the worse. [CvD] Author/Editor Author/Editor Regan, Charles L Published Regan, Charles L. "John Gower and the Fall of Babylon: Confessio Amantis, Prol. ll. 670-86." English Language Notes 7.2 (1969), pp. 85-92. Gower Subject Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Confessio Amantis Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and the Fall of Babylon: Confessio Amantis, Prol. ll. 670-86 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1969 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Stillwell explicates Gower's allusions to contemporary politics in the MO's section on kingship. Gower's opposition to taxing the clergy, for instance, makes sense in the light of recent events. When after a considerable truce the war with the French was renewed in 1369, the need to raise funds led to calls in the parliament of 1371 to tax the Church. Gower also expresses disapproval of Edward III's favourites, and particularly of his mistress, Alice Perrers. Stillwell demonstrates how the MO reworks the apocryphal story of "King, Wine, Woman and Truth" to castigate women who corrupt kings. Whereas in Book 7 of the CA the same story provides a more positive treatment of women (naturally, given the work's focus on courtly love), the MO only describes the woman who subjects the king to servitude. Stillwell next turns to the Chronicon Angliae, 1328-1388 to historicize Gower's commentary and provide a sketch of contemporary opinion on Alice Perrers and the Lancastrian party that supported her. Edward III is further compared negatively to Gower's King David. Whereas the good shepherd David removed the mangy sheep in his flock from the bad, Edward did nothing to halt the corruption of his court. Whereas David was a good harpist, Edward, in an image found in a contemporary sermon, allowed Alice Perrers to string a jarring melody. In fact, Gower suggests that if Edward wants to conquer the French then he should first fix the discord created by his bad harping at home (MO 22959-68). Gower's sympathies are thus with the Black Prince, with Peter de la Mare (imprisoned by the Gaunt-Perrers faction), and with the citizens of London (who opposed the Lancastrian party). Support for this view is found in the MO's mercantile and bourgeois bias. On the other hand, since Gower shows little direct partisanship, his criticism is invaluable for historians interested in making an ethical judgment of the main political figures of the 1370s. [CvD] Author/Editor Author/Editor Stillwell, Gardiner Published Stillwell, Gardiner. "John Gower and the Last Years of Edward III." Studies in Philology 45 (1948), pp. 454-471. Gower Subject Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Backgrounds and General Criticism Biography of Gower Confessio Amantis Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and the Last Years of Edward III Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1948 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Applying Bakhtinian theory, van Dijk defines law as a comprehensive "culture" allowing for contradiction and paradox, thus aligned with literature (75-77). Gower may have been some kind of lawyer, and he was certainly a litigant who knew the potential for "loopholes" in the legal practice of his time (78-79). Law was contiguous with justice in the Golden Age, but not always now (78). Despite this seeming pessimism, Gower held to a Christian "realist" view of the law as founded in nature, thus in love (80-82), although "love" is sometimes seen as problematic (82). Many times in the CA, exempla demonstrate the paradox that obedience to a just law really sets us free (83-84). [LBB. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 37.2.] Author/Editor Author/Editor van Dijk, Conrad. Published van Dijk, Conrad. "John Gower and the Law: Legal Theory and Practice." In Ana Sáez-Hidalgo, Brian Gastle, and R. F. Yeager, eds. The Routledge Research Companion to John Gower (Oxford and New York: Routledge, 2017), pp. 75-87. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Biography of Gower Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and the Law: Legal Theory and Practice. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review This monograph, revised from the author's 2007 University of Western Ontario dissertation, establishes a solid grounding for the law as an important component of Gower's thinking, through close readings of moments in the Confessio Amantis (primarily) his other major works, and some of the less-read ones, as well. Van Dijk resists the argument that we can settle the question of Gower's pre-retirement career on the basis of his poetic content and style, but along the way he does provide as deft a discussion of the Gower-as-lawyer question as one can reasonably expect, barring additional evidence on the subject. Van Dijk neither rules out nor insists upon identifying Gower as a lawyer, but along the way he makes it very clear that Gower was intimately familiar with the workings and discourse of the legal profession. Using that familiarity as a guide, van Dijk analyzes the genres of the exemplum and the legal case, which he sees as similar in key ways. Though many readings of the Confessio have focused on its construction of exempla, van Dijk argues effectively (without investing too much in the notion of stable literary forms) that the case as a form is sometimes a best match for Gower's didactic stories. In the following chapter, on "legal questions" in the Confessio, van Dijk interrogates what sorts of legal issues Gower may have been exploring. The later chapters explore in depth notions of kingship and justice. This allows van Dijk to engage with a variety of central issues in Gower scholarship (such as Gower's sense of balance between royal authority and the rule of law). Each chapter focuses around an important concept," regalie," "equite," and retributive justice, respectively, and each covers solid ground, including in-depth examinations of Books II and VII, as well as the "Cronica Tripertita." Though Van Dijk carefully avoids totalizing readings that would overstate the connection between the ideas raised in these chapters, he does effectively argue for how past readings of legal and political issues in Gower's work have been able to base such different conclusions on the same literary work. [RAL. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 36.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Van Dijk, Conrad. Published Van Dijk, Conrad. John Gower and the Limits of the Law. Publications of the John Gower Society VIII. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2013. ISBN 9781843843504. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Confessio Amantis Cronica Tripertita Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and the Limits of the Law. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2013 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Olsson, Kurt Published Olsson, Kurt. "John Gower and the Structures of Conversion: A Reading of the Confessio Amantis." Publications of the John Gower Society, 4 . Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1992 Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Review Readers of JGN should be alerted that the copywriter who produced the advertising for this important new book seems to have read only the final chapter, and does not even come close to giving an accurate idea of its real contents. Olsson offers here a broad and detailed account of the structure of CA, in two different senses: first the relationship among the many components of its form, and second, its thematic structure, as Gower develops his argument from the Prologue to the conclusion. Olsson's most original contribution concerns the structure in the former sense. He describes the poem as a dialogue of several different voices: the narrator (e.g. in the Prologue); the "poet" of the Latin verses that mark the divisions in the text; the single-minded moralist of the Latin marginal glosses; Amans; and Genius, who himself speaks more than a single voice as he attempts to serve more than one master. None of these "voices" speaks for Gower himself: their interaction, however, provides the opportunity to raise questions, to consider problems, to elaborate "distinctiones," and to weigh alternative views which are finally reconciled only at the very end. In its assembling of a diversity of materials for a single purpose, Olsson invokes the model of the "compilatio," but in its posing of questions and its withholding of its resolution, the literary form that it most closely resembles, he argues, is the "demande." The conflicts and inconsistencies in the poem, particularly in Genius' discourse, have long been an obstacle, of course, for those who expected to find in CA no more than a versified sermon on the Seven Deadly Sins. Attempts to reconcile the great variety of views in the poem into a single coherent doctrine have given way more recently to the study of the poem's diversity. Both Winthrop Wetherbee and Alastair Minnis, for instance, have examined the creative tension between the Latin and vernacular portions of the text, in a collection reviewed in JGN 11.1. Olsson's is the most thorough and the most insightful study in the same genre. But while he finds a greater number of discordant voices in the poem than any previous critic, he attributes a more calculated purpose and a more specific end to the dialogue; and where Wetherbee, for instance, concludes on the poem's moral indeterminacy, for Olsson the uncertainty is all Genius', and is just a device to lead the reader through the process of discovering a moral truth. In a series of twenty short chapters, Olsson outlines the components of the structure as he finds them, and then proceeds to analyze the poem section by section to show how the argument proceeds. The themes that he traces -- nature, reason, grace -- and his account of how they are developed are familiar from his two long previously published essays on CA (see JGN 1.1, and 9.2), and as is usual of Olsson's writing, his account is too rich and too detailed to offer an adequate summary here. Some of the high points may be noted briefly: The Prologue, he argues, not only introduces some of the topoi of the poem, but also prepares the form that Gower adopts, for instance by emphasizing the uncertainty of wisdom and knowledge in this world. In Book 1, the disorders or the world are focussed upon love. The discussion of the "Sins of the Senses" raises the question of whether humans are compelled to love; in the rest of Book 1, the "jus naturae" is invoked to weigh the relation between compulsion and consent, both in Amans' behavior and in that of the characters in the tales. Book 2 presents positive examples of characters guided by "kinde" in Constance and in Constantine, though the excessive generosity of the latter raises the need for a guide beyond mere "kinde." Books 3 and 4 examines kinde further by distinguishing among grades of gentilesse, the highest form of which can only be attained through reason. In Book 5, the analogy to Midas shows Amans' love to be avaricious; the excursus on religions reveals it to be a form of fantasy akin to idolatry; and the tales, meanwhile, depict a world of vitiated nature urgently in need of grace. Book 6 contrasts the need for grace with Amans' hope and trust in Fortune; and Amans' need to grasp his own true likeness leads him, through his fantasy, to a "regio dissimilitudinis" instead. Book 7 presents the education that is the key to knowing oneself, the ability that Amans so sorely lacks, and it comes back to the question of choice, placing man in a field of causes that affect his moral decisions. It then frames the values that will be used to judge Amans' abandonment of both choice and reason in the final book. Book 8 begins with a statement of the need to restrain natural law with clear implications for Amans. At the end of the book, the categories of nature, reason, and grace are finally applied to Amans directly, and Gower uses Amans' old age as the means to articulate the need to understand one's own nature. Amans' recovery of his knowledge of himself allows him to review his life from a new perspective, and provides an analogy to England, which has also forgotten its true history. Most of these lessons emerge, of course, without the confessor's awareness: Olsson aligns himself with those who see Genius as an inadequate moral teacher, but in finding him merely indiscriminate, he does not join those who find that he actively leads Amans into sin. Olsson's argument also puts him firmly in the camp of those who find Amans guilty of an offense that puts him in need of moral correction: despite his very different view of the structure of the poem, his account of Amans' fantasy and self-delusion is very much like that offered by Peck. Also like Peck, he evaluates each tale as a moral exemplum addressed specifically to Amans' behavior and situation, and his thematic argument depends upon Amans' conversion to the morally correct stance that the poem advocates at the end. Despite the novelty of his views of the poem's structure, therefore, and even in contrast to them, this is in some ways a very traditional reading of the poem. But it is certainly among the best thought out and most thoroughly argued, and the thematic argument is solidly buttressed with evidence from outside the text. [PN. Copyright The John Gower Society. JGN 11.2] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and the Structures of Conversion: A Reading of the Confessio Amantis. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available D. S. Brewer, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Yeager studies the poet's "art of allusion" through a close reading of the first 466 lines of Book 6 of CA. "Interweaving material drawn from various sources," he concludes, "Gower creates a intricately-textured poetry designed to portray the evils of drunkenness on three levels simultaneously: as social problem (love-drunkenness), as moral problem (drunkenness as sin, as loss of reason, etc.), and finally as spiritual problem of the highest kind (thirst of the soul for 'living water' which ends all thirst by faith and grace)" (p. 211). The conjunction of the amatory and the moral senses is part of the basic thematic pattern of CA; in this passage, however, using the equation between love and wine, Gower is particularly successful in linking "gluttonous intoxication" with the effects of love, both in Genius' discourse and in Amans' description of his own loss of reason. Like the drunkard, Amans is less satisfied the more he "drinks" of his rapturous vision of his lady, and what he really needs is a "reles" (6.253) from his driving need rather than more "wine." The spiritual dimension is introduced more subtly, first through Amans' allusions to "paradise" and the suggestion of higher objects of love; then in his unwitting allusion to the living well of John 4:1-15 in 6.276-91. The imagery of this passage is echoed in the allusion to Philippians 4:7 in "Jupiter's Two Tuns," and in a more complex way in the tale of "Bacchus in the Desert," which links "thirst" to "grace" with allusions to John 4:19-24, Genesis 22:12-13, and Apoc. 22:1 and 17. Gower has made two important additions to his source in this tale, Bacchus' prayer, and the reference to Bacchus as Jupiter's son, which creates a parallel to Christ and God the Father that informs the Biblical allusions in the tale. The link between Jupiter and God and between Bacchus and Christ is also found in another context in Ovide Moralise', which may explain Gower's substitution of "Bacchus" for the less familiar name "Liber" used by Hyginus. Here and elsewhere, according to Yeager, Gower invokes the familar "Christianization" of classical narrative of Ovide Moralise' as an "allegorical back-up" to the web of allusion that he has created in his own poetry. [PN. Copyright The John Gower Society. JGN 7.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Yeager, R.F Published Yeager, R.F. "John Gower and the Uses of Allusion." Res Publica Litterarum 7 (1984), pp. 201-13. Gower Subject Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower and the Uses of Allusion Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review McShane here reflects on her success in using the Prologue of the "Confessio Amantis" as the lead text in an undergraduate course for majors on protest poetry in late-medieval England, describing how students considered Gower's text in relation to other medieval texts on the syllabus and to modern ideas of protest poetry. A significant portion of the essay reports student reflections on a performance component of the course in which they read Gower's poetry aloud, collaborate to produce a recording, and engage with features of pronunciation, style, meaning, and the nature of protest and power. Course goals and reading schedule are offered in Appendix A; Appendix B describes an oral-recitation assignment that includes staged revisions. [MA. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 42.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor McShane, Kara L Published McShane, Kara L. "John Gower as Protest Poet?" Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching 30.1 (2023): 31-43. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower as Protest Poet? Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Cole's essay has two primary thrusts. In the first, after acknowledging that "Chaucer borrows from Gower" in various places, he sets out to demonstrate that in the "Legend of Good Women" at least "Gower copies Chaucer in a fashion similar both to how medieval readers often gloss texts in their focus on keywords and how scribes literally copy Chaucer often by rewriting his text, reordering his syntax, opting for easier readings, and quashing poetic effects" (47). Thus the major effort of this half of his essay is to show that 1) Gower's narratives of Pyramus and Thisbe and Cleopatra, on which he grounds his claims, are borrowed from Chaucer's tellings, since the same, or similar, words occur centrally in each other's versions; 2) words jotted by readers in the margins of manuscripts to locate ideas or discussion for future reference provide evidence of a period-specific manner of reading by "keywords" and "patterns" that Cole finds characteristically "medieval"; 3) when scribes "quashed" Chaucer's "poetic effects" by rewriting him more simply the result mirrors Gower's "copying" of Chaucer. In order to achieve #1, Cole posits that "LGW was an ongoing project for the poet, which can sustain an early date before the composition of Tr[oilus]" (59, fn.35)--i.e., prior to "the late1380s," (58) when possibly Gower began the CA (58). To achieve #2--a claim that he says illuminates the "shared 'pattern' (emphasis Cole's), whereby the story is formed around certain key terms clustered within coincident passages" (52)--Cole first cites as evidence the occurrence in both Gower's and Chaucer's narration of Thisbe and Pyramus the "key terms" "'Thisbe,' 'Priamus,' 'nyght,' 'tre' (in Chaucer) and 'Tisbee,' 'Piramus,' 'nihtes,' 'tree' (in Gower)" (52). For Cole, these words in both versions indicate that Gower was reading Chaucer (and not the other way around) "medievally," picking up patterns built around "key words" that he later replicated in the CA: "highlighting only the main points as if they were signposts--only taking in the key terms, in the manner of glossing and annotation, and then building poetry around those extractions" (53). The result is #3, "quashed poetry: "Gower reduces narrative details, simplifies them, and . . . inclines toward a simpler presentation, indeed a 'simplicior lectio,' that preserves key terms and narrative details only found in Chaucer" (53). That the reverse might have been happening fails to engage Cole's interest; neither does he suggest how either poet might have told the story of Pyramus and Thisbe without mentioning Pyramus, Thisbe, or the night, or a tree. The latter half of Cole's essay is devoted to unravelling what Chaucer meant by "moral Gower" in the closing lines of TC. "My claim," he says, "is that Chaucer coins the phrase 'moral Gower' as a way to evoke the more familiar locution 'ethicus Ovidius,' thus characterizing Gower's habits of reading and adapting or 'correcting' sources" (56). By way of arguing this, he asserts that the so-called "quarrel" between Chaucer and Gower supposedly initiated with the Prologue to the "Man of Law's Tale" (which Cole recognizes (59) as dependent upon Gower's "Tale of Constance") is really a good-humored disagreement about how to read Ovid, framing his case with a nod to Kosofsky Sedgwick: "Ovid is the important source text over which, it seems, both poets enact their rivalry. Which is to say, the rivalry is not between two poets; rather, it is about what is 'between' [Cole's emphasis] them, literally: Ovid" (60). The unspecified implication of Gower's Ovid as "ethicus" is that Chaucer's is then something else, something more . . . romantic? poetic? complex? aesthetically pleasing? To his credit, Cole does not fill in the blank, but concludes with an idea more interesting: "Hence the 'moral Gower': moral, because his handling of Ovid is not Chaucer's but is executed just as much within the Chaucerian frame. Likewise, Chaucer's own legends inevitably emerge within the Gowerian frame. Each does what the other will not do, but each is necessary to understanding the work of the other" (62). [RFY. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 39.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Cole, Andrew. Published Cole, Andrew. "John Gower Copies Geoffrey Chaucer." Chaucer Review 52 (2017): 46-65. Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Language and Word Studies Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower Copies Geoffrey Chaucer. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Images of "Gower" as an archer taking aim on a round target, probably representing the world, as the accompanying verses ("Ad mundum mitto mea iacula") imply, appear in three manuscripts: San Marino, CA, Huntington Library, MS HM 150; London, British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius A. iv; and Glasgow, University of Glasgow Library, MS Hunter 59. Usually the images are interpreted as representing jointly Gower's moral stance and his desire for (in David Carlson's words, as quoted by Mitchell [291] "auto-epitaphery"). Mitchell, however, argues that "the portrait can be seen as forming a striking silhouette of an elementary trigonometric diagram associated with the venerable practice of Ptolemaic astronomical computation, depicting bow (arcus), string (corda), and arrow (sagitta), all of them foundational mathematical terms" (291). That Gower directed the design Mitchell has no doubt: "Gower likely commissioned them during his long retirement at St. Mary Overeys in Southwark, coordinating image production by scribes and limners there or nearby in the city" (293). This certainty allows Mitchell grounds to see the Archer figure as "in outer space," as if Gower were presenting himself as a "new and as-yet unidentified constellation" (295). Gower's "affectionate account of 'Geometrie' and 'Astronomie' in the seventh book of 'Confessio Amantis'" (296) show that he "comprehends the special importance of geometrical figures to astronomy" (297)--and probably his solid knowledge of Ptolemy's "Almagest" and "chord theory" as presented by, among others, Gerbert of Aurillac (298-304). Gower, Mitchell concludes, would have intended two things by his portraits: 1) to reflect "on the wider intellectual cultures of his day" while simultaneously "tending to his image as a poet" in an act of "visual self-fashioning" and 2) to utilize the "formal and rhetorical significance of arc, chord, and sagitta" to triangulate "ethics, rhetoric, and mathematics"--what Mitchell deems the confluence of "scientia" and "conscientia" (312). [RFY. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 43.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Mitchell, J. Allan. Published Mitchell, J. Allan. "John Gower Illustrated: The Archer Images, Astronomical Science, and Poetic Identity." Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 53 (2023): 287-321. Gower Subject Manuscripts and Textual Studies Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower Illustrated: The Archer Images, Astronomical Science, and Poetic Identity. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review This superb volume collects nineteen scholarly essays based on papers delivered to the Second International Congress of the John Gower Society, held in 2011 in Valladolid, Spain. Its most original offerings concern Gower's under-examined connections with the Iberian Peninsula. These resulted from migration of a copy of CA to Portugal--probably by way of John of Gaunt's daughter, Philippa, who between 1387 and 1415 was Portugal's queen--and subsequent translation of Gower's English poem into Portuguese and then Castilian Spanish. Mauricio Herrero Jiménez's "Castilian Script in Iberian Manuscripts of the Confessio Amantis" compares the types of professional Gothic book-hands used in copying Madrid, Real Biblioteca MS II-3088, the Portuguese "Livro do Amante," and Madrid, El Escorial Library MS g-II-19, the Spanish "Confysion del Amante." Each manuscript was made for private, noble readers who sought in Gower's poem "a model of ethical and political education and/or romantic diversion" (22)--that is, lore and lust. A Castilian table of contents added to the Portuguese codex and the conjoining of parts of two copies in the Spanish one, the author argues, indicates a wider audience for the Ca in Iberia than two surviving manuscripts suggest. María Luisa López-Vidriero Abelló's "Provenance Interlacing in Spanish Royal Book-Collecting" focuses on the Portuguese codex in the Spanish Royal Library. She describes its movement there from the private collection of Count Gondomar, an ambassador of Philip III of Spain to the court of James I of England, who himself acquired it from Luis de Castilla, son of a dean of Toledo Cathedral, whose humanist leanings link Gower's English work with high Iberian culture. In a more speculative vein, David R. Carlson connects a letter sent by the Black Prince from the Battle of Nájera, where Edward and John of Gaunt allied in 1367 with Pedro of Castile against his brother, with propagandist features of Gower's "Cronica Tripertita" in praise of the English usurper, Henry IV, while Fernando Galván investigates how the same battle established a nexus between England, Castile, and Portugal that led to the arrival of the CA in Iberia. R. F. Yeager suggests the influence of Pedro Alfonso's twelfth-century anthology of fables, "Disciplina Clericalis," on Gower's "Tale of the Three Questions," for which an exact source has yet to be identified, while Tiago Viúla de Faria proposes, against the prevailing hypothesis of a royal avenue for the CA's progress to Iberia, an ecclesiastical one--Henry Despenser, bishop of Norwich, who had "strong and enduring" (136) associations with Philippa of Lancaster. The poet who emerges from John Gower in England and Iberia is a more sophisticated and bracing figure than even Gower aficionados have hitherto acknowledged: global in his appeal, erudite in his textual practices, and refreshingly secular in his aesthetic concerns. [MPK. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 34.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Sáez-Hidalgo, Ana, and R. F. Yeager, eds. Published Sáez-Hidalgo, Ana, and R. F. Yeager, eds. "John Gower in England and Iberia: Manuscripts, Influences, Reception." Publications of the John Gower Society, 10 . Cambridge, UK: D. S.Brewer, 2014 ISBN 9781843843207 Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Facsimiles, Editions, and Translations Manuscripts and Textual Studies Confessio Amantis Cronica Tripertita Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower in England and Iberia: Manuscripts, Influences, Reception Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available D. S. Brewer, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Faced with the fact that no major literary figure has suffered more at the hands of his critics than Gower, Coffman suggests that "the social instead of the literary aspects of Gower's writings may form the basis for an interpretation of him in his most significant role" (52). Gower is "an advocate of moral order" (53), and while his "social gospel" (53) presupposes no social equality (he has no faith in the common people), he does preach about honesty and integrity for all members of society. When men are ruled by reason, the result will be an ordered universe of peace and harmony. This vision is at the heart of all three of Gower's major works, and it underlies the notion of man as microcosm, as well as the "doctrine of individual responsibility" (54). When man uses his reason to understand God's plan for the universe then he will live a virtuous life in order to avert God's punishment for sin. Coffman argues that "Gower's complete works are as much a justification of the ways of God to man as are Milton's. His most significant role is his explanation and illustration of the ethical basis of God's universe for this little world of man" (60). By recognizing God's plans and living accordingly, man can "recreate a paradise on earth" (54). This emphasis on personal responsibility also informs Gower's opinions about Richard II and Henry IV. Of note in this regard is a passage in the CrT (3.486-87) which "echoes Wycliffe's doctrine that no man in mortal sin can hold dominion or lordship" (56). Similarly, in the CA Gower argues that the king who does not govern himself and lacks good judgment violates the law of reason and is not worthy to rule. The passage in question (CA 7.3071-83) uses phrasing "which might well have come from English puritans when they indicted Charles I over two centuries later" (57). Coffman further suggests that "In Praise of Peace" is based on the central theme of Marsiglio of Padua's Defensor Pacis, namely that the end of government is peace. The final part of the essay engages with C. S. Lewis' thoughts on courtly love, and suggests that Lewis failed to recognized that the CA was "at least in part a King's Courtesy Book" (60). As "a practical conservative-liberal" (61), Gower instructs the king and his readership in general in living a responsible life directed to "the welfare of England, his own dear land" (61). [CvD] Author/Editor Author/Editor Coffman, George R Published Coffman, George R. "John Gower in his Most Significant Role." In Elizabethan Studies and Other Essays in Honor of George F. Reynolds. Ed. West, E. J. University of Colorado Studies, Series B, 2 (4). Boulder, CO: [University of Colorado], 1945, pp. 52-61. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism In Praise of Peace Vox Clamantis Cronica Tripertita Confessio Amantis Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower in his Most Significant Role Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [University of Colorado], Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book Section PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review This volume is comprised of fourteen essays selected by the editors from the papers presented at the joint meeting held at Durham University, 2017, of the Fifteenth Biennial Conference of the Early Book Society and the IV International Congress of the John Gower Society. Each essay is a revised and expanded version of the "briefer, orally delivered" version, transformed into a "print-worthy" chapter of "value and distinction" (2), and summarized by the editors. Together, the editors tell us in their Introduction (1-10), the essays "showcase fertile diversity," offer substantially new research, and promise to stimulate "further collaborative study" by "scholars of Gower's poetry and book history" (10). Several of the essays are, as the editors put it, "granular examinations" (8): Batkie and Nafde both focus on a single manuscript (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 92); Watt, on British Library, Additional MS 39495; and Gastle, on a single copy of a print edition (the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill copy of Caxton's "Confessio Amantis"). Others target wider concerns: Scase shows how Gower's regular meter can be seen to account for the consistency of scribal presentation of his English language. Boffey explores the idea of authorship in early printings of Gower and their paratexts, and Kobayashi addresses Tudor humanism as a feature of Gower's reception. Gerber, Pérez-Fernandez, and Echard also attend to paratextual matters--what they show and what they can tell us. Epstein and Taylor consider the thematic-political issue of sovereignty or lordship and its implications for the dating of Gower's poetry and his revisions. Connolly challenges Macaulay's excision of an excellent lyric from Gower's corpus, and Edwards shows that Macaulay's edition monumentalized the poet, but not the editor. The volume includes a substantial bibliography of primary and secondary sources (pp. 263-88) and a comprehensive index (pp. 289-303). [MA. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 39.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Driver, Martha, Derek Pearsall, and R. F. Yeager, eds. Published Driver, Martha, Derek Pearsall, and R. F. Yeager, eds. Publications of the John Gower Society, no. 14. Rochester, NY: Brewer, 2020. xvii, 303 pp.; 19 illus. ISBN 9781843843539. Gower Subject BackgroundS and General Criticism Manuscripts and Textual Studies Facsimiles, Editions, and Translations Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower in Manuscripts and Early Printed Books. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Attempts to be a complete, annotated bibliography of all Goweriana exclusive of manuscripts and dissertations, except in particular cases; contains some errors and omissions. [PN. Copyright the John Gower Society. JGN 1.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Yeager, R. F Published Yeager, R.F. "John Gower Materials: A Bibliography Through 1979." New York: Garland, 1981. ISBN 9780824093518 Gower Subject Bibliographies, Reports, and Reference Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower Materials: A Bibliography Through 1979. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Garland, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1981 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Aude quotes in her own translation George Ashby's statement in "The Active Policy of a Prince" that Gower, Chaucer, and Lydgate were the "premiers poètes de cette nation" but unlike the latter two, Gower alone wrote in three languages. About Gower's "multilinguisme" she poses two questions: 1) What status and functions did Gower accord to each, both for himself and for his listener? 2) Are there intersections between "les trois 'principaux poèmes' de Gower," and if so, of what sort? (57-58). She provides a chronology and very brief assessment of the major works: MO, Traitié, CB, VC, CrT, "Poèmes latins," CA, and "In Praise of Peace" (59-61). Aude finds that Gower was "très attaché" to trilingual composition, citing "Eneidos Bucolis" (61-62). Contrary to arguments tying Gower's language choices to particular functions, e.g., Latin to political critique, Aude sees the boundaries between his language choices "fluid" ("floues") but with (in a nice turn of phrase) "les ponts nombreux" (62-64). This latter point she argues using charts ("Concordances thématiques") showing overlapping areas of social criticism, by class and occupation (64-69). Gower also knew his audience, she asserts, as they were largely also trilingual (69-70)--and this was important, since his purposes were to effect social and individual reform (71). [RFY. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 38.1.] Author/Editor Author/Editor Aude, Mairey. Published Aude, Mairey. "John Gower ou le Multilinguisme en Action." Médiévales 68 (2015): 57-72. [N.B.: this article is in French.] Gower Subject Language and Word Studies Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower ou le Multilinguisme en Action, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Siegmund-Schultze, Dorothea Published Siegmund-Schultze, Dorothea. "John Gower und seine Zeit." Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik 3 (1955), pp. 5-71. Gower Subject Vox Clamantis Biography of Gower Confessio Amantis Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis) Review Dorothea Siegmund-Schultze offers a thoroughly Marxist reading of Gower's work. Her objective is to demonstrate the extent to which Gower's literary works reveal an association with a particular social class (7). As a landowner and a member of the lower nobility, Gower is generally sympathetic to feudal ideals (and their ideological codification in scholastic reasoning about the three estates). However, he also shares much with the bourgeoisie, including their burgeoning nationalism and their generally positive view of profit. Siegmund-Schultze traces Gower's sometimes ambivalent apology for feudalism through his major three works, spending most time on the MO (7-53). Most of this treatment follows the progression of topics in Gower's works. After a brief overview of what is known about the Gower biography, Siegmund-Schultze discusses significant historical events in the fourteenth century. She notes that the effect of the Bubonic Plague was an increase in wages, which precipitated the Statute of Labourers and eventually the Peasants' Revolt. From a Marxist perspective, the increase of monetary and contractual agreements increasingly threatened feudal relationships (see especially the discussion of Marx's views on usury and mercantile capital in the late Middle Ages on page 21). The ideology of the old feudal order was further propped up by medieval spirituality (Siegmund-Schultze quotes Engels; 8). This explains also why Gower's ideal knight is a very pious man, aware of the impermanence of earthly fame (17), and why Gower's discussion of grace and salvation is imbued with the language of earning, reward, and investment (24). Gower's belief in an "Einheitskultur" (9) is further connected with his sense that Reason will teach us the wisdom of the past (Siegmund-Schultze lists Gower's primary sources; 14). In addition, his belief that education is a coherent system (unified in the seven liberal arts) leads him to link together a number of key values: "Bildung [education] Wissen [knowledge] governance und die aurea mediocritas [golden mean]" (15). This project, which links self-governance with the Three Estates model, is constantly threatened. Siegmund-Schultze mentions Gower's preoccupation with the rich burger who tries to imitate the aristocracy. In addition, while Gower is Boethian in his rejection of wealth, profit is often justified and the Vita Activa provides the most benefit to the social well-being. The latter emphasis on the common profit is typically bourgeois, and contradicts the individualism of feudalism (26; although on page 22 Siegmund-Schultze laments the increasingly cold ties of monetary transactions). This nationalistic focus goes hand in hand with a growing pacifism on Gower's part. Despite such bourgeois interests, Gower tends to depict labour as the pursuit of land-tied peasants, and he justifies poverty as something rewarded in heaven. Gower thus remains a tool of the ruling classes, despite the influence of bourgeois ideals (34). The latter ideals are further visible in Gower's scepticism about courtly love and in his xenophobia towards the Lombards (Siegmund-Schultze quotes Stalin to point out that the market is the first school in which the bourgeoisie learns nationalism; 47). Sometimes Gower's views are evidence of his association with both classes. Thus Gower complains about merchants pampering their wives so that they transgress social dress codes, but he is bourgeois in his concern over the cost of extravagance. Yet, despite the fact that we can classify nearly all of Gower's views as either feudal or bourgeois (e.g., even beer is a national drink and thus bourgeois), Gower is not very conscious of the ascendancy of the middle class. The fact that Gower hasn't learned much is evident in the VC, a kind of pamphlet that supports the use of force for containing the peasants (55). Gower here still supports the Three Estates model, which is why the murder of the Archbishop (Sudbury) is an important climax of Book I of the VC. Likewise, in the CA, Gower ignores the common people and generally focuses on exempla of the nobility, despite the fact that his stories about chivalry have an air of obsolescence. Even here, though, bourgeois realism creeps back in, especially as Amans recognizes his old age and sees the importance of marriage, emphases that are atypical of chivalric romance. Siegmund-Schultze concludes by observing that Gower's apology of feudalism meant that praise of Gower's achievements waned (esp. after the 17th century) along with the ideology he defended. [CvD] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower und seine Zeit Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1955 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review The first of two sections is devoted to Gower's "Love of Words," as evidenced by his copious production in three languages, and his contribution to "evolving English" as a sophisticated medium of expression (442). "The greatest example [of wordplay] . . . is the 'Confessio Amantis'," with its "disjunctions" built into a layered structure of Latin glosses, confessional dialogue, and exempla illustrating sins against love (441, 443). Peters draws from Foucault's confession theory to explicate the dialogue between Genius and Amans as a "parrhesia" or truth-telling on both sides, leading to "greater self-knowledge" on the part of "the confessing subject." In a "clear parallel," the poem itself--with its "tensions" calling for "judgment" on the part of the reader--"becomes Genius, the confessor, and the reader becomes Amans, or Everyman, in order to prompt greater self-knowledge" (443). To understand Gower's "Words of Love" (the title of the second section), Peters--per Foucault--argues that we must line them up against the "competing discourses" on love that were current in the late fourteenth century (446). First--following Duby--he cites the "lay model," which defined marriage as an arrangement for protecting landed property, while condoning male promiscuity/adultery (446-48). Its alternative, the "ecclesiastical model," accepted marriage only "as a lesser evil to control sexuality" (449), with the wife submissive to her husband. However--per D'Avray et al.--devout discourse by the late fourteenth century increasingly extolled married love, as it "model[s] the affective relationship between the individual soul and God" (449). The "Cinkante balades," considered by Peters as Gower's definitive expression on love (444), affirms the third of these discourses, while rejecting the first, and eliding the second (456). Ballad 49 presents the poet's "supreme" statement on love between spouses as divinely inspired, and a model of "'droite courtasie' toward all women" (457). [LBB. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 41.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Peters, Harry. Published Peters, Harry. "John Gower--Love of Words and Words of Love." In Words of Love and Love of Words in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, ed. Albrecht Classen (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2008), pp. 439-60 Gower Subject Confessio Amantis Cinkante Balades Language and Word Studies Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower--Love of Words and Words of Love. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Gower's description of the drunkard in Book 6 of the CA includes the detail that when the drunkard wakes up in the morning he says "Nou baillez ça the cuppe" (6.60). In the A-text of Piers Plowman we find a "striking correspondence: on waking, "the furste word that he [Glotoun] spac was 'wher is the cuppe?'" (102; qtd from Passus 5.213). The only difference is the insertion of the French words, which Gower, "like other Englishmen" (102), perhaps found suitable for a drunkard. [CvD] Author/Editor Author/Editor Regan, Charles L. Published Regan, Charles L. "John Gower, John Barleycorn, and William Langland." American Notes and Queries 16 (1978), p. 102. Gower Subject Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower, John Barleycorn, and William Langland Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review In all of Gower's work we witness the poet "repeatedly going through the same cycle: a ruler is responsible for the welfare of England and for its morality in civic, religious, and political life as exemplified in the individual citizen" (964). Gower's "most significant role" (953) is therefore to act as mentor for royalty, in particular for Richard II. To illustrate this point, Coffman examines three aspects of Gower's work: the 1381 Peasants Revolt; Gower's views of Lollardy; and Gower's final assessment of Richard's reign. The first of these, the 1381 Revolt, is treated in the VC, where Gower demonstrates that the wise king is responsible for the welfare of his land. The subject of Lollardy further suggests that Gower looked to the king to quell heresy. In "Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia" he admonishes Richard in the final couplet to be like the husbandman ("Cultor") who watches and acts "lest the weeds of heresy stifle the harvest" (957-58). The third and longest section of Coffman's essay is a close reading of "O Deus Immense." Its value, Coffman argues, consists in "its quality as a mirror reflecting the mind of a middle-class conservative and through it interpreting in a comprehensive manner Gower's class in society and the Lancastrian attitude as found in contemporary records" (959). Gower's revision of the heading of the poem reveals that Gower increasingly saw himself in the role of "a judge rendering a decision [on Richard's reign] rather than that of an advisor telling a young ruler what to do" (960). Coffman shows that in "O Deus Immense," "practically every maxim, precept, or injunction applies with direct clarity to King Richard's reign" (962). Also noted are Gower's use of the second person to address his reader and make note of important precepts, as well as the reference to the Coronation Oath which signals the obligation of kings to rule justly. Coffman points out that the Coronation Oath was used by the Lancastrians in the 1399 deposition charges to indict Richard for ruling badly, and the essay ends with a comparison between the language of the poem and the phrasing of these thirty-three charges. [CvD] Author/Editor Author/Editor Coffman, George R Published Coffman, George R. "John Gower, Mentor for Royalty: Richard II." PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 69 (1954), pp. 953-964. Gower Subject Vox Clamantis Minor Latin Poetry Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower, Mentor for Royalty: Richard II Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1954 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review This is the first of two articles (see also "'Pardonetz moi qe jeo de ceo forsvoie': Gower's Anglo-Norman Identity," co-authored with Michael Ingham) concerning whether Gower is best considered an Anglo-Norman poet or a writer of continental French. While acknowledging Gower's conscious choice of the diction and forms of contemporary French poetry, the Inghams argue that Gower's less conscious linguistic practices remain overwhelmingly insular in character. The focus in the present article is on Gower's phonology. Ingham identifies a number of features that distinguish fourteenth-century Anglo-Norman French from contemporary French of the continent in which Gower followed insular practice, among them, the rhyming of words such as "jours" and "fleurs" (which Gower spells "flours"), the rhyming of words such as "lieus" and "perdus," the rhyming of words such as "ligne" and "famine," and the preservation of the distinction, lost in continental French, between "–an" and "–en." In one respect, Gower follows continental usage, in adopting the /oi/ pronunciation for words that had /ei/ in Anglo-Norman, a choice that Ingham attributes to the necessity for rhyming words imposed by the stanza forms that Gower used. In sum, Ingham finds no evidence of an effort on Gower's part to reform his language to make it more acceptable to a those more familiar with continental French. Ingham also cites some grammatical features in support of this conclusion; these are superseded and in one respect corrected by the co-authored article. [PN. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 34.2.] Author/Editor Author/Editor Ingham, Richard Published Ingham, Richard. "John Gower, poète anglo-normand: Perspectives linguistiques sur Le Myrour de l'Omme." In Anglo-Français: Philologie et Linguistique. Ed. Floquet, Oreste and Giannini, Gabriele. Paris: Garnier, 2014, pp. 91-100. ISBN 9782812434211 Gower Subject Language and Word Studies Style, Rhetoric, and Versification Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower, poète anglo-normand: Perspectives linguistiques sur Le Myrour de l'Omme Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Garnier, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book Section PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Minnis argues that in the CA Gower takes on the role of "sapiens" (wise man) in ethics and politics (two overlapping disciplines), and that "this role enables us to appreciate the essential unity of the diverse materials in his work." Minnis first points out that Gower's debt to the moralized Ovid of the Middle Ages explains the ethical framework of his exempla about love. For instance, from the commentaries on Ovid's Heroides, Gower borrows the idea that "exempla amantium" should juxtapose the fates of good and chaste lovers with the misfortunes of foolish and illicit lovers. By contrast, Chaucer's LGW is unusual in that all the stories figure good women. In his exempla, Gower sometimes widens the moral character of the Medieval Ovid (for instance, in his stories of Penelope and Phyllis, which he uses to illustrate Sloth), and he always treats the virtues and sins of the lover as Christian virtues and sins (214). Gower's role as "sapiens" is also evident in Book 7, which Minnis argues is closely integrated with the surrounding books. For instance, Book 6 introduces Aristotle in the story of Nectanabus, thus providing a smooth segue to an overview of Aristotle's teachings. In addition, Book 7 ends with a discussion of "the political virtue of chastity" (217), which reveals the close connection between kingly rule and self-rule. The relevance of the Prologue to the CA is explained in connection with the medieval classicizing commentaries on the Sapiential Books of the Old Testament. These suggested a significant overlap between Solomonic and Aristotelian wisdom, introduced and organized this wisdom by means of an extrinsic and intrinsic prologue, and distinguished between the various personae of the author. All of these features are evident in the CA's Prologue as well. Thus, Gower's heterogeneous materials "would have been regarded as quite compatible by the learned mediaeval reader" (225). [CvD] Author/Editor Author/Editor Minnis, A. J Published Minnis, A. J. "John Gower, Sapiens in Ethics and Politics." Medium AEvum 49 (1980), pp. 207-229. Gower Subject Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower, Sapiens in Ethics and Politics Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1980 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Considers Gower's three major works in light of Romn satiric tradition, and identifies the "common voice" heard so often in Gower's works as identical with the "voice" of most medieval satirists. [PN. Copyright the John Gower Society. JGN 3.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Miller, Paul Published Miller, Paul. "John Gower, Satiric Poet." In Gower's Confessio Amantis: Responses and Reassessments. Ed. Minnis, A. J. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1983, pp. 79-105. ISBN 085991142X Gower Subject Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Style, Rhetoric, and Versification Vox Clamantis Confessio Amantis Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower, Satiric Poet. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available D. S. Brewer, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book Section PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Bennett notes that "Though the status of John Gower as a squire of Kent is acknowledged, it has been generally assumed that the poet sold the manor at Aldington by Thurnham, his chief holding in Kent, in 1373, moving to Southwark shortly afterwards" (258). He clarifies the legal status of that transaction, which was not a sale but an enfeoffment to uses, which in fact allowed Gower all the privileges of ownership--including residential occupation--via a common sort of legal dodge. That Gower was "at home" in Kent in 1381 when the rebels swept through is evidenced by Bennett's discovery of "a plea of covenant [entered by Gower] against Walter Cookes, carpenter, requiring him to fulfil the terms of an indenture in which the latter agreed to construct 'de novo' a house at Aldington for Gower's use ['ad opus Iohannis'] and at his expense" (263). This document, if it "does not absolutely prove that Gower resided at Aldington, it demonstrates that in 1381, eight years after the grant of 1373, he still had a house there and was intent on rebuilding it for his use" (263). Bennett then analyses the "Visio," especially the first section which finds the authorial figure in the countryside, as a real-life narrative, if greatly transformed. The latter portion of the article devotes significant attention to the implications Gower's possible residence at Aldington has for, among other things, illuminating his circle of friends, and--through a strengthened connection with the Cobham family--his attitude in the "Cronica Tripertita" toward Richard II. [RFY. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 37.2.] Author/Editor Author/Editor Bennett, Michael. Published Bennett, Michael. "John Gower, Squire of Kent, the Peasants' Revolt, and the 'Visio Anglie'." Chaucer Review 53 (2018): 258-82. ISSN 0009-2002. Gower Subject Biography of Gower Vox Clamantis Cronica Tripertita Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower, Squire of Kent, the Peasants' Revolt, and the "Visio Anglie." Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Barrington, Candace Published Barrington, Candace. "John Gower, the Confessio Amantis, and the Rhetoric of Omission." PhD thesis, Duke University, 1998. Gower Subject In Praise of Peace Vox Clamantis Biography of Gower Confessio Amantis Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis) Review "My dissertation uses John Gower's widely-circulated trilogy to illuminate the role of legal discourse in the developing vernacular literatures of late-fourteenth-century England. By looking beyond the veneer of flatness and conventionality, which has often misled his twentieth-century readers, I demonstrate how Gower's poetry textualizes literary and cultural struggles in Ricardian England, where his social position was particularly vexed. Though not firmly ensconced in the aristocracy, as a man-of-law he belonged to that group of gentry serving the landholding classes and those whose interests were intimately tied to the hegemonic ideals. His role as the nobility's advocate shapes his major works: the Anglo-Norman Mirour de l'Homme, the Latin Vox Clamantis, and the English Confessio Amantis and In Praise of Peace. A careful examination of these poems reveals them to be a fascinating marketplace of competing voices, which Gower attempts to regulate using the principles of legal rhetoric. So effective is his regulation that critics have often assumed that the dominant voice both controls the poems' hermeneutics and eliminates all discord. By examining his social location, his legal career, and the literary traditions informing his major Anglo-Norman, Latin and English poems, I argue that his control is not absolute. Instead, the poems inadvertently expose the frailty of the aristocratic ideology they seek to defend. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower, the Confessio Amantis, and the Rhetoric of Omission Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1998 Type The nature or genre of the resource Thesis NonPeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Itô divides his book into three parts, which, as he explained in personal correspondence, was reflective of "the 'trilogy' of trilingual Gower." The dustcover (a TO mappa mundi in deep red on a mauve background) he designed himself, in replication of the tripartite globe in London, British Library MS Cotton Tiberius A.iv, "and also suggesting the three continents . . . or the Three Estates." The jacket characterizes Itô's criticism overall: thoughtful, perceptive, attentive to small detail. The book, as he points out in the preface, "has not been written newly, but rather a collection [sic] of what I sporadically wrote during a score or more years of reading Gower. Therefore, there is some lack of thematic unity in it" (xii). Most of the individual chapters appeared prior to 1975 in Japanese journals. Part I, "On Gower's English Works," contains six essay/chapters: "The Sense of Correspondence in Confessio Amantis," "The Man of Law's Tale vs. Tale of Constance," "Chaucer and Gower as Story-tellers," "Three Versions of 'Apollonius of Tyre'," "Jason and Medea--A Story of Golden Love," and "Gower and Rime Royal." Part II, "On Gower's Non-English Works," contains four essay/chapters: "A Midsummer Nightmare--An Interpretation of Book I of Vox Clamantis," "On the English Translation (by E.W. Stockton) of Vox Clamantis," "Cinkante Balades: A Garland for a New King" [not previously published]. and "Omnia Vincit Amor--An Interpretation of Cronica Tripertita." Part III, "Gower and Rhetoric," contains five essay/chapters: "Paranomasia in Vox Clamantis," "Gower's Use of Rime Riche in Confessio Amantis," "Wordplay in Confessio Amantis," "Wordplay in Mirour de l'Omme" [not previously published], and "Gower's Knowledge of Poetria Nova." [RFY. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 41.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Itô, Masayoshi. Published Itô, Masayoshi. John Gower: The Medieval Poet. Tokyo: Shinozaki Shorin, 1976. xiv; 309 pp. Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower, The Medieval Poet. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1976 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Nicolas argues against the opinion that the poet was a member of the Gower family of Stitenham, in Yorkshire, and suggests instead that Gower should be associated primarily with land holdings in Suffolk and Kent. Nicolas points to a 1373 deed relating to lands in Suffolk and to which the same arms and crest as the poet's are affixed. The John Gower of the deed is said to be lord of the manor of Kentwell (in Suffolk), feoffees of which resided in Kent. Since members of the feoffees' families were among the poet Gower's executors, it seems likely that he was connected with that county. Nicolas therefore carefully traces the history of the Gower family associated with the manor of Kentwell. He demonstrates that in 1333 the manor was granted to a Sir Robert Gower, who was likely the poet's uncle. Sir Robert had two daughters, Joan and Katherine, the former of whom granted the manor to a John Gower in 1368. Nicolas also connects the poet to the Septvans family in Kent (Gower was a feoffee of the manor of Aldyngton). All of this suggests that even though Gower was not a member the Yorkshire Gower family (who bore "radically distinct" (111) arms), he was still well born and possessed of considerable property. Nicolas speculates on whether he may have had children, and he traces the possible descent of Gower's family and relatives well into the fifteenth century. Lastly, Nicolas presents two new pieces of information about Gower, the one a 1382 indenture relating to the manors of Feltwell in Norfolk and Multon in Suffolk, and the other a record of Henry of Lancaster's gift of a collar to "un esquier John Gower" (117). The article also contains a copy of Gower's will, a description of Gower's tomb, excerpted from Blore's "Sepulchral Antiquities of Great Britain," and two references to his life in copies of the CA and the VC. [CvD] Author/Editor Author/Editor Nicolas, Sir Nicholas Harris. Published Nicolas, Sir Nicholas Harris. "John Gower, the Poet." Retrospective Review and Historical and Antiquarian Magazine 2 (1828), pp. 103-117. Gower Subject Biography of Gower Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower, the Poet Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1828 Type The nature or genre of the resource Article PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review This volume contains twenty-five essays selected and fully revised from seventy-eight papers read at the 2008 International Congress of the John Gower Society 1408-2008: The Age of Gower, in conjunction with Cardiff University Centre for the Study of Medieval Society and Culture, and the Department of English at Queen Mary University of London, who acted as hosts. [Copyright. The John Gower Society. JGN 30.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Dutton, Elisabeth, Hines, John, and Yeager, R. F, eds. Published Dutton, Elisabeth, Hines, John, and Yeager, R. F, eds. "John Gower, Trilingual Poet: Language, Translation, and Tradition." Westfield Medieval Studies, 3 . Cambridge: Brewer, 2010 ISBN 9781843842507 Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Language and Word Studies Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower, Trilingual Poet: Language, Translation, and Tradition Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Brewer, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Prints complete Cinkante Balades, Traitié pour Essampler les Amants Marietz, "Rex Coeli," "Ecce Patet Tensus," and "Henrici Quarti" variation of "Quicquid Homo Scribat," with introduction by George Granville Leveson-Gower, Duke of Sutherland. [RFY1981]. Author/Editor Author/Editor George Granville Leveson-Gower, Duke of Sutherland, intro. Published John Gower: Balades and Other Poems. Printed from the Original Manuscript in the Library of the Marquis of Stafford at Trentham. Roxburghe Club, [no. 19]. London: W. Bulmer, 1818. Gower Subject Cinkante Balades Traitié pour Essampler les Amants Marietz Minor Latin Poetry Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower: Balades and Other Poems. Printed from the Original Manuscript in the Library of the Marquis of Stafford at Trentham. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1818 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Knapp argues that Gower shares with the nineteenth-century French novelist, Honoré de Balzac, a conservative political outlook, an analytical approach to economics, and a distrust of social conflict. In these concerns, he is "preeminent among the major Ricardian poets" (217). Gower focuses his satire in the "Mirour de l'Omme" and "Vox Clamantis" on mercantilism and on distinguishing between good and bad merchants. Merchants are a powerful "structuring force" (221) in society, influencing both the circulation of money and the circulation of narrative. In VC, Gower uses the trope of metamorphosis to suggest the chaos is caused by the peasantry, when it refuses its "proper role in the market relations between city and country" (224). But mercantile structures, while necessary, can be corrupted. In the CA's "Tale of Vergil's Mirror," a Book V exemplum of avarice, the philosophers who use a hidden store of gold to manipulate Emperor Crassus are fraudulent. They represent a "perverse danger underlying the world of exchange" (227). This danger has its analogue in mercantilism. [MPK. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 42.2] Author/Editor Author/Editor Knapp, Ethan. Published Knapp, Ethan. "John Gower: Balzac of the Fourteenth Century." In John Gower in England and Iberia: Manuscripts, Influences, Reception. Ed. Ana Sáez-Hidalgo and R. F. Yeager. Publications of the John Gower Society X (Cambridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 2014). Pp. 215-27. Gower Subject Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis) Vox Clamantis Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower: Balzac of the Fourteenth Century. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review This new edition of the Spanish translation of CA is the first of two products of the recent flurry of interest in Gower's work among Spanish scholars. It fills an obvious and longstanding need. Gower was the first major English author to be translated into a contemporary vernacular, shortly after his death. The surviving Spanish translation, by Juan de Cuenca, is actually based on an earlier Portuguese translation by one Robert Payn which is no longer extant, and thus by the middle of the fifteenth century CA had already been made available in two languages other than the author's, an unexpected tribute to Gower's reputation and an interesting opportunity to examine how the work has endured the transformation. The only existing edition of the Spanish version, published by Adolf Birch-Hirschfeld (using a transcription begun by Hermann Knust) in 1909, is now nearly impossible to find, and even when it is available, it cannot be relied upon. R.W. Hamm estimated in 1975 that it contained at least 17,500 errors of transcription, and it appears that this calculation may even have been somewhat low. Alvar's work serves at very least to make the translation more widely available, and for that reason alone is to be welcomed. Alvar presents the text in what she calls a "paleographic edition." Following scrupulously the presentation in the manuscript, Alvar not only uses the conventional editorial devices (italics for expanded abbreviations, brackets for other letters supplied by the editor), but she also distinguishes typographically the two different forms of s, and indicates both the beginning of each new column and, with a slash and superscript, the beginning of each new line. (Where is Edmund Wilson?) The punctuation is also that of the MS. A bit confusingly, however, she has adopted modern capitalization, and she has also regularized the use of accents. What she has not done is to give any indication (apart from the running head identifying the book number) of the corresponding line numbers in the English text, making reference from one version to another extremely tedious. Notes (indicated by a superscript within parentheses, almost impossible to find quickly among all the superscripts recording the line numbers) record other observable features of the manuscript, some of the more obvious differences from Gower's text, and the more important differences from Birch-Hirschfeld. As the passage quoted illustrates, the translation entirely omits the Latin epigrams of the original, and incorporates the longer marginalia in shortened form into the text column, treating them as chapter headings. Alvar records in the notes each place in which an epigram or a gloss that appears in Macaulay's edition has been omitted, though Manuel Alvar argues in the introduction that these were probably already lacking in the English MS from which the Spanish translation ultimately derives. It is not to be expected that an edited text of such complexity should be entirely free of mistakes. Bernardo Santano Moreno, in his review of this edition in Fifteenth-Century Studies 19 (1992): 147-64, points out some inconsistencies in the editor's treatment of abbreviations, and he finds a small number of errors in the passages that he compared, evidently painstakingly, to the MS. In the entire Prologue, these amount to five errors of transcription, three failures to indicate an expanded abbreviation with italics, one failure to expand an abbreviation, one failure to correct an obvious scribal error, and one scribal mistake corrected without a note. If this rate of error is consistent through the entire work, the level of accuracy is still very high, and Santano Moreno rightly concludes that though this is not yet a definitive text, it is still an enormous improvement on Birch-Hirschfeld. Perhaps we can hope for an errata list at some time in the near future; evidently it would not be very long, and we should not have to wait for an entirely new edition. The text is preceded by a long, 137-page introduction by Manuel Alvar, treating a wide variety of topics concerning both Gower's work and the translation. The opening portions are the least original, and also the least trustworthy. In the account of Gower's life, we learn that Chaucer conducted him to Italy in 1378; and the date that is offered for the lost Portuguese translation, between 1399 and 1415, is exactly the period that is excluded by P.E. Russell, whom Alvar cites. (Both errors are also noted by Santano Moreno in his review.) The entire discussion of the dating of both Portuguese and Spanish translations is now superseded by the findings of Santano Moreno, presented most fully in his book (reviewed below). Alvar's dating of the MS, to 1454-1490, is not inconsistent with Santano Moreno's, though Santano Moreno would choose the end rather than the beginning of this period. Alvar's discussion of the English MS from which the translations derive is much more detailed than that of Macaulay, who knew the Spanish version only from short extracts. His conclusion, that the Portuguese translator had a copy of recension "one," is the same, but Alvar goes further in pointing out that the absence of the Latin lyrics and the abbreviation of the marginalia suggest a very late copy, perhaps resembling Bodleian Ashmole 35. The reviewer is not qualified to evaluate Alvar's treatment of the language of the translation; Santano Moreno judges it competent and helpful. Alvar's greatest interest, however, is in the art of the translator, and the longest part of his introduction is concerned with the relation between the Spanish and English versions. He sees the translator's task as the faithful reproduction of the text of his original, and he is led to some speculations on what exactly that might mean, at one point defining it as presenting the poem as Gower would have had he written it had he written in Spanish. But most of the discussion is concerned with the devices by which the translator achieves this goal, concluding that, except in the case of the most obvious errors, he has been successful in doing so. The passages that Alvar examines includes some in which the translator follows Gower very closely, some in which he has expanded the text, some which he has shortened, and some that he has simply altered in some way. All provide an opportunity for Alvar to discuss the confron¬tation between two languages and two cultures; and such things as the translator's attempts to make more explicit or concrete what is only implied in English, or to transfer a comparison into more familiar imagery, are treated by Alvar as different ways of creating equivalencies. He gives special attention to the difficulty of translating certain key terms, concluding, as always, with his praise of the translator's precision. The discussion is complicated, of course, by the existence of the lost intermediary Portuguese version, but Alvar is not hesitant to give full credit for the successfully realized translation to both translators. As an introduction to the relation between the Spanish and English texts, Alvar's discussion is well worth reading, but it should be used alongside the very different treatment (discussing many of the same passages) by Bernardo Santano Moreno, in entry #131. [PN. Copyright The John Gower Society. JGN 14.1] Author/Editor Author/Editor Alvar, Elena, ed. Published Alvar, Elena, ed. "John Gower: Confesión del Amante. Traducción de Juan de Cuenca (S. XV). Edición Paleográfica." Anejos del Boletín de la Real Academia Española (45). Madrid: Real Academia Española, 1990 Gower Subject Facsimiles, Editions, and Translations Confessio Amantis Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower: Confesión del Amante. Traducción de Juan de Cuenca (S. XV). Edición Paleográfica. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Real Academia Española, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Peck, Russell A., ed. Published Peck, Russell A., ed. "John Gower: Confessio Amantis. Volume 1." Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute, 2000 Gower Subject Facsimiles, Editions, and Translations Confessio Amantis Review This is the first volume in a projected three-volume edition of the complete Confessio Amantis published by the Medieval Institute for the Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages (TEAMS) as part of their series of Middle English Texts. This volume contains the Prologue and Books 1 and 8; volume 2 will contain Books 2-4 and volume 3 Books 5-7. At first glance a somewhat bizarre arrangement, this way of dividing up the poem is actually an ingenious solution to the problem of presenting the Confessio to the primary audience of this edition, undergraduate and graduate students who are reading Gower for the first time. We have in volume 1 the indispensable elements for understanding the structure of the whole Confessio. This volume can be used alone or in conjunction with either one or both of the other volumes when they become available. It is possible, though perhaps less likely, that one might assign one or both of the other volumes without volume 1 as well. We will thus have six different ways of presenting extended portions of the poem in addition to the choice to teach it in its entirety. In doing so, we will be able to assign entire books instead of the selected passages (almost always from the tales) of the only other editions that have been available for classroom use (including Peck's own edition of 1968, which the present edition will probably replace), and all at a very reasonable price: this first volume lists for just {dollar}20. The appearance of this edition will thus be welcomed by everyone who has taught the poem in the past or who looks forward to doing so in the future. The version of the poem that Peck presents will also be familiar to those who choose to teach it, since he has followed Macaulay in his choice of manuscript both for the main body of the text (Bodleian Fairfax 3, Macaulay's F) and for the two alternative passages in the Prologue, lines 24-92 (Bodley 294, Macaulay's B), and in the epilogue, 8.2941 ff. (Bodley 902, Macaulay's A). (For some reason the former is presented with the main text, en face, but the latter is included only in the notes.) Peck claims (p. 44) also to have consulted Macaulay's MSS J, S, and delta, but there is no evidence for that in the Textual Notes (pp. 356-58). There he lists some 40 departures from Fairfax. Nine of these record editorial choices (e.g. the division of compounds such as "noman" into two words). All of the rest simply follow Macaulay (including eight for which Macaulay is not cited: Prol. 917, 1.293, 574 vv. 1, 593, 2680 vv. 5, 3398; 8.1687, 2970) without any reference to the MS authority upon which Macaulay's emendations are based. Peck also cites some 30 departures from Macaulay's text, divided roughly equally between corrections of Macaulay's mistranscriptions and rejections of his emendations, but again without reference to any authority other than the MS that serves as his base. Peck's presentation of the text (of which he gives an incomplete account in his Preface, p. x) follows Macaulay in the silent expansion of abbreviations, in the regularization of u/v and i/j, and in transcribing thorn as "th," but then goes a few steps further than Macaulay does in modernizing its appearance. Peck has completely regularized the capitalization; he adds an accent to a long final e (e.g. "humilité"); he inserts an apostrophe into contractions (e.g. "th'emperour," 1.762); and he provides quotation marks for the conversation between Amans and Genius, so that the entire main body of the poem is now punctuated as a dialogue. Nothing here will cause alarm. But he has also chosen silently to transcribe the manuscript's yogh as "g" rather than "y" in such words as "3iven" and its derivatives, "for3eten" and "a3ein" (though not in "3e," "3it," or "3owþe," for which he uses "y"), which some will feel is an unnecessary falsification of Gower's dialect. As a test of accuracy, I checked a passage of 500 lines (1.501-1000) both against Macaulay and against Fairfax. I found one transcription error ("Although" for "Althogh," 1.738); another that he shares with Macaulay and did not correct ("seemeth" for MS "semeþ," 1.665); an extra closing quotation mark (at the end of 1.707); one mistaken use of "é" (on "poverté," 1.613, ruining the rhyme with "decerte" in 614), and three instances in which MS "þe" (the pronoun) has been presented as "thee," either by mistake or, much more likely, as a deliberate but silent alteration (1.584, 587, 941). I also found nine differences in punctuation from Macaulay's text. Three of these (in 1.596, 723, 853-54) result in a slight alteration of the sense, in each case, in my judgment, for the worse. The other six (1.568, 594, 601, 825, 883, 884) do not affect the sense but represent a welcome attempt to bring Macaulay's punctuation more in line with modern conventions. Here it is to be regretted that Peck has not done more. One minor but constant irritation of Macaulay's edition is that it is over-punctuated, and his use of the colon in particular doesn't correspond to contemporary usage. The unintended effect is to make Gower seem even more dated that he is. But as one reads Peck's text alongside Macaulay's, one finds one line after another in which Peck has simply followed the example of his mentor. His practice here is consistent with what one might deduce from the textual notes about how this edition actually came into being. Rather than being based upon Fairfax, it is perhaps more accurate to describe it as being based upon Macaulay and checked against Fairfax, with some updating of the punctuation (the quotation marks, the apostrophe, the "é") and a small number of corrections, but if the sample I chose is representative, with at least an equal number of errors and silent emendations of its own. The apparatus to this edition consists of an 43-page introduction to the poem, a "Select Bibliography," a "Chronology of Gower's Life and Works" (taken almost verbatim from Peck's 1968 edition), 73 pages of explanatory notes, the textual notes, and a 5-page glossary. Peck provides five reproductions of the illustrations (of Amans confessing to Genius and of Nebuchadnezzar's dream) from the three MSS from which the text has been taken. He also provides extensive vocabulary glosses in the right margin of the page. In addition, Andrew Galloway has provided a complete translation of the Latin apparatus, which must certainly be counted as one the principal attractions of this edition. Galloway's prose translations of the Latin verses (which appear at the bottom of the page) are very helpful: they replicate to the extent that it is possible the difficult syntax of the original and they can therefore sometimes be more difficult to read than the freer verse translations of Echard and Fanger, but they provide a far more useful crutch for anyone who is trying to approach the Latin. The prose marginalia (which are placed, together with their translations, in the notes at the back of the volume) pose fewer challenges, but I suspect that the students will not be the only ones who are glad to have Galloway's clear and precise English renderings and I expect to see them appearing in the footnotes to scholarly articles on the poem in the near future. Galloway has also provided valuable notes to both the verse and the prose which can be used profitably alongside those of Macaulay and of Echard and Fanger. The rest of the apparatus is a mixed bag, and at this point one has to stop and sympathize with the editor. With the thousands of decisions that one must make in presenting an edition of this sort, one cannot possibly hope to satisfy every user. To begin with the glosses: one has to try to provide enough assistance for the readers with no experience in Middle English without distracting either them or the more experienced readers from the actual text. Some will feel that Peck has been too accommodating: the glossing is far more extensive than in his 1968 edition, especially at the beginning of the volume, but even at the end, many fairly common words are glossed that one might feel that a student who is reading the poem in Middle English ought to become familiar with, by recourse to a glossary if necessary. The glosses that I checked are sometimes a bit freer than one might wish, but are generally accurate (though on the very first page, "ensampled of" in Prol. 7 surely means "taught by" rather than "exemplified by"; cf. Prol. 47). The introduction is another matter. There, Peck's impulse to guide the reader is equally manifest, but not in a way that will be as useful to the novice. Instead of a true "introduction," what we are given is an argument for a very particular reading of the poem, taken over in large part from Peck's 1968 edition. From the very beginning, it assumes a familiarity with the whole poem and its structure, with the content of the tales, and with the context in which they are addressed by one character to another, and it launches into an abstruse discussion of Augustine's theory of knowledge, of the relationship between memory and history, and of "reading as therapy." When he finally gets to discussing the poem itself, Peck offers an interpretation of its moral structure that is grounded on a single-minded view of Amans' role as being a lost sinner: "in his fantasy, [he] has set himself apart from the mutual pleasures of Nature's domain in hope of enjoying singular pleasure. His main desire is to pamper his secretive emotions. The piercing of his heart by Cupid's dart clinches his loss of natural freedom. He is trapped in his amorous confusion, and many tales will pass before he returns home from spiritual exile" (p. 28; cf. Peck's 1968 edition, p. xiii). Peck also allows this reading to slip into the notes from time to time (e.g. at 8.2224 ff.). The basic question is whether or not this is an appropriate function for the introduction and notes to an edition with the intended audience of this one: should the editor be guiding the student to a particular reading, or providing the materials with which the students may construct a reading of their own? We might have done instead, for instance, with some more background on the several different genres of which the poem partakes and on Gower's own earlier poetry. (As it is, the only comments on MO and VC in this edition are hidden in the "Chronology of Gower's Life and Works.") We might have gotten some remarks on the complexity of Amans' role, or on the difficulties in interpreting Gower's use of such terms as "nature," "will," and "reason." We might also have been given some comments on the range of response that the poem has provoked, but there is nothing in the introduction to indicate that Peck's views are not shared by all other modern readers. The issue of appropriateness will obviously be most important for those who take a different view of the poem than Peck does (among whom I count myself), and in teaching the poem from this edition, we will each simply have to make our own choice on whether or not to assign the introduction. It is also a bit disappointing to note that there is some carelessness and inconsistency in the presentation of the apparatus. To begin with a trivial matter: in the "Selected Bibliography," under the heading "Editions (in chronological order)," Peck includes both Echard and Fanger's translations of the Latin verses and Stockton's translation of VC, which are not editions, and they are not listed in chronological order. He omits, moreover, Wilson's translation of MO, which is found, however, along with Stockton, in the notes to the colophon on p. 279. The bibliography of criticism (pp. 49-59) is also a bit of a puzzle. It is presented in simple alphabetical order, and it is very difficult to see what principles guided the selection. Recent work seems to be favored over older pieces, and thus some familiar and influential titles are missing. Works that treat the poem in general rather than a specific portion of it seem to be favored, but there are several exceptions there. In general, works that support the view of the introduction appear more prominently than those that do not. But no guidance is offered on where a student might best begin her own research on the poem, and what can one say about a bibliography on Gower that makes room for a book entitled An Illustrated History of Brain Function but that does not include either Pickle and Dawson's concordance or JGN? Somewhat more seriously: in his discussion of the manuscripts on p. 44, Peck gives a very misleading account of the relation among the versions of the poem that Macaulay labeled "recensions," implying that the revision of Prol. 24-92 and the replacement of the tribute to Chaucer in 8.2941-70 first appear in "third recension" copies (the former appears in all but one existing copy of "recension two," the latter in all "recension two" copies that are not damaged at the end), and making no reference to the revision of the epilogue that follows the Chaucer passage (8.2171 ff.). He also gives far more specific dates for the various stages of revision than the evidence allows; see Astell's discussion of the problems of dating the different versions in the book discussed above. In the same paragraph, he refers to the Spanish translation of the Confessio, "which purports to be based upon a Portuguese translation of the poem," apparently unaware that a MS of the Portuguese translation is also extant; see JGN 20, no. 1, 15-17. His description of MO on page 60 still omits (as it did in 1968) any reference to the survey of the estates that occupies the middle of the poem. And on page 28 (note 61), in his account of the opening of Book 1, his statement that "the romance devices here--the wandering in May, the music of the birds, the woeful frustration of the lovesick persona, the encounter with Venus and Cupid, and Cupid's fiery, captivating dart--are all found in the opening section of Guillaume de Lorris' Roman de la Rose" is a mischaracterization both of the Roman and of Gower's much more complicated relation to French courtly poetry. There are other smaller problems of this sort that one could point to in the introduction and notes. Peck and Galloway deserve our gratitude for, each in his own way, making the English and Latin texts of the poem so much more accessible, but it will nonetheless be worthwhile for both professor and student to use this edition with a bit of caution. With Latin Translations by Andrew Galloway.[PN. Copyright by the John Gower Society. JGN 20.2] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower: Confessio Amantis. Volume 1. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Medieval Institute, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Author/Editor Author/Editor Weber, Edwart. Published Weber, Edwart. John Gower: Dichter einer Ethischpolitischen Reformation. Bad Homburg: Weber, 1965. Gower Subject Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis) Vox Clamantis Cronica Tripertita Review Argues that Gower's works ae divisible into "moral" (MO, VC, CrT) and "amorous" (CA, CB, Traitie) groups. This particular study deals with the former, using an historical as well as a critical approach. [RFY1981] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower: Dichter einer Ethischpolitischen Reformation. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1965 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review This volume has a foreword by Diane Watt, a brief introduction by the editor and nine essays, arranged as follows under three headings: "Manuscripts, Material, and Translation" (Peck, Galloway, Driver, Bullón-Fernández), "Rhetoric and Authority" (Mitchell, Donavin, Urban), "London Life and Texts" (Bertolet, Salisbury). See individual entries. [RFY. Copyright. The John Gower Society. JGN 30.1.] Author/Editor Author/Editor Urban, Malte, ed. Published Urban, Malte, ed. "John Gower: Manuscripts, Readers, Contexts." Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2009 ISBN 9782503524702 Gower Subject Backgrounds and General Criticism Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower: Manuscripts, Readers, Contexts Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Brepols, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book PeerReviewed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gower Collection GowerType Customized Item type for items in the Gower Database Review Fisher's influential study reviews Gower's critical reputation (chapter 1), the Life Records (chapter 2), the chronology and historical context of his poetic works (chapter 3), his major themes (chapter 4), and his relationship with Chaucer (chapter 5). While Gower wrote complaint literature rather than satire (Chaucer's preferred mode), and has thus gone out of fashion, what we can appreciate in Gower is "his absolute integrity, his coherent grasp of the values and ideals of his day, and his fearless expression of the moral judgments growing out of these ideals" (v). Chapter 1 reviews the state of criticism, from the initial positive reception of Gower's work to the later accusation that Gower was a political opportunist. The shift began at the end of the 17th century, and since then literary taste has also preferred satire to the "generalized moralistic mode of medieval complaint" (3). Before then Gower was often seen as an older mentor figure for Chaucer, especially since Venus's words to Chaucer at the end of the CA were for a long time misread as Gower's own words. Fisher also reviews the manuscript tradition as well as important early editions (e.g., Caxton, Berthelette). For Fisher, more recent criticism is starting to correct many earlier mistakes (e.g., the association of Gower the poet with the Stittenham Gowers, or the belief that the collar on Gower's tomb showed that Thomas of Woodstock was Gower's patron). Gower did not suddenly change his allegiance, his social criticism is coherent, the idea of a quarrel with Chaucer is overblown, and Gower's influence on Chaucer is significant (35-36). Chapter 2 adds to what is known about Gower's life. Harris Nicolas had shown that Gower was related to Sir Robert Gower of Kent, rather than to the Stittenham Gowers, but Fisher believes that there may still be a different Yorkshire connection. Sir Robert Gower was in the service of David de Strabolgi, Earl of Athol. In the 1320's and early 1330's Sir Robert would have fought in Scotland. Robert Gower's wife was Margaret, daughter of Sir Philip de Moubray, and the Moubrays provide the most direct link between Robert Gower and the Langbargh Gowers of Yorkshire, who had a similar coat of arms. After David de Strabolgi died, his wife Katherine moved south to Kent to the Brabourn manor. Robert Gower must have moved too as part of her entourage. Gower the poet may have been "a precocious (or orphaned, or favorite) nephew (or cousin, or conceivably even much younger brother)" [who came along for] the advantage of a genteel education" (46). Fisher shows that Gower the poet's property transactions tie him closely to the Kent Gowers (especially Robert Gower's daughter Joan). Fisher also mentions that Gower's reputation may suffer from his participation in the "Septvauns affair," but Fisher exonerates Gower on the basis that "the other individuals involved in the sequence of events were eminently respectable" (54). Other evidence suggests that Gower was a civil servant, possibly a lawyer, before retiring to St. Mary Overeys. Gower's relationships (e.g., with Strode, Usk, Chaucer, Hoccleve) "cluster about the Inns of Court, Chancery, and Guildhall, reaching out into the Staple and the Custom House" (63). Chapter 3, on Gower's literary career, suggests that Gower started out writing amorous verses (the CB). Fisher speculates that Gower was a member of a literary organization called a "Pui" (78). With the MO, Gower moved on from youthful idealism. The MO seems to have been composed for personal edification, and it is only at the end (when Gower foresees the Peasants' Revolt) that Gower starts to see himself as a social reformer. Fisher believes that Gower had access to a scriptorium at St. Mary's, and so was able to focus on producing presentation MSS for important figures. Fisher discerns three versions of the VC, and agrees with Macaulay that when the CrT was later added the two texts became "a unified commentary on the tragic course of Richard's rule from 1381 to 1400, with a prologue (the Visio), a midpoint (the Epistle), and an epilogue (the Cronica)" (114). The CA manuscripts are the hardest to categorize, and Fisher struggles to explain why so many first recension MSS were copied after Richard's deposition (116). Fisher also suggests that in the second recension Gower excised the praise of Richard at the end of the poem because Gower was unhappy about Richard's conflict with the city of London in 1392. Since Chaucer was still in the king's employ at that time Gower also removed the allusion to Chaucer to protect him. However, Fisher admits that this theory is speculative since the second recension is dated to 1391 at the latest. The chapter ends with a discussion of the minor Latin poems as well as In Praise of Peace. Chapter 4 covers Gower's major themes, and Fisher notes that the "most striking characteristic of Gower's literary production is its single-mindedness" (135). Gower often picks up where he left off, as when the VC ends with the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and the CA starts with the same image. The three major subjects that Gower invariably returns to are individual virtue, legal justice, and the administrative responsibility of the king. This threefold argument is indebted to four different areas of influence: the penitential tradition, the popular sermon, belletristic poetry, and the political doctrine of medieval civil and canon law. The last of these shows Gower's legal interests, and while Gower tends to deal in legal commonplaces, Fisher nevertheless believes that Gower had personal knowledge of the law (157). In fact, the three types of law (natural law, the law of nations, and civil law) greatly influence Gower's stories, as does the frequent narrative pattern "sin-law-love" (163). This leads Fisher to a discussion of how Gower treats the fall into sin in the MO (the allegory of Satan, Sin, and Death) and the VC (the Peasants' Revolt). The solution for sin is the common good, which must be promoted by the king, and Fisher ends the chapter by arguing (against C. S. Lewis) that the CA is primarily political in stressing these aims. Chapter 5 takes up about a third of the book, and details the possible influence Gower exerted on Chaucer. In general, "Gower was a sort of conscience to his brilliant but volatile friend, encouraging him by both precept and example to turn from visions of courtly love to social criticism" (207). For instance, in the House of Fame, the eagle is Gower, rescuing Chaucer from the sterile wasteland of courtly love. The Knight's Tale and Troilus and Criseyde are indebted to Gower's moral philosophy: Troilus and Criseyde deals with "the eventual insufficiency of temporal human love" whereas the Knight's Tale treats "the relationship between natural passion, human law, and the ruler" (220). Fisher also argues that the CA and the Legend of Good Women "stem from the same royal command" (256). In the CA, Gower was influenced by Chaucer in realizing that he might restate his moral philosophy "in terms of Empedoclean love" (250). However, when Chaucer moved away from Gower's influence (he left for Kent from 1386-89) he started experimenting increasingly with immoral stories (the fabliaux). Gower may have been scandalized, and Chaucer then wrote the Man of Law's Tale to show that he could be more didactic than Gower himself. Nevertheless, Chaucer did give up on writing fabliaux and managed to bring together the comedy of the fabliaux with the more philosophical theme of "gentilesse" in the marriage tales. It was the marriage group that became Chaucer's true "testament of love" (301) that Gower's Venus had asked him to write. [CvD] Author/Editor Author/Editor Fisher, John H Published Fisher, John H. John Gower: Moral Philosopher and Friend of Chaucer. New York: New York University Press, 1964 Gower Subject Biography of Gower Influence and Later Allusion Manuscripts and Textual Studies Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations Style, Rhetoric, and Versification Confessio Amantis Vox Clamantis Cinkante Balades Cronica Tripertita In Praise of Peace Traitié pour Essampler les Amants Marietz Minor Latin Poetry Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Gower: Moral Philosopher and Friend of Chaucer Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available New York University Press, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1964 Type The nature or genre of the resource Book PeerReviewed