The Works of John Gower

1903 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 204
Author(s):  
George L. Hamilton ◽  
G. C. Macaulay ◽  
John Gower
Keyword(s):  
John Gower

John Gower and the De Genealogia Deorum

1942 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Dorothy A. Dilts
Keyword(s):  
John Gower

John Gower, Mentor for Royalty: Richard II

PMLA ◽  
1954 ◽  
Vol 69 (4-Part1) ◽  
pp. 953-964
Author(s):  
George R. Coffman
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
John Gower ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Richard Ii ◽  
Unresolved Problem ◽  
Edward Iii ◽  
Standard Edition

This paragraph introduces a paper which illustrates a larger project: a study of aspects of Gower's works in fourteenth-century historical relationships. The objective is an interpretation of his writings as mirroring the attitude and point of view of a conservative middle-class Englishman for the years 1381-1400 and through them an interpretation of the England of his day. Though these writings show the long heritage of an economic, political, ethical, and religious past, our interest always centers in his immediate present. Non-literary contemporary records consequently provide the first essential materials for this interpretation. Macaulay's standard edition of his works, published half a century ago, based on all manuscripts then available, constitutes the printed source for this study. The high quality of Gower's preserved manuscripts, which give his own revisions, and the fact that these revisions show important changes in his attitudes toward individuals and organizations or institutions, make a re-examination of all of them now available an essential part of this interpretation and raise again the unresolved problem of his ethical integrity. Gardiner Stillwell's able article, “John Gower and the Last Years of Edward III,” provides a suggestive introduction for the interested student. The title of the present article is John Gower, Mentor for Royalty: Richard II.

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