TEAMS Middle English Texts > Confessio Amantis, Volume 3 > Confessio Amantis: Book 5. Smith (2004:65) concludes that despite these regional features "Gower was evidently part of the linguistic community of late-fourteenth-century London." There are direct links to all of the modern editions that are available online. Unlike the bulk of the Confessio, these have much in common with Gower's previous works (Pearsall 1966:475). John Gower's Confessio amantis: Rights/Permissions: Oxford Text Archive number: U-1677-C. Confessio amantis, late 14th-century poem by John Gower. Watt 2003:11–13 for an overview of recent work). What follows is the conventional history as formulated by Macaulay (1901:xxi). Both these examples are references to the Confessio (Canace is III.143–336), and it has sometimes been thought that this passage was the direct cause of the removal of the dedication to Chaucer from the later editions of the work (see "Textual History" above). Mail He retained instead the octosyllabic line that had previously been the standard form for English poetry, and wrote it in couplets, rather than in the stanzas he had employed in his previous works. It is not certain why he chose to write his third long poem in English; the only reason Gower himself gives is that "fewe men endite In oure englyssh" (prol.22–23). Gower characterised his verse in the Confessio as the plain style. Composition of the work probably began circa 1386, and the work was completed in 1390. And he recapitulates in the Epilogue. Unknown Binding – 1 Jan. 1963 by John Gower (Author), Terence Tiller (Author) See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions. Services . Latin marginalia: Hic incipit confessio Amantis, cui de duobus precipue quinque sensuum, hoc est de visu et auditu, confessor pre ceteris opponit. He notably published The Canterbury Tales, Le Morte Darthur, and Confessio amantis. The wiki is hosted by PBworks but is password protected. Publication date 1963 Publisher Baltimore,: Penguin Books Collection universityoffloridaduplicates; univ_florida_smathers; americana Digitizing sponsor University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries with support from LYRASIS and the Sloan Foundation Contributor University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries Language English. Database of Middle English Romances – provides key information, including (where known) date and place of composition, verse form, authorship and sources, extant manuscripts and early modern prints, for each romance, as well as a full list of modern editions and plot summaries. Previous page . Upon being told that he is on the verge of dying from love, Venus insists that he be shriven, and summons her chaplain Genius to hear his confession. 1 In every matter, wise doctrine gains well-being, nor does anyone except one taught acquire wealth. The narrator of this section, conventionally referred to as Amans or the Lover, wanders through a forest in May, as medieval lovers typically do, and despairs at his lack of success. Crucial as Latin clearly was to late medieval English poems like Piers Plowman and Gower’s Confessio Amantis, and as the idea of Latin glossing was to Chaucer, Latin mar- ginal glossing of English in this learned and exploratory period of English poetry is rare and muted, regardless of issues of orthodoxy or heresy. The external matter comprises the prologue, which spills over briefly into the start of Book 1 and an epilogue at the end of Book 8. According to the traditional system, the final sin should be lechery, but since this can hardly be considered a sin against Venus, the topic of the final book is narrowed to the single perversion of incest. The Confessio Amantis is bilingual. Translated into modern English with an introduction by Terence Tiller (Penguin Classics. Be the first one to, Advanced embedding details, examples, and help, University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries with support from LYRASIS and the Sloan Foundation, University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries, http://uf.catalog.fcla.edu/uf.jsp?st=UF000761657&ix=pm&I=0&V=D&pm=1, University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries, Terms of Service (last updated 12/31/2014). Confessio Amantis is a 33.000-line Middle English poem by John Gower, which uses the confession made by an ageing lover to the chaplain of Venus as a frame story for a collection of shorter narrative poems. L.128.) John Lydgate praised "Gower Chaucers erthly goddes two", The Kings Quair was dedicated to "Gowere and chaucere, that on the steppis satt/ of rethorike", and George Ashby called Chaucer, Gower and Lydgate "premier poetes of this nacion" (quoted by Fisher, 1965: 3). 'John Gower in His Most Significant Role', in, Pearsall, Derek (1966). Even C.S. Much revision took place, some of it by Gower and some probably by individual scribes. Pearsall 1966:476). Sir Robert Gower (uncle of John Gower) was buried at the church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin in, CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (, Last edited on 23 December 2020, at 16:46, List of subjects and tales in Confessio Amantis, "Digital Edition of the Index of Middle English Verse", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Confessio_Amantis&oldid=995927006, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. no. CAXTON’S COPYTEXT OF GOWER’S CONFESSIO AMANTIS CAXTON’S COPYTEXT OF GOWER’S CONFESSIO AMANTIS BLAKE, N. F. 1967-01-01 00:00:00 CAXTON'S COPYTEXT OF GOWER'S CONFESSIO AMANTIS Although Gower may well have been one of Caxton's favourite authors, for we know he used Confessio Amantis in his translation of the Ovide Moralise1, Caxton's handling of … In this context, the plan of the work given in the prologue is one of the most-quoted passages of the poem: This is essentially what he does; the external matter and parts of the narrative frame, together with some long digressions (most notably the whole of Book 7, discussed below) make up the "lore", while the majority of the tales are wholly concerned with "lust". CONFESSIO AMANTIS or TALES OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS By John Gower, 1330-1408 A.D. With the exception of a 74 line letter "unto cupid and to venus" in Book VIII, Gower did not adopt the new pentameter with which Chaucer had recently been experimenting, and which was in the 15th century to become the standard metre for English rhyme. The treatment given to individual stories varies widely. He invokes Venus and Cupid, who promptly appear and demand to know the reason for his sorrow. Tale of Acteon 333-88; Tale of Medusa 389-462; Aspidis the Serpent 463-80; The Sirens 481-574; Hypocrisy 575-672. While only a few manuscripts of this version survive, it has been taken as representing Gower's final vision for the work, and is the best-known version, having served as the basis of all modern editions. Even excluding the very shortest, however, there are over 100 individual stories (Macaulay 1908:sec 24), making them more numerous than the strict 100 of the Decameron, and much more so than the Canterbury Tales or the Legend of Good Women. It has been suggested that it was the influence of Chaucer, who had in part dedicated his Troilus and Criseyde to Gower, that persuaded him that the vernacular was a suitable language for poetry, and the influence of Chaucer's Legend of Good Women has been detected in the Confessio (Macaulay 1908:sec 23). It has naturally been commonly assumed that this reflects a shift in the poet's loyalties, and indeed there are signs that Gower was more attached to Henry's party from this period; but while he did attack Richard later in the decade, there is no evidence that these early changes indicate any particular hostility towards either Richard or Chaucer (Peck 2000), and it has been argued that the revision process was not politically motivated at all, but begun rather because Gower wished to improve the style of the work (Burrows 1971:32), with the dedications being altered as a purely secondary matter. Macaulay (1901:xvi, 1908:sec 33) finds his style technically superior to Chaucer's, admiring "the metrical smoothness of his lines, attained without unnatural accent or forced order of words". Confessio amantis by John Gower, Sian Echard, Claire Fanger, 1964, Miami University edition, in English The play of Documentation about the poet's birthplace does not exist. The Confessio (begun about 1386) runs to some 33,000 lines in octosyllabic couplets and takes the form of a collection of exemplary tales of love placed within the framework of a lover’s confession to a priest of Venus. The Latin Verses in the Confessio Amantis: An Annotated Translation: Echard, Sian, Fanger, Claire: 9780937191194: Books - Amazon.ca Vol 2:The complete works of John Gower. second half of Confessio Amantis (from V.1970) Other Reading. Social. Genius leads Amans through the seven deadly sins, interpreting them in the context of the courtly love tradition. [it] has a large integrity and unity based on a defense of [Gower's] ethical scheme for the universe... Gower tells in the Prologue exactly what he is going to do. This section ends with an account of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar (which draws on a similar passage in the Vox Clamantis), identifying the statue's feet of iron mixed with clay with the medieval world that Gower perceives as hopelessly divided and in danger of imminent collapse. Back to top Confessio Amantis: Book 5. CONFESSIO AMANTIS page 1 / … G. C. Macaulay, 2 vols., Early English Text Society, Extra Series 81 (1900; reprint 1978); 82 (1901). Lewis, who, though admitting that the work can be "prosaic" and "dull" in places, identifies a "sweetness and freshness" in the verse and praises its "memorable precision and weight" (Lewis 1936:201). Later generations have been equally unkind. Please email Georgiana Donavin to have a account set up for you. first half of Confessio Amantis(to V.1970) G.C.Macaulay, ed. In genre it is usually considered a poem of consolation, a medieval form inspired by Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy and typified by works such as Pearl. Though this is one sin Amans is innocent of, Genius contrives to fill a book nonetheless by telling the longest and best-known story in the Confessio, namely Apollonius of Tyre (VIII.271–2008). 294 ff. Arrives: Jan 18 - 20 Details. Watt (2003:11) sums up the divided critical reactions as "reflecting ... the complexity of both the poem itself, which invites conflicting interpretations and contradictory reactions, and its textual history". In the prologue he details at some length the numerous failings he identifies in the three estates (government, church, and people) of his time. JOHN GOWER (c. 1330-1408) was an English poet who wrote in French, Latin, and Middle English. Gower's vocabulary is educated, with extensive use of French and Latin loans, some of them apparently original; for example, the Confessio is the earliest work in which the word "history" is attested in English (OED also Middle English Dictionary). According to its prologue, it was composed at the request of Richard II. The design is that each book of the poem shall be devoted to one sin, and the first six books follow the traditional order for the first six sins: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, avarice, and gluttony. According to its prologue, it was composed at the request of Richard II. The prologue of this first recension recounts that the work was commissioned by Richard II after a chance meeting with the royal barge on the River Thames; the epilogue dedicates the work to Richard and to Geoffrey Chaucer, as the "disciple and poete" of Venus. The source he relies on most is Ovid, whose Metamorphoses was ever a popular source of exempla; others include the Bible and various other classical and medieval writers, of whom Macaulay (1908:sec 29) lists Valerius Maximus, Statius, Benoît de Sainte-Maure (the Roman de Troie), Guido delle Colonne (Historia destructionis Troiae), Godfrey of Viterbo, Brunetto Latini, Nicholas Trivet, the Romans des sept sages, the Vita Barlaam et Josaphat, and the Historia Alexandri Magni. Gower's language differs from the London dialect in which Chaucer wrote. He was a close friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. According to its prologue, it was composed at the request of Richard II. The Learning Store. The Gower Project Translation Wiki is an open forum for Modern English translations of John Gower’s major works: Mirour de l’Omme, Vox Clamantis, and Confessio Amantis. This decision has not always met with appreciation, the shorter lines being sometimes viewed as lending themselves to monotonous regularity, but Gower's handling of the metre has usually been praised. Confessio Amantis, Book I, 1407-1882. The Index of Middle English Verse shows that in the era before the printing press it was one of the most-often copied manuscripts (59 copies) along with Canterbury Tales (72 copies) and Piers Plowman (63 copies).[1]. It is hard to find works that show signs of direct influence: the only clear example is Shakespeare's Pericles, where the influence is conscious borrowing: the use of Gower's characteristic octosyllabic line for the character of Gower himself. While Macaulay (1901:x-xxi, 1908:sec 28) was cautiously appreciative, his contemporary Crawshaw (1907:61) attributed to the work "a certain nervelessness or lack of vigor, and a fatal inability to understand when he had said enough". The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes. To his contemporaries, Gower's work was generally as well known as the poetry of Chaucer: Caxton printed Gower's work alongside Chaucer's, and Gower became part of the early canon of English literature. Confessio amantis : (The lover's shrift) / John Gower ; translated into modern English with an introduction by Terence Tiller Gower, John, 1325?-1408 View online Borrow The Confessio was apparently popular in its own time; its 49 surviving manuscripts suggest a popularity about halfway between Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (80 copies) and Troilus and Criseyde (16 copies). This broadly follows the pattern of Christian confessions of the time. The poet, as a lover, confesses his shortcomings to Genius, the priest of Venus, who absolves him and relates tales suitable to counteract each type of sin. (Lee in DNB) Thus "Gower’s dialect is essentially based on the two regional dialects of Kent and Suffolk, not that of London, as Macaulay(1901:cxxx, 1908:sec 32) thought.". Not all assessments have been so positive: Burrow (1971:31) describes it as "not so much plain as threadbare", and notes that the selective quotations of previous critics have served to draw attention to sections that are better poetry, but unrepresentative of the work as a whole. As the name implies, the poem details the confession of Amans, the Lover. Coffman, George R. (1945). A 15th-century treatise printed by Caxton describes "his bookes, called Confessionalle" as. Publication date. "Some Sources of the Seventh Book of Gower's "Confessio Amantis " ". The true story is probably somewhat more complicated (see e.g. As the work's title implies, therefore, the bulk of the work is devoted to Amans' confession. It follows that it is hard to produce a definite figure for the number of tales in the Confessio. Cambridge University MS Mm 2.21; film in University of Michigan … Teaching surpasses nature; whatever an ancestry ripe for learning does not provide a clever man, instruction will give him. The influential assessment of Puttenham (1589:50) found Gower's English verse inadequate in every respect: Gower [...] had nothing in him highly to be commended, for his verse was homely and without good measure, his wordes strained much deale out of the French writers, his ryme wrested, and in his inuentions small subtilitie: the applications of his moralities are the best in him, and yet those many times very grossely bestowed, neither doth the substance of his workes sufficiently aunswere the subtiltie of his titles. Another group is definitely East Anglian: Gower's family owned land in SW Suffolk (Kentwell Hall) and had associations with NW Kent (Brabourne?[2]). When at last Genius pronounces Amans absolved of all his sins against love, Venus cures him of his infatuation. Book 8 returns to the confession. That the work was aimed at a similarly educated audience is clear from the inclusion of Latin epigraphs at the start of each major section. He explains the various aspects of each one with exempla, and requires Amans to detail any ways in which he has committed them. Samuels and Smith (1988:15) observed that there are several ways in which his language differs from that of Chaucer. At this point, however, Gower breaks his form and digresses: at the end of Book 6 Amans requests that Genius give him a break from the confession and teach him wisdom instead, and Genius responds in Book 7 by discoursing at length on the education given by Aristotle to Alexander the Great. The tale of Apollonius of Tyre is the principal tale of the final book. This version of the work saw widespread circulation, perhaps due to its royal connections (Peck 2000), and was the most popular of Gower's works, with at least 32 of the 49 surviving manuscripts of the Confessio containing this version. The subsequent history is complicated and not entirely certain. This electronic text was edited and proofed by Douglas B. Killings (DeTroyes@AOL.COM), September 1994. contracted 3rd person singular present indicative verbs, used to a far greater extent than in Chaucer, e.g. Learn more about Caxton’s life and career. In some cases he is praised and damned at once; Jonson (1640) considers him dangerously attractive, and liable to damage young writers who might be tempted to imitate his style: ...beware of letting them taste Gower, or Chaucer at first, lest falling too much in love with Antiquity, and not apprehending the weight, they grow rough and barren in language onely, Peck (2000) interprets this as unambiguous praise. Gower's previous works had been written in Anglo-Norman French and Latin. According to Macaulay (1901:xxii), a second recension was issued in about 1392, with some significant changes: most notably, most references to Richard are removed, as is the dedication to Chaucer, and these are replaced with a new dedication to Henry of Lancaster, the future Henry IV. See all details. Confessio Amantis: | | ||| | The author and the Priest of Venice, from an MS of the... World Heritage Encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive collection ever assembled. These materials are in the public domain. In the fifteenth century, Gower and Chaucer were invariably regarded together as the founders of English poetry. The works of John Gower as well as those of Chaucer initiated a new tradition of vernacular English poetry relying on a syllabic verse structure. William Caxton, the first English printer, who, as a translator and publisher, exerted an important influence on English literature. The work's most enthusiastic advocate was C.S. Some well known differences between Chaucer and Gower are explained by conclusion that Gower is associated with Kent and Suffolk. While not of immense importance as a source for later works, the Confessio is nonetheless significant in its own right as one of the earliest poems written in a form of English that is clearly recognizable as a direct precursor to the modern standard, and, above all, as one of the handful of works that established the foundations of literary prestige on which modern English literature is built. Pearsall (2004:94) assigns a "dubious status" to Macaulay's ‘second recension’ and has other comments on Macaulay's account of the text. 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There are direct links to all of the modern editions that are available online. Unlike the bulk of the Confessio, these have much in common with Gower's previous works (Pearsall 1966:475). John Gower's Confessio amantis: Rights/Permissions: Oxford Text Archive number: U-1677-C. Confessio amantis, late 14th-century poem by John Gower. Watt 2003:11–13 for an overview of recent work). What follows is the conventional history as formulated by Macaulay (1901:xxi). Both these examples are references to the Confessio (Canace is III.143–336), and it has sometimes been thought that this passage was the direct cause of the removal of the dedication to Chaucer from the later editions of the work (see "Textual History" above). Mail He retained instead the octosyllabic line that had previously been the standard form for English poetry, and wrote it in couplets, rather than in the stanzas he had employed in his previous works. It is not certain why he chose to write his third long poem in English; the only reason Gower himself gives is that "fewe men endite In oure englyssh" (prol.22–23). Gower characterised his verse in the Confessio as the plain style. Composition of the work probably began circa 1386, and the work was completed in 1390. And he recapitulates in the Epilogue. Unknown Binding – 1 Jan. 1963 by John Gower (Author), Terence Tiller (Author) See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions. Services . Latin marginalia: Hic incipit confessio Amantis, cui de duobus precipue quinque sensuum, hoc est de visu et auditu, confessor pre ceteris opponit. He notably published The Canterbury Tales, Le Morte Darthur, and Confessio amantis. The wiki is hosted by PBworks but is password protected. Publication date 1963 Publisher Baltimore,: Penguin Books Collection universityoffloridaduplicates; univ_florida_smathers; americana Digitizing sponsor University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries with support from LYRASIS and the Sloan Foundation Contributor University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries Language English. Database of Middle English Romances – provides key information, including (where known) date and place of composition, verse form, authorship and sources, extant manuscripts and early modern prints, for each romance, as well as a full list of modern editions and plot summaries. Previous page . Upon being told that he is on the verge of dying from love, Venus insists that he be shriven, and summons her chaplain Genius to hear his confession. 1 In every matter, wise doctrine gains well-being, nor does anyone except one taught acquire wealth. The narrator of this section, conventionally referred to as Amans or the Lover, wanders through a forest in May, as medieval lovers typically do, and despairs at his lack of success. Crucial as Latin clearly was to late medieval English poems like Piers Plowman and Gower’s Confessio Amantis, and as the idea of Latin glossing was to Chaucer, Latin mar- ginal glossing of English in this learned and exploratory period of English poetry is rare and muted, regardless of issues of orthodoxy or heresy. The external matter comprises the prologue, which spills over briefly into the start of Book 1 and an epilogue at the end of Book 8. According to the traditional system, the final sin should be lechery, but since this can hardly be considered a sin against Venus, the topic of the final book is narrowed to the single perversion of incest. The Confessio Amantis is bilingual. Translated into modern English with an introduction by Terence Tiller (Penguin Classics. Be the first one to, Advanced embedding details, examples, and help, University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries with support from LYRASIS and the Sloan Foundation, University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries, http://uf.catalog.fcla.edu/uf.jsp?st=UF000761657&ix=pm&I=0&V=D&pm=1, University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries, Terms of Service (last updated 12/31/2014). Confessio Amantis is a 33.000-line Middle English poem by John Gower, which uses the confession made by an ageing lover to the chaplain of Venus as a frame story for a collection of shorter narrative poems. L.128.) John Lydgate praised "Gower Chaucers erthly goddes two", The Kings Quair was dedicated to "Gowere and chaucere, that on the steppis satt/ of rethorike", and George Ashby called Chaucer, Gower and Lydgate "premier poetes of this nacion" (quoted by Fisher, 1965: 3). 'John Gower in His Most Significant Role', in, Pearsall, Derek (1966). Even C.S. Much revision took place, some of it by Gower and some probably by individual scribes. Pearsall 1966:476). Sir Robert Gower (uncle of John Gower) was buried at the church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin in, CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (, Last edited on 23 December 2020, at 16:46, List of subjects and tales in Confessio Amantis, "Digital Edition of the Index of Middle English Verse", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Confessio_Amantis&oldid=995927006, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. no. CAXTON’S COPYTEXT OF GOWER’S CONFESSIO AMANTIS CAXTON’S COPYTEXT OF GOWER’S CONFESSIO AMANTIS BLAKE, N. F. 1967-01-01 00:00:00 CAXTON'S COPYTEXT OF GOWER'S CONFESSIO AMANTIS Although Gower may well have been one of Caxton's favourite authors, for we know he used Confessio Amantis in his translation of the Ovide Moralise1, Caxton's handling of … In this context, the plan of the work given in the prologue is one of the most-quoted passages of the poem: This is essentially what he does; the external matter and parts of the narrative frame, together with some long digressions (most notably the whole of Book 7, discussed below) make up the "lore", while the majority of the tales are wholly concerned with "lust". CONFESSIO AMANTIS or TALES OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS By John Gower, 1330-1408 A.D. With the exception of a 74 line letter "unto cupid and to venus" in Book VIII, Gower did not adopt the new pentameter with which Chaucer had recently been experimenting, and which was in the 15th century to become the standard metre for English rhyme. The treatment given to individual stories varies widely. He invokes Venus and Cupid, who promptly appear and demand to know the reason for his sorrow. Tale of Acteon 333-88; Tale of Medusa 389-462; Aspidis the Serpent 463-80; The Sirens 481-574; Hypocrisy 575-672. While only a few manuscripts of this version survive, it has been taken as representing Gower's final vision for the work, and is the best-known version, having served as the basis of all modern editions. Even excluding the very shortest, however, there are over 100 individual stories (Macaulay 1908:sec 24), making them more numerous than the strict 100 of the Decameron, and much more so than the Canterbury Tales or the Legend of Good Women. It has been suggested that it was the influence of Chaucer, who had in part dedicated his Troilus and Criseyde to Gower, that persuaded him that the vernacular was a suitable language for poetry, and the influence of Chaucer's Legend of Good Women has been detected in the Confessio (Macaulay 1908:sec 23). It has naturally been commonly assumed that this reflects a shift in the poet's loyalties, and indeed there are signs that Gower was more attached to Henry's party from this period; but while he did attack Richard later in the decade, there is no evidence that these early changes indicate any particular hostility towards either Richard or Chaucer (Peck 2000), and it has been argued that the revision process was not politically motivated at all, but begun rather because Gower wished to improve the style of the work (Burrows 1971:32), with the dedications being altered as a purely secondary matter. Macaulay (1901:xvi, 1908:sec 33) finds his style technically superior to Chaucer's, admiring "the metrical smoothness of his lines, attained without unnatural accent or forced order of words". Confessio amantis by John Gower, Sian Echard, Claire Fanger, 1964, Miami University edition, in English The play of Documentation about the poet's birthplace does not exist. The Confessio (begun about 1386) runs to some 33,000 lines in octosyllabic couplets and takes the form of a collection of exemplary tales of love placed within the framework of a lover’s confession to a priest of Venus. The Latin Verses in the Confessio Amantis: An Annotated Translation: Echard, Sian, Fanger, Claire: 9780937191194: Books - Amazon.ca Vol 2:The complete works of John Gower. second half of Confessio Amantis (from V.1970) Other Reading. Social. Genius leads Amans through the seven deadly sins, interpreting them in the context of the courtly love tradition. [it] has a large integrity and unity based on a defense of [Gower's] ethical scheme for the universe... Gower tells in the Prologue exactly what he is going to do. This section ends with an account of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar (which draws on a similar passage in the Vox Clamantis), identifying the statue's feet of iron mixed with clay with the medieval world that Gower perceives as hopelessly divided and in danger of imminent collapse. Back to top Confessio Amantis: Book 5. CONFESSIO AMANTIS page 1 / … G. C. Macaulay, 2 vols., Early English Text Society, Extra Series 81 (1900; reprint 1978); 82 (1901). Lewis, who, though admitting that the work can be "prosaic" and "dull" in places, identifies a "sweetness and freshness" in the verse and praises its "memorable precision and weight" (Lewis 1936:201). Later generations have been equally unkind. Please email Georgiana Donavin to have a account set up for you. first half of Confessio Amantis(to V.1970) G.C.Macaulay, ed. In genre it is usually considered a poem of consolation, a medieval form inspired by Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy and typified by works such as Pearl. Though this is one sin Amans is innocent of, Genius contrives to fill a book nonetheless by telling the longest and best-known story in the Confessio, namely Apollonius of Tyre (VIII.271–2008). 294 ff. Arrives: Jan 18 - 20 Details. Watt (2003:11) sums up the divided critical reactions as "reflecting ... the complexity of both the poem itself, which invites conflicting interpretations and contradictory reactions, and its textual history". In the prologue he details at some length the numerous failings he identifies in the three estates (government, church, and people) of his time. JOHN GOWER (c. 1330-1408) was an English poet who wrote in French, Latin, and Middle English. Gower's vocabulary is educated, with extensive use of French and Latin loans, some of them apparently original; for example, the Confessio is the earliest work in which the word "history" is attested in English (OED also Middle English Dictionary). According to its prologue, it was composed at the request of Richard II. The design is that each book of the poem shall be devoted to one sin, and the first six books follow the traditional order for the first six sins: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, avarice, and gluttony. According to its prologue, it was composed at the request of Richard II. The prologue of this first recension recounts that the work was commissioned by Richard II after a chance meeting with the royal barge on the River Thames; the epilogue dedicates the work to Richard and to Geoffrey Chaucer, as the "disciple and poete" of Venus. The source he relies on most is Ovid, whose Metamorphoses was ever a popular source of exempla; others include the Bible and various other classical and medieval writers, of whom Macaulay (1908:sec 29) lists Valerius Maximus, Statius, Benoît de Sainte-Maure (the Roman de Troie), Guido delle Colonne (Historia destructionis Troiae), Godfrey of Viterbo, Brunetto Latini, Nicholas Trivet, the Romans des sept sages, the Vita Barlaam et Josaphat, and the Historia Alexandri Magni. Gower's language differs from the London dialect in which Chaucer wrote. He was a close friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. According to its prologue, it was composed at the request of Richard II. The Learning Store. The Gower Project Translation Wiki is an open forum for Modern English translations of John Gower’s major works: Mirour de l’Omme, Vox Clamantis, and Confessio Amantis. This decision has not always met with appreciation, the shorter lines being sometimes viewed as lending themselves to monotonous regularity, but Gower's handling of the metre has usually been praised. Confessio Amantis, Book I, 1407-1882. The Index of Middle English Verse shows that in the era before the printing press it was one of the most-often copied manuscripts (59 copies) along with Canterbury Tales (72 copies) and Piers Plowman (63 copies).[1]. It is hard to find works that show signs of direct influence: the only clear example is Shakespeare's Pericles, where the influence is conscious borrowing: the use of Gower's characteristic octosyllabic line for the character of Gower himself. While Macaulay (1901:x-xxi, 1908:sec 28) was cautiously appreciative, his contemporary Crawshaw (1907:61) attributed to the work "a certain nervelessness or lack of vigor, and a fatal inability to understand when he had said enough". The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes. To his contemporaries, Gower's work was generally as well known as the poetry of Chaucer: Caxton printed Gower's work alongside Chaucer's, and Gower became part of the early canon of English literature. Confessio amantis : (The lover's shrift) / John Gower ; translated into modern English with an introduction by Terence Tiller Gower, John, 1325?-1408 View online Borrow The Confessio was apparently popular in its own time; its 49 surviving manuscripts suggest a popularity about halfway between Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (80 copies) and Troilus and Criseyde (16 copies). This broadly follows the pattern of Christian confessions of the time. The poet, as a lover, confesses his shortcomings to Genius, the priest of Venus, who absolves him and relates tales suitable to counteract each type of sin. (Lee in DNB) Thus "Gower’s dialect is essentially based on the two regional dialects of Kent and Suffolk, not that of London, as Macaulay(1901:cxxx, 1908:sec 32) thought.". Not all assessments have been so positive: Burrow (1971:31) describes it as "not so much plain as threadbare", and notes that the selective quotations of previous critics have served to draw attention to sections that are better poetry, but unrepresentative of the work as a whole. As the name implies, the poem details the confession of Amans, the Lover. Coffman, George R. (1945). A 15th-century treatise printed by Caxton describes "his bookes, called Confessionalle" as. Publication date. "Some Sources of the Seventh Book of Gower's "Confessio Amantis " ". The true story is probably somewhat more complicated (see e.g. As the work's title implies, therefore, the bulk of the work is devoted to Amans' confession. It follows that it is hard to produce a definite figure for the number of tales in the Confessio. Cambridge University MS Mm 2.21; film in University of Michigan … Teaching surpasses nature; whatever an ancestry ripe for learning does not provide a clever man, instruction will give him. The influential assessment of Puttenham (1589:50) found Gower's English verse inadequate in every respect: Gower [...] had nothing in him highly to be commended, for his verse was homely and without good measure, his wordes strained much deale out of the French writers, his ryme wrested, and in his inuentions small subtilitie: the applications of his moralities are the best in him, and yet those many times very grossely bestowed, neither doth the substance of his workes sufficiently aunswere the subtiltie of his titles. Another group is definitely East Anglian: Gower's family owned land in SW Suffolk (Kentwell Hall) and had associations with NW Kent (Brabourne?[2]). When at last Genius pronounces Amans absolved of all his sins against love, Venus cures him of his infatuation. Book 8 returns to the confession. That the work was aimed at a similarly educated audience is clear from the inclusion of Latin epigraphs at the start of each major section. He explains the various aspects of each one with exempla, and requires Amans to detail any ways in which he has committed them. Samuels and Smith (1988:15) observed that there are several ways in which his language differs from that of Chaucer. At this point, however, Gower breaks his form and digresses: at the end of Book 6 Amans requests that Genius give him a break from the confession and teach him wisdom instead, and Genius responds in Book 7 by discoursing at length on the education given by Aristotle to Alexander the Great. The tale of Apollonius of Tyre is the principal tale of the final book. This version of the work saw widespread circulation, perhaps due to its royal connections (Peck 2000), and was the most popular of Gower's works, with at least 32 of the 49 surviving manuscripts of the Confessio containing this version. The subsequent history is complicated and not entirely certain. This electronic text was edited and proofed by Douglas B. Killings (DeTroyes@AOL.COM), September 1994. contracted 3rd person singular present indicative verbs, used to a far greater extent than in Chaucer, e.g. Learn more about Caxton’s life and career. In some cases he is praised and damned at once; Jonson (1640) considers him dangerously attractive, and liable to damage young writers who might be tempted to imitate his style: ...beware of letting them taste Gower, or Chaucer at first, lest falling too much in love with Antiquity, and not apprehending the weight, they grow rough and barren in language onely, Peck (2000) interprets this as unambiguous praise. Gower's previous works had been written in Anglo-Norman French and Latin. According to Macaulay (1901:xxii), a second recension was issued in about 1392, with some significant changes: most notably, most references to Richard are removed, as is the dedication to Chaucer, and these are replaced with a new dedication to Henry of Lancaster, the future Henry IV. See all details. Confessio Amantis: | | ||| | The author and the Priest of Venice, from an MS of the... World Heritage Encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive collection ever assembled. These materials are in the public domain. In the fifteenth century, Gower and Chaucer were invariably regarded together as the founders of English poetry. The works of John Gower as well as those of Chaucer initiated a new tradition of vernacular English poetry relying on a syllabic verse structure. William Caxton, the first English printer, who, as a translator and publisher, exerted an important influence on English literature. The work's most enthusiastic advocate was C.S. Some well known differences between Chaucer and Gower are explained by conclusion that Gower is associated with Kent and Suffolk. While not of immense importance as a source for later works, the Confessio is nonetheless significant in its own right as one of the earliest poems written in a form of English that is clearly recognizable as a direct precursor to the modern standard, and, above all, as one of the handful of works that established the foundations of literary prestige on which modern English literature is built. Pearsall (2004:94) assigns a "dubious status" to Macaulay's ‘second recension’ and has other comments on Macaulay's account of the text. 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Confessio amantis by John Gower, Sian Echard, Claire Fanger, 2005, Published for TEAMS (The Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages) in association with the University of Rochester by Medieval Institute Publications, College of Arts and Sciences, Western Michigan University edition, in English … And even the structure of his work has been declared perfect by some: Coffman (1945:58) argues that. But it was Chaucer's works which became the model for future poets, and the legacy of the Confessio has suffered as a result. This veiled criticism of the Confessio's immoral stories is not necessarily inconsistent with Chaucer's famous dubbing of his friend "Moral Gower"; that passage, in Chaucer's Troilus, was likely written before Gower even began the Confessio. By the 19th century, the Confessio was regarded by some as an established "monument of dulness and pedantry" (quoted by Coffman 1945:52). Tale of Florent 1407-1882; Presumption … Confessio Amantis is a collection of over one hundred stories illustrative of the vices and virtues. … The Apollonius is nearly 2,000 lines long, but at the other extreme, the distinction between tale and allusion is hard to define; for example, summaries of the story of Troilus and Criseide appear in three places (II.2456–2458, IV.7597–7602, VIII.2531–2535), but none can really be described as a "tale". Modern Philology. (1899). The frame story as such is easily summarised. Gower has also been given his share of appreciation. JOHN GOWER, CONFESSIO AMANTIS, BOOK 7: FOOTNOTES. This notwithstanding, the digression, and the consequent flaw in an otherwise strict plan, is the most frequently criticised aspect of the poem's structure (see e.g. Confessio Amantis ("The Lover's Confession") is a 33,000-line Middle English poem by John Gower, which uses the confession made by an ageing lover to the chaplain of Venus as a frame story for a collection of shorter narrative poems. The narrative structure is overlaid on this in three levels: the external matter, the narrative frame, and the individual tales which make up the bulk of the work. A third and final recension was published in 1393, retaining the dedication to Henry. A brief overview and summary of Confessio Amantis, ... but this is a modern translation of the original Middle English and contains only around a third of the entire poem.) These include the Apollonius, which served as a source for the Shakespearean Pericles, and the tales shared with Chaucer, such as the tales of Constance (II.587–1603, also told by the Man of Law) and Florent (I.1407–1875, also told by the Wife of Bath). The marginal Latin glosses, identified by a capital L in the left margin next to the text, are transcribed and translated in the notes and can be accessed by clicking on (see note) at the corresponding line. Navigate; Linked Data; Dashboard; Tools / Extras; Stats; Share . If you have questions about the collection, please contact mec-info@umich.edu. Confessio Amantis ("The Lover's Confession") is a 33,000-line Middle English poem by John Gower, which uses the confession made by an ageing lover to the chaplain of Venus as a frame story for a collection of shorter narrative poems. Next page. It stands with the works of Chaucer, Langland, and the Pearl poet as one of the great works of late 14th-century English literature. The English Works of John Gower, ed. Confessio amantis (The lover's shrift by Gower, John. Macauley. Hypocrisy of Lovers 672-760; Tale of Mundus and Paulina 761-1076 ; Trojan Horse 1077-1234; Disobedience 1235-1342; Murmur and Complaint 1343–1406. In Gower's hands this becomes a treatise on good kingship, and it is in this book that it is most obvious how the work is intended to answer the royal commission. George L. Hamilton (1912). Confessio Amantis or Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins: Gower, John: 9781469928241: Books - Amazon.ca Confessio amantis by John Gower, Sian Echard, Claire Fanger, 1963, Penguin Books edition, in English Additional assistance provided by Diane M. Brendan. It is worth doing. See what's new with book lending at the Internet Archive, Uploaded by Confessio Amantis, the Lover’s Confession 203-88; Senses of Sight and Sound 289-332. [Here begins the confession of the Lover, to whom the Confessor particularly inquires concerning two of the five senses, that is, sight and sound.] The story of the brazen head, here associated with Robert Grosseteste, were later associated with his disciple Roger Bacon. None of Gower's tales are original. And despite this apparent popularity, critical reactions to the work have often been unfavourable. Written in Middle English, the Confessio Amantis is a long poem: 33,000 lines long, to be precise. This edition includes all Latin components of the poem along with translations. 1410 1415 1420 1425 1430 1435 1440 1445 1450 1455 1460 1465 1470 1475 1480 1485 1490 1495 1500 1505 1510 1515 1520 1525 1530 1535 1540 1545 1550 1555 1560 1565 1570 1575 1580 1585 1590 1595 1600 1605 1610 1615 1620 1625 1630 1635 1640 1645 1650 1655 1660 1665 1670 1675 1680 1685 1690 1695 1700 1705 1710 1715 1720 1725 1730 … Vol 3:The complete works of John Gower. Jye Afamasaga He does it well. Confessio amantis by John Gower, Sian Echard, Claire Fanger, 1968, Holt, Rinehart and Winston edition, in Latin Robbins Library Digital Projects > TEAMS Middle English Texts > Confessio Amantis, Volume 3 > Confessio Amantis: Book 5. Smith (2004:65) concludes that despite these regional features "Gower was evidently part of the linguistic community of late-fourteenth-century London." There are direct links to all of the modern editions that are available online. Unlike the bulk of the Confessio, these have much in common with Gower's previous works (Pearsall 1966:475). John Gower's Confessio amantis: Rights/Permissions: Oxford Text Archive number: U-1677-C. Confessio amantis, late 14th-century poem by John Gower. Watt 2003:11–13 for an overview of recent work). What follows is the conventional history as formulated by Macaulay (1901:xxi). Both these examples are references to the Confessio (Canace is III.143–336), and it has sometimes been thought that this passage was the direct cause of the removal of the dedication to Chaucer from the later editions of the work (see "Textual History" above). Mail He retained instead the octosyllabic line that had previously been the standard form for English poetry, and wrote it in couplets, rather than in the stanzas he had employed in his previous works. It is not certain why he chose to write his third long poem in English; the only reason Gower himself gives is that "fewe men endite In oure englyssh" (prol.22–23). Gower characterised his verse in the Confessio as the plain style. Composition of the work probably began circa 1386, and the work was completed in 1390. And he recapitulates in the Epilogue. Unknown Binding – 1 Jan. 1963 by John Gower (Author), Terence Tiller (Author) See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions. Services . Latin marginalia: Hic incipit confessio Amantis, cui de duobus precipue quinque sensuum, hoc est de visu et auditu, confessor pre ceteris opponit. He notably published The Canterbury Tales, Le Morte Darthur, and Confessio amantis. The wiki is hosted by PBworks but is password protected. Publication date 1963 Publisher Baltimore,: Penguin Books Collection universityoffloridaduplicates; univ_florida_smathers; americana Digitizing sponsor University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries with support from LYRASIS and the Sloan Foundation Contributor University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries Language English. Database of Middle English Romances – provides key information, including (where known) date and place of composition, verse form, authorship and sources, extant manuscripts and early modern prints, for each romance, as well as a full list of modern editions and plot summaries. Previous page . Upon being told that he is on the verge of dying from love, Venus insists that he be shriven, and summons her chaplain Genius to hear his confession. 1 In every matter, wise doctrine gains well-being, nor does anyone except one taught acquire wealth. The narrator of this section, conventionally referred to as Amans or the Lover, wanders through a forest in May, as medieval lovers typically do, and despairs at his lack of success. Crucial as Latin clearly was to late medieval English poems like Piers Plowman and Gower’s Confessio Amantis, and as the idea of Latin glossing was to Chaucer, Latin mar- ginal glossing of English in this learned and exploratory period of English poetry is rare and muted, regardless of issues of orthodoxy or heresy. The external matter comprises the prologue, which spills over briefly into the start of Book 1 and an epilogue at the end of Book 8. According to the traditional system, the final sin should be lechery, but since this can hardly be considered a sin against Venus, the topic of the final book is narrowed to the single perversion of incest. The Confessio Amantis is bilingual. Translated into modern English with an introduction by Terence Tiller (Penguin Classics. Be the first one to, Advanced embedding details, examples, and help, University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries with support from LYRASIS and the Sloan Foundation, University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries, http://uf.catalog.fcla.edu/uf.jsp?st=UF000761657&ix=pm&I=0&V=D&pm=1, University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries, Terms of Service (last updated 12/31/2014). Confessio Amantis is a 33.000-line Middle English poem by John Gower, which uses the confession made by an ageing lover to the chaplain of Venus as a frame story for a collection of shorter narrative poems. L.128.) John Lydgate praised "Gower Chaucers erthly goddes two", The Kings Quair was dedicated to "Gowere and chaucere, that on the steppis satt/ of rethorike", and George Ashby called Chaucer, Gower and Lydgate "premier poetes of this nacion" (quoted by Fisher, 1965: 3). 'John Gower in His Most Significant Role', in, Pearsall, Derek (1966). Even C.S. Much revision took place, some of it by Gower and some probably by individual scribes. Pearsall 1966:476). Sir Robert Gower (uncle of John Gower) was buried at the church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin in, CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (, Last edited on 23 December 2020, at 16:46, List of subjects and tales in Confessio Amantis, "Digital Edition of the Index of Middle English Verse", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Confessio_Amantis&oldid=995927006, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. no. CAXTON’S COPYTEXT OF GOWER’S CONFESSIO AMANTIS CAXTON’S COPYTEXT OF GOWER’S CONFESSIO AMANTIS BLAKE, N. F. 1967-01-01 00:00:00 CAXTON'S COPYTEXT OF GOWER'S CONFESSIO AMANTIS Although Gower may well have been one of Caxton's favourite authors, for we know he used Confessio Amantis in his translation of the Ovide Moralise1, Caxton's handling of … In this context, the plan of the work given in the prologue is one of the most-quoted passages of the poem: This is essentially what he does; the external matter and parts of the narrative frame, together with some long digressions (most notably the whole of Book 7, discussed below) make up the "lore", while the majority of the tales are wholly concerned with "lust". CONFESSIO AMANTIS or TALES OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS By John Gower, 1330-1408 A.D. With the exception of a 74 line letter "unto cupid and to venus" in Book VIII, Gower did not adopt the new pentameter with which Chaucer had recently been experimenting, and which was in the 15th century to become the standard metre for English rhyme. The treatment given to individual stories varies widely. He invokes Venus and Cupid, who promptly appear and demand to know the reason for his sorrow. Tale of Acteon 333-88; Tale of Medusa 389-462; Aspidis the Serpent 463-80; The Sirens 481-574; Hypocrisy 575-672. While only a few manuscripts of this version survive, it has been taken as representing Gower's final vision for the work, and is the best-known version, having served as the basis of all modern editions. Even excluding the very shortest, however, there are over 100 individual stories (Macaulay 1908:sec 24), making them more numerous than the strict 100 of the Decameron, and much more so than the Canterbury Tales or the Legend of Good Women. It has been suggested that it was the influence of Chaucer, who had in part dedicated his Troilus and Criseyde to Gower, that persuaded him that the vernacular was a suitable language for poetry, and the influence of Chaucer's Legend of Good Women has been detected in the Confessio (Macaulay 1908:sec 23). It has naturally been commonly assumed that this reflects a shift in the poet's loyalties, and indeed there are signs that Gower was more attached to Henry's party from this period; but while he did attack Richard later in the decade, there is no evidence that these early changes indicate any particular hostility towards either Richard or Chaucer (Peck 2000), and it has been argued that the revision process was not politically motivated at all, but begun rather because Gower wished to improve the style of the work (Burrows 1971:32), with the dedications being altered as a purely secondary matter. Macaulay (1901:xvi, 1908:sec 33) finds his style technically superior to Chaucer's, admiring "the metrical smoothness of his lines, attained without unnatural accent or forced order of words". Confessio amantis by John Gower, Sian Echard, Claire Fanger, 1964, Miami University edition, in English The play of Documentation about the poet's birthplace does not exist. The Confessio (begun about 1386) runs to some 33,000 lines in octosyllabic couplets and takes the form of a collection of exemplary tales of love placed within the framework of a lover’s confession to a priest of Venus. The Latin Verses in the Confessio Amantis: An Annotated Translation: Echard, Sian, Fanger, Claire: 9780937191194: Books - Amazon.ca Vol 2:The complete works of John Gower. second half of Confessio Amantis (from V.1970) Other Reading. Social. Genius leads Amans through the seven deadly sins, interpreting them in the context of the courtly love tradition. [it] has a large integrity and unity based on a defense of [Gower's] ethical scheme for the universe... Gower tells in the Prologue exactly what he is going to do. This section ends with an account of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar (which draws on a similar passage in the Vox Clamantis), identifying the statue's feet of iron mixed with clay with the medieval world that Gower perceives as hopelessly divided and in danger of imminent collapse. Back to top Confessio Amantis: Book 5. CONFESSIO AMANTIS page 1 / … G. C. Macaulay, 2 vols., Early English Text Society, Extra Series 81 (1900; reprint 1978); 82 (1901). Lewis, who, though admitting that the work can be "prosaic" and "dull" in places, identifies a "sweetness and freshness" in the verse and praises its "memorable precision and weight" (Lewis 1936:201). Later generations have been equally unkind. Please email Georgiana Donavin to have a account set up for you. first half of Confessio Amantis(to V.1970) G.C.Macaulay, ed. In genre it is usually considered a poem of consolation, a medieval form inspired by Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy and typified by works such as Pearl. Though this is one sin Amans is innocent of, Genius contrives to fill a book nonetheless by telling the longest and best-known story in the Confessio, namely Apollonius of Tyre (VIII.271–2008). 294 ff. Arrives: Jan 18 - 20 Details. Watt (2003:11) sums up the divided critical reactions as "reflecting ... the complexity of both the poem itself, which invites conflicting interpretations and contradictory reactions, and its textual history". In the prologue he details at some length the numerous failings he identifies in the three estates (government, church, and people) of his time. JOHN GOWER (c. 1330-1408) was an English poet who wrote in French, Latin, and Middle English. Gower's vocabulary is educated, with extensive use of French and Latin loans, some of them apparently original; for example, the Confessio is the earliest work in which the word "history" is attested in English (OED also Middle English Dictionary). According to its prologue, it was composed at the request of Richard II. The design is that each book of the poem shall be devoted to one sin, and the first six books follow the traditional order for the first six sins: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, avarice, and gluttony. According to its prologue, it was composed at the request of Richard II. The prologue of this first recension recounts that the work was commissioned by Richard II after a chance meeting with the royal barge on the River Thames; the epilogue dedicates the work to Richard and to Geoffrey Chaucer, as the "disciple and poete" of Venus. The source he relies on most is Ovid, whose Metamorphoses was ever a popular source of exempla; others include the Bible and various other classical and medieval writers, of whom Macaulay (1908:sec 29) lists Valerius Maximus, Statius, Benoît de Sainte-Maure (the Roman de Troie), Guido delle Colonne (Historia destructionis Troiae), Godfrey of Viterbo, Brunetto Latini, Nicholas Trivet, the Romans des sept sages, the Vita Barlaam et Josaphat, and the Historia Alexandri Magni. Gower's language differs from the London dialect in which Chaucer wrote. He was a close friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. According to its prologue, it was composed at the request of Richard II. The Learning Store. The Gower Project Translation Wiki is an open forum for Modern English translations of John Gower’s major works: Mirour de l’Omme, Vox Clamantis, and Confessio Amantis. This decision has not always met with appreciation, the shorter lines being sometimes viewed as lending themselves to monotonous regularity, but Gower's handling of the metre has usually been praised. Confessio Amantis, Book I, 1407-1882. The Index of Middle English Verse shows that in the era before the printing press it was one of the most-often copied manuscripts (59 copies) along with Canterbury Tales (72 copies) and Piers Plowman (63 copies).[1]. It is hard to find works that show signs of direct influence: the only clear example is Shakespeare's Pericles, where the influence is conscious borrowing: the use of Gower's characteristic octosyllabic line for the character of Gower himself. While Macaulay (1901:x-xxi, 1908:sec 28) was cautiously appreciative, his contemporary Crawshaw (1907:61) attributed to the work "a certain nervelessness or lack of vigor, and a fatal inability to understand when he had said enough". The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes. To his contemporaries, Gower's work was generally as well known as the poetry of Chaucer: Caxton printed Gower's work alongside Chaucer's, and Gower became part of the early canon of English literature. Confessio amantis : (The lover's shrift) / John Gower ; translated into modern English with an introduction by Terence Tiller Gower, John, 1325?-1408 View online Borrow The Confessio was apparently popular in its own time; its 49 surviving manuscripts suggest a popularity about halfway between Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (80 copies) and Troilus and Criseyde (16 copies). This broadly follows the pattern of Christian confessions of the time. The poet, as a lover, confesses his shortcomings to Genius, the priest of Venus, who absolves him and relates tales suitable to counteract each type of sin. (Lee in DNB) Thus "Gower’s dialect is essentially based on the two regional dialects of Kent and Suffolk, not that of London, as Macaulay(1901:cxxx, 1908:sec 32) thought.". Not all assessments have been so positive: Burrow (1971:31) describes it as "not so much plain as threadbare", and notes that the selective quotations of previous critics have served to draw attention to sections that are better poetry, but unrepresentative of the work as a whole. As the name implies, the poem details the confession of Amans, the Lover. Coffman, George R. (1945). A 15th-century treatise printed by Caxton describes "his bookes, called Confessionalle" as. Publication date. "Some Sources of the Seventh Book of Gower's "Confessio Amantis " ". The true story is probably somewhat more complicated (see e.g. As the work's title implies, therefore, the bulk of the work is devoted to Amans' confession. It follows that it is hard to produce a definite figure for the number of tales in the Confessio. Cambridge University MS Mm 2.21; film in University of Michigan … Teaching surpasses nature; whatever an ancestry ripe for learning does not provide a clever man, instruction will give him. The influential assessment of Puttenham (1589:50) found Gower's English verse inadequate in every respect: Gower [...] had nothing in him highly to be commended, for his verse was homely and without good measure, his wordes strained much deale out of the French writers, his ryme wrested, and in his inuentions small subtilitie: the applications of his moralities are the best in him, and yet those many times very grossely bestowed, neither doth the substance of his workes sufficiently aunswere the subtiltie of his titles. Another group is definitely East Anglian: Gower's family owned land in SW Suffolk (Kentwell Hall) and had associations with NW Kent (Brabourne?[2]). When at last Genius pronounces Amans absolved of all his sins against love, Venus cures him of his infatuation. Book 8 returns to the confession. That the work was aimed at a similarly educated audience is clear from the inclusion of Latin epigraphs at the start of each major section. He explains the various aspects of each one with exempla, and requires Amans to detail any ways in which he has committed them. Samuels and Smith (1988:15) observed that there are several ways in which his language differs from that of Chaucer. At this point, however, Gower breaks his form and digresses: at the end of Book 6 Amans requests that Genius give him a break from the confession and teach him wisdom instead, and Genius responds in Book 7 by discoursing at length on the education given by Aristotle to Alexander the Great. The tale of Apollonius of Tyre is the principal tale of the final book. This version of the work saw widespread circulation, perhaps due to its royal connections (Peck 2000), and was the most popular of Gower's works, with at least 32 of the 49 surviving manuscripts of the Confessio containing this version. The subsequent history is complicated and not entirely certain. This electronic text was edited and proofed by Douglas B. Killings (DeTroyes@AOL.COM), September 1994. contracted 3rd person singular present indicative verbs, used to a far greater extent than in Chaucer, e.g. Learn more about Caxton’s life and career. In some cases he is praised and damned at once; Jonson (1640) considers him dangerously attractive, and liable to damage young writers who might be tempted to imitate his style: ...beware of letting them taste Gower, or Chaucer at first, lest falling too much in love with Antiquity, and not apprehending the weight, they grow rough and barren in language onely, Peck (2000) interprets this as unambiguous praise. Gower's previous works had been written in Anglo-Norman French and Latin. According to Macaulay (1901:xxii), a second recension was issued in about 1392, with some significant changes: most notably, most references to Richard are removed, as is the dedication to Chaucer, and these are replaced with a new dedication to Henry of Lancaster, the future Henry IV. See all details. Confessio Amantis: | | ||| | The author and the Priest of Venice, from an MS of the... World Heritage Encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive collection ever assembled. These materials are in the public domain. In the fifteenth century, Gower and Chaucer were invariably regarded together as the founders of English poetry. The works of John Gower as well as those of Chaucer initiated a new tradition of vernacular English poetry relying on a syllabic verse structure. William Caxton, the first English printer, who, as a translator and publisher, exerted an important influence on English literature. The work's most enthusiastic advocate was C.S. Some well known differences between Chaucer and Gower are explained by conclusion that Gower is associated with Kent and Suffolk. While not of immense importance as a source for later works, the Confessio is nonetheless significant in its own right as one of the earliest poems written in a form of English that is clearly recognizable as a direct precursor to the modern standard, and, above all, as one of the handful of works that established the foundations of literary prestige on which modern English literature is built. Pearsall (2004:94) assigns a "dubious status" to Macaulay's ‘second recension’ and has other comments on Macaulay's account of the text. 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