Gower's Works.
- Author/Editor
- Rigby. Stephen H.
- Title
- Gower's Works.
- Published
- Rigby, Stephen H. "Gower's Works." In Historians on John Gower. Ed. Stephen H. Rigby, with Siân Echard (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2019), pp.121-38.
- Review
- Rigby describes each of Gower's major works and dates them and their revisions in light of references (overt and covert) to historical and political events, manuscript evidence, and scholarly discussion. "Mirour de l'Omme" is "difficult to date precisely" (124), although likely completed in whole or in part before the death of Edward III in 1377. "Vox Clamantis," particularly the "Visio" and Book 6, went through a "number of stages of composition" (126), largely in response to the 1381 Uprising and fluctuations in the reign of Richard II. "Confessio Amantis" was similarly revised over a lengthy period, and various revisions reflect the complications of Gower's Lancastrian associations and his relationship with Chaucer. G. C. Macaulay's theory of three recensions of CA has "remained extremely influential" (130), but "it may be best to conclude that we are actually confronted with one basic version . . . with two different dedications" (133). In any case, the CA manuscripts have been "central to debates about how the texts of Gower's works were produced" (135), and, although Gower's political affiliations before 1399 are not absolutely clear-cut, Rigby tells us, a number of poems were likely written after the deposition of Richard: "Rex Celi Deus," "O Recolende," "H. Aquile Pullus," "In Praise of Peace," and "Cronica Tripertita." Even in these, however, questions remain about relations between Gower's "moral and social outlook" and the impact of the deposition (138). [MA. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 39.1]
- Date
- 2019
- Gower Subjects
- Backgrounds and General Criticism
Manuscripts and Textual Studies