John Gower

1
John Gower

• b.1330

2
John Gower

• Relatively little known about his personal life
• Landowner in Kent, later resided in Southwark
• Wrote in three languages (Anglo-Norman, English,
  and Latin)
• Contemporary of and had close relations with
  Chaucer
• At Chaucers request, read Chaucers Troilus and
  Criseyde for correction

3
Historical Context

• Born during the reign of Edward III but
• Produced two of his three main works were during
  reign of Richard II and Henry IV (the dedication
  of the third revision of Confessio was changed
  from Richard II to Henry IV)
• Writing during the Hundred Years War
• Alive during the establishment of the Parliament
  of England
• Peasants Revolt of 1381
• Survived the recurring Black Death through the
  latter half of the 14th and early 15th centuries

4
Three Major Works

• Mirour de lomme (Mirror of Man)
• Written in Anglo-Norman
• Addressed to upper class audience able to read
  French and English
• Estate satire
• Around 30,000 lines
• Survives in fragments

5
Three Majors Works (cont.)

• Vox Clamantis (Voice of the Crier)
• Written in Latin
• Name of poem refers to saint for whom Gower was
  named, John the Baptist
• Gower identified with John the Baptist as the
  the voice of one crying out in the wilderness
  and with the apocalyptic writer of Revelation,
  John.
• Estate satire (addresses the peasantry for their
  part in the Peasants Uprising of 1381)

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Three Majors Works (cont.)

• Confessio Amantis (The Lovers Confession)
• Written in English
• Divided into eight books
• Gower draws from many secular and classical
  texts, but particularly Ovid
• Norton characterizes it as moral discourse.

7
John Gower

d.1408