The Two Dreams of Charles d'Orleans and of His English Book.
- Author/Editor
- Burrow, John.
- Title
- The Two Dreams of Charles d'Orleans and of His English Book.
- Published
- Burrow, John. "The Two Dreams of Charles d'Orleans and of His English Book.' In R. D. Perry and Mary-Jo Arn, eds. Charles d'Orleans' English Aesthetic: The Form, Poetics, and Style of Fortunes Stabilnes (Woodbridge, Suffolk: D. S. Brewer, 2020), pp. 22–33.
- Review
- This article, published posthumously, primarily presents a reading of the overall structure and approach of "Fortunes Stabilnes," Charles d'Orléans' framed poetic collection in English, which Burrow generally refers to as the "English Book of Love." Burrow compares Charles' framing dream of Age to the 'Confessio Amantis,' and contrasts Amans' ultimate abandonment of love to Charles' abandonment of it, which in "Fortunes Stabilnes" he later reverses. The focus is largely on the collection's movement through its framing dreams, with some discussion of those dreams' possible use of English models. This is where Gower comes in--Burrow presents a detailed comparison of Venus' healing of Amans' love wound to Charles' presentation of himself retreating to the castle of "No Care" ("Nonchaloir") with his heart wrapped in black (25). The comparison continues with Burrow's discussion of Charles' second dream, which "like the first (and like Gower's), mysteriously heralds a change of life" (26), though unlike Gower's it involves returning to a poetic persona as a lover. Burrow notes that this dream is not paralleled in the French version of the collection, and calls it "so much wilder than the first" (26), suggesting some differences in the poet's approach when composing in English vs. French. Burrow suggests that "Charles may have conceived the first and last parts of his book as forming a kind of diptych, representing two of the main sorrows that a lover might suffer: separation from a mistress who is kind, or proximity to one who is not" (32). He concludes by speculating that Charles walked away from the English version of the collection without a strong conclusion, upon being freed from captivity (33). Overall, this article presents an interesting overview of the structure of "Fortunes Stabilnes," suggesting ways in which English models might be tied to the dream structure. While its primary focus is (and should be) Charles d'Orléans, it does provide a valuable perspective on Gower's fifteenth-century influence. [RAL. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 43.2]
- Date
- 2020
- Gower Subjects
- Confessio Amantis
Influence and Later Allusion