The Latin Works.
- Author/Editor
- Meindl, Robert J.
- Title
- The Latin Works.
- Published
- Meindl, Robert J. "The Latin Works." In Ana Sáez-Hidalgo, Brian Gastle, and R. F. Yeager, eds. The Routledge Research Companion to John Gower (Oxford and New York: Routledge, 2017), pp. 341-54.
- Review
- From 1377 until his death, Gower wrote prolifically in Latin, especially to articulate his complex political views (341). His composite work VC (1377-81) has advice for the new King Richard II and also revisions expressing disillusionment with his rule (343-45). Highly intertextual, the VC has been explored as a "cento" as well as a work with a subtext calling out guilty persons in allusive terms (346-47). Written to justify the usurpation, the CrT is of course propaganda but also "heartfelt" (349) and skillfully composed (348-49). With their variety of topics, the short poems in Latin "resist uniform treatment" (349) but are increasingly acknowledged for their literary merit (349-50). Latin poetry and prose within the CA contribute to "the interplay of voices that is part of the Confessio's compositional strategy" (350). [LBB. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 37.2.]
- Date
- 2017
- Gower Subjects
- Vox Clamantis
Cronica Tripertita
Minor Latin Poetry
Confessio Amantis