'Confession' in Gower's Confessio Amantis
- Author/Editor
- Nicholson, Peter
- Title
- 'Confession' in Gower's Confessio Amantis
- Published
- Nicholson, Peter. "'Confession' in Gower's Confessio Amantis." Studia Neophilologica 58 (1986), pp. 193-204. ISSN 0039-3274
- Review
- Unlike Gower's other poems, the moralizing in CA is presented not as a direct address to the reader but dramatically, in the dialogue between Genius and Amans. This fictional dialogue is as important to the moral and imaginative dimensions of the poem as the pilgrimage that serves as the setting for CT. Amans' presence allowed Gower to shift the emphasis from purely abstract moralizing to the difficulties of an individual sinner's real experience. The poem thus presents a genuine exploration of the relationship between general moral truth and the realities of human endeavor. An examination of Book 1 provides a demonstration of Gower's method, in particular of Amans' importance as the object of Genius' lessons. As the first book of the poem it also provides a summary of the essential points in Gower's complex and sympathetic doctrine of human love.[PN. Copyright The John Gower Society: JGN 6.1]
- Date
- 1986
- Gower Subjects
- Confessio Amantis