The Rise of London Literature: Chaucer, Gower, Langland and the Poetics of the City in Late Medieval English Poetry
- Author/Editor
- Bertolet, Craig E
- Title
- The Rise of London Literature: Chaucer, Gower, Langland and the Poetics of the City in Late Medieval English Poetry
- Published
- Bertolet, Craig E. "The Rise of London Literature: Chaucer, Gower, Langland and the Poetics of the City in Late Medieval English Poetry." Ph.D. dissertation. Pennsylvania State University, 1995.
- Review
- "This dissertation demonstrates that a number of economic, social, and political elements came together in the late fourteenth century to provide a moment in English literature where London acquired a significant cultural presence in the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer and his contemporaries. . . . Using the market values of the city, Langland's Piers Plowman becomes as much an exploration of the value of the soul as it is a quest for the soul's redemption. As a result, Langland's poem critiques more than just the moral aspects of his society but the economic and social elements as well. Gower's Confessio Amantis concerns the role of truth in human society; many of the tales show that characters who seek truth prosper, while those who do not perish." [JGN 15.1]
- Date
- 1995
- Gower Subjects
- Backgrounds and General Criticism
- Confessio Amantis