Monastic Life
- Author/Editor
- Heale, Martin.
- Title
- Monastic Life
- Published
- Heale, Martin. "Monastic Life." In Historians on John Gower. Ed. Stephen H. Rigby, with Siân Echard (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2019), pp. 271-89.
- Review
- Heale opens his essay by noting the "paradox" that "Gower's writings about monasticism . . . cohere closely with the anticlerical discourses" of his day even though details of his "later life" and preparations for death "imply a strong regard for monastic practices and prayers" (271). Heale's paradox becomes an "apparent contradiction" that "cannot be readily reconciled" (287) near the end of his essay, where he observes that the "significance" of Gower's "monastic associations to his literary career is likely to remain enigmatic" (289). In short, Heale does not explain how or to what extent details of Gower's life affected his view of the regular clergy, but he does much to clarify how Gower's critiques of monastic life in MO and VC align with--and differ from--traditional estates satire and the critiques of his contemporaries. Generally, Gower echoes the "ubiquitous clichés" of estates satires, Heale explains, but the poet sometimes uses conventions in "a skilful and subtle manner" (280), adorning VC, for example, with some effective puns and "striking images" (277) and placing notable emphasis on monastic "waywardness" (276) not found in other writers. Gower was like Chaucer and Langland in leveling sharp criticism at monastic gluttony and lavish dress, Heale observes, but his focus on "social-climbing" is relatively unusual (281), his "lack of interest in female monasticism" is "distinct" (280), and he expressed little concern about monastic treatment of the poor. Unlike Wyclif, Gower "stopped short of advocating disendowment" of monasteries (284). He singled out "senior obedientiaries," while displaying "sympathy . . . with more junior inmates of religious houses" and showing "some understanding of the internal dynamics of monastic life" (286) beyond traditional complaints. Apart from disclosing such emphases, however, Heale is cautious about his framing concern, concluding that it "remains questionable whether Gower's writings on the religious orders can be used to shed light on his life and literature career "(289), [MA. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 39.1]
- Date
- 2019
- Gower Subjects
- Backgrounds and General Criticism
Biography of Gower
Mirour de l'Omme (Speculum Meditantis)
Vox Clamantis
Style, Rhetoric, and Versification