John Gower.
- Author/Editor
- Watt, Diane.
- Title
- John Gower.
- Published
- Watt, Diane. "John Gower." In Larry Scanlon, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Literature 1100-1500. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Pp. 153-64.
- Review
- Although to some degree confined by her format, Watt nonetheless manages to go well beyond the standard demands of the "Companion form" (i.e., a little biography, some attention to the full oeuvre, general remarks on style and content) to offer a number of intriguing and original insights, especially regarding the extent of Gower's influence on fifteenth-century poetics. The chief concern of that century, as she sees it, is "the connection between vernacular poetry, politics, and patriotism," and in this they follow Gower's lead "even more than Chaucer['s]" (155). She utilizes this triad to examine the "Confessio Amantis," acknowledging its "apparent disunity--the dual foci on the ethical-political and the erotic" (157), which she partially (indeed, generously) explains away as "Gower's playfulness" [158]--and contesting any notion that "Gower adheres to a conservative gender ideology," citing his empathetic treatment of women, of which the case of Canace is offered as a prime example (158). Watt traces this connective triad in compact but provocative assessments of Hoccleve's "Regiment of Princes" and Lydgate's "Fall of Princes," finding evidence of Gower's unacknowledged influence in both. In the "Regiment," the Beggar in her view borrows from Genius, and Hoccleve's political position in significant ways echoes "the Gower of the late, pro-Lancastrian propaganda poem, 'In Praise of Peace'" (160). In the "Fall" and in the "Regiment," "a number of the same stories as [in] 'Confessio Amantis'" appear, "including the famous Tales of Lucrece and Virginia as well as other political narratives" (161). Other similarities between the "Fall" and the CA include "lengthy discussion of vice and virtue" in each, and the prominent presence of Alexander the Great, shared with both the "Regiment" and the CA. Watt's most startling assertion, however, is that an "unexpected aspect of Gower's influence on Lydgate" is "their shared fascination with salacious stories," particularly those dealing with incest (161-62). Thus, "while Lydgate owes as [sic] least as much to Gower as does Hoccleve, he is even less willing than Hoccleve to admit it" (162). Watt does see however that "in one crucial respect, Hoccleve and Lydgate diverge from Gower" (163): unlike Gower, who saw writing in English as a "development from his previous work in French and Latin" (163), for Hoccleve and Lydgate English is their only medium--which goes a long way toward explaining their expressed fondness for Chaucer. But she concludes: "Nevertheless, in terms of real, if unacknowledged influence, Gower remained second to none" (163). [RFY. Copyright. John Gower Society eJGN 41.2.]
- Date
- 2009
- Gower Subjects
- Backgrounds and General Criticism
Influence and Later Allusion
Confessio Amantis
In Praise of Peace