Gower's Second Cursus.
- Author/Editor
- Edwards, Robert R.
- Title
- Gower's Second Cursus.
- Published
- Edwards, Robert R. "Gower's Second Cursus." 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. 141-52.
- Review
- The essay discusses Gower's poetic career in the context of the Vergilian "cursus honorum"--"the sequence of works progressing from lower to higher genres" (144). Venus's dismissal of Gower at the end of the CA concludes his career as lover and poet and might echo the retreat into "philosophical contemplation" (145) that Suetonius describes in his biography of Vergil. Gower, unlike Vergil, continued writing poems, such as "In Praise of Peace," the "Traitié," and the "Cinkante Ballades": a second cursus. This second canon, in one sense, is minor when compared with the magisterial achievement of Gower's three major works: the "Mirour de l'Omme," "Vox Clamantis," and "Confessio Amantis." At the same time, it is reflexive. For instance, "In Praise of Peace" reconsiders themes of anger and good government already taken up in the CA. Likewise, the CB "renegotiate and reimagine aspects of his major works" (150), such as his "dual roles as moralist and public poet" (151). [MPK. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 42.2]
- Date
- 2014
- Gower Subjects
- Backgrounds and General Criticism
In Praise of Peace
Cinkante Balades