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58-645: John Gower ( / ˈ ɡ aʊ . ər / ; c. 1330 – October 1408) was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and the Pearl Poet , and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer . He is remembered primarily for three major works—the Mirour de l'Omme , Vox Clamantis , and Confessio Amantis — three long poems written in French, Latin, and English respectively, which are united by common moral and political themes. Few details are known of Gower's early life. He

116-419: A "continuum of allegory", a spectrum that ranges from what he termed the "naive allegory" of the likes of The Faerie Queene , to the more private allegories of modern paradox literature . In this perspective, the characters in a "naive" allegory are not fully three-dimensional, for each aspect of their individual personalities and of the events that befall them embodies some moral quality or other abstraction;

174-464: A Ring for themselves. Then Tolkien went on to outline an alternative plot for "Lord of The Rings", as it would have been written had such an allegory been intended, and which would have made the book into a dystopia . While all this does not mean Tolkien's works may not be treated as having allegorical themes, especially when reinterpreted through postmodern sensibilities, it at least suggests that none were conscious in his writings. This further reinforces

232-756: A mystery. He may have practised law in or around London. George Campbell Macaulay lists several real estate transactions to which Gower was a party. Macaulay's Introduction to the French Works suggests that Gower may have been a dealer in wool. This is based on remarks from Mirour d l'Omme line 25360ff. From 1365 he received ten pounds' rent for the manor of Wygebergh in Essex. From 1382 until death he received forty pounds per annum from selling Feltwell in Norfolk and Moulton in Suffolk. In 1399 Henry IV granted him

290-426: A part of his larger work The Republic . In this allegory, Plato describes a group of people who have lived chained in a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall (514a–b). The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows, using language to identify their world (514c–515a). According to the allegory, the shadows are as close as

348-620: A pension, in the form of an annual allowance of two pipes (= 1 tun = 240 gallons) of Gascony wine. Carlson estimates the value of the two pipes as 3 to 4 pounds wholesale or 8 pounds retail. Gower's friendship with Chaucer is also well documented. When Chaucer was sent as a diplomat to Italy in 1378, Gower was one of the men to whom he gave power of attorney over his affairs in England. The two poets also paid one another compliments in their verse: Chaucer dedicated his Troilus and Criseyde in part to "moral Gower", and Gower reciprocated by placing

406-436: A poet who was not afraid to give Henry IV stern political advice. Sobecki also claims to have identified Gower's autograph hand in two manuscripts. Gower's poetry has had a mixed critical reception. In the 16th century, he was generally regarded alongside Chaucer as the father of English poetry. In the 18th and 19th centuries, however, his reputation declined, largely on account of a perceived didacticism and dullness, along with

464-589: A single crown." Gower's second major work, the Vox Clamantis , was written in Latin. The first book has an allegorical account of the Peasants' Revolt which begins as an allegory, becomes quite specific and ends with an allusion to William Walworth ’s suppression of the rebels. Gower takes the side of the aristocracy but the actions of Richard II are described by "the captain in vain endeavoured to direct

522-537: A speech in praise of Chaucer in the mouth of Venus at the end of the Confessio Amantis (first recension VIII.2950-70). The Introduction to the Man of Law 's Tale (lines 77–89) contains an apparent reference to Gower's tales of Canacee and Tyro Appolonius. Tyrwhitt (1822) believed that this offended Gower and led to the removal of Venus’ praise of Chaucer. Twentieth-century sources have more innocent reasons for

580-478: A tenant of the Lord Spenser in the county of Oxfordshire ". Other manuscripts name the author as Robert or William Langland, or Wilhelms W. (most likely shorthand for William of Wychwood). The poem itself also seems to point to Langland's authorship. At one point, the narrator remarks: "I have lived in londe [...] my name is longe wille" (B XV.152). This can be taken as a coded reference to the poet's name, in

638-525: A tendency to describe rather immoral behaviour. One scholar asserts that Confessio Amantis "almost exclusively" made Gower's "poetic reputation." Fisher views the three major works as "one continuous work" with In Praise of Peace as a capstone. There is "movement from the courtly tone of the Cinkante Balades to the moral and philosophical tone of the Traitie ." Leland (ca 1540) states "that

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696-414: Is allegorical, and some are clearly not intended to be viewed this way. According to Henry Littlefield's 1964 article, L. Frank Baum 's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , may be readily understood as a plot-driven fantasy narrative in an extended fable with talking animals and broadly sketched characters, intended to discuss the politics of the time. Yet, George MacDonald emphasized in 1893 that "A fairy tale

754-478: Is based a demonstration with the vocabulary of logic: " Therefore of this one and only Church there is one body and one head—not two heads as if it were a monster... If, then, the Greeks or others say that they were not committed to the care of Peter and his successors, they necessarily confess that they are not of the sheep of Christ." This text also demonstrates the frequent use of allegory in religious texts during

812-459: Is believed about Langland has been reconstructed from Piers Plowman . The C text of the poem contains a passage in which the narrator describes himself as a "loller" or "idler" living in the Cornhill area of London , and refers to his wife and child, who are respectively named Katherine and Nicolette. It also suggests that he was well above average height and made a living reciting prayers for

870-467: Is closed vnder clom" ("once this work was made, before Will was aware/ Death struck him a blow and knocked him to the ground/ And now he is buried under the soil"). According to Edith Rickert, John But himself seems to have died in 1387, indicating that Langland died shortly before this date. Nonetheless some scholars believe Langland was the author of a 1399 work, Richard the Redeless . Most of what

928-563: Is not an allegory." J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Lord of the Rings is another example of a well-known work mistakenly perceived as allegorical, as the author himself once stated, "...I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history – true or feigned – with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but one resides in

986-538: Is not, however, entirely beyond dispute, as 21st. century work by Stella Pates and C. David Benson has demonstrated. Allegory Writers and speakers typically use allegories to convey (semi-) hidden or complex meanings through symbolic figures, actions, imagery, or events, which together create the moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wishes to convey. Many allegories use personification of abstract concepts. First attested in English in 1382,

1044-533: Is probably best regarded, John Bowers writes, as a member of "that sizable group of unbeneficed clerks who formed the radical fringe of contemporary society ... the poorly shod Will is portrayed 'y-robed in russet' traveling about the countryside, a crazed dissident showing no respect to his superiors". Malcolm Godden has proposed that he lived as an itinerant hermit , attaching himself to a patron temporarily and exchanging writing services for shelter and food. Robert Crowley 's 1550 edition of Piers Plowman promoted

1102-662: Is the presumed author of a work of Middle English alliterative verse generally known as Piers Plowman , an allegory with a complex variety of religious themes. The poem translated the language and concepts of the cloister into symbols and images that could be understood by a layman. Little is known of Langland himself. It seems that he was born in the West Midlands of England around 1330, according to internal evidence in Piers Plowman . The narrator in Piers Plowman receives his first vision while sleeping in

1160-400: Is thought to have been a novitiate of Woodhouse Friary located nearby. There are strong indications that Langland died in 1385 or 1386. A note written by "Iohan but" (John But) in a fourteenth-century manuscript of the poem (Rawlinson 137) makes direct reference to the death of its author: " whan this werke was wrouyt, ere Wille myte aspie/ Deth delt him a dent and drof him to the erthe/ And

1218-517: The Malvern Hills (between Herefordshire and Worcestershire ), which suggests some connection to the area. The dialect of the poem is also consistent with this part of the country. Piers Plowman was written c. 1377, as the character's imagination says he has followed him for "five and forty winters." A fifteenth-century note in the Dublin manuscript of Piers Plowman says that Langland

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1276-518: The "first allegorist," Porph. Quaest. Hom. 1.240.14–241.12 Schrad.) or Pherecydes of Syros, both of whom are presumed to be active in the 6th century B.C.E., though Pherecydes is earlier and as he is often presumed to be the first writer of prose. The debate is complex, since it demands we observe the distinction between two often conflated uses of the Greek verb "allēgoreīn," which can mean both "to speak allegorically" and "to interpret allegorically." In

1334-547: The Bible was a common early Christian practice and continues. For example, the recently re-discovered Fourth Commentary on the Gospels by Fortunatianus of Aquileia has a comment by its English translator: "The principal characteristic of Fortunatianus' exegesis is a figurative approach, relying on a set of concepts associated with key terms in order to create an allegorical decoding of the text." Allegory has an ability to freeze

1392-468: The Bible, Ovid , Secretum Secretorum , Petrus Riga , Speculum Speculationum , Valerius Maximus , John of Salisbury , and others. He once met Richard II . In the prologue of the first recension of the Confessio Amantis , he tells how the king, chancing to meet him on the Thames (probably circa 1385), invited him aboard the royal barge, and that their conversation then resulted in a commission for

1450-445: The French title Mirour de l'Omme , a poem of just under 30,000 lines, containing a dense exposition of religion and morality. According to Yeager "Gower's first intent to write a poem for the instructional betterment of king and court, at a moment when he had reason to believe advice about social reform might influence changes predictably to take place in an expanded jurisdiction, when the French and English peoples were consolidated under

1508-573: The Mediaeval Period, following the tradition and example of the Bible. In the late 15th century, the enigmatic Hypnerotomachia , with its elaborate woodcut illustrations, shows the influence of themed pageants and masques on contemporary allegorical representation, as humanist dialectic conveyed them. The denial of medieval allegory as found in the 12th-century works of Hugh of St Victor and Edward Topsell 's Historie of Foure-footed Beastes (London, 1607, 1653) and its replacement in

1566-714: The Neoplatonic philosophy developed a type of allegorical reading of Homer and Plato. Other early allegories are found in the Hebrew Bible , such as the extended metaphor in Psalm 80 of the vine and its impressive spread and growth, representing Israel's conquest and peopling of the Promised Land. Also allegorical is Ezekiel 16 and 17, wherein the capture of that same vine by the mighty Eagle represents Israel's exile to Babylon. Allegorical interpretation of

1624-499: The Priory church (now Southwark Cathedral ), where it remains today. Macaulay provides much information and speculation about Gower. Some of his conclusions are inferences drawn from the trilingual writings of Gower. Where possible he draws upon legal records and other biographers. Gower's verse is by turns religious, political, historical, and moral—though he has been narrowly defined as "moral Gower" ever since Chaucer graced him with

1682-483: The author has selected the allegory first, and the details merely flesh it out. The origins of allegory can be traced at least back to Homer in his "quasi-allegorical" use of personifications of, e.g., Terror (Deimos) and Fear (Phobos) at Il. 115 f. The title of "first allegorist", however, is usually awarded to whoever was the earliest to put forth allegorical interpretations of Homer. This approach leads to two possible answers: Theagenes of Rhegium (whom Porphyry calls

1740-750: The case of "interpreting allegorically," Theagenes appears to be our earliest example. Presumably in response to proto-philosophical moral critiques of Homer (e.g., Xenophanes fr. 11 Diels-Kranz ), Theagenes proposed symbolic interpretations whereby the Gods of the Iliad actually stood for physical elements. So, Hephestus represents Fire, for instance (for which see fr. A2 in Diels-Kranz ). Some scholars, however, argue that Pherecydes cosmogonic writings anticipated Theagenes allegorical work, illustrated especially by his early placement of Time (Chronos) in his genealogy of

1798-420: The cave of human understanding, seeks to share it as is his duty, and the foolishness of those who would ignore him because they think themselves educated enough. In Late Antiquity Martianus Capella organized all the information a fifth-century upper-class male needed to know into an allegory of the wedding of Mercury and Philologia , with the seven liberal arts the young man needed to know as guests. Also,

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1856-560: The dead in chantries at St Paul's Cathedral . However, the distinction between allegory and reality in Piers Plowman is blurred, and the entire passage, as Wendy Scase observes, is reminiscent of the false confession tradition in medieval literature (also seen in the Confessio Goliae and in Jean de Meun 's Roman de la Rose ). A similar passage in the final Passus of the B and C texts provides further ambiguous details on

1914-414: The deletion. At some point during the middle 1370s, he took up residence in rooms provided by the Priory of St Mary Overie (now Southwark Cathedral ). In 1398, while living here, he married, probably for the second time: his wife was Agnes Groundolf, who survived him. In his last years, and possibly as early as 1400, he became blind. After his death in 1408, Gower was interred in an ostentatious tomb in

1972-617: The epithet. His primary mode is allegory , although he shies away from sustained abstractions in favour of the plain style of the raconteur. His earliest works were probably ballades in Anglo-Norman French , some of which may have later been included in his work the Cinkante Ballades . The first work which has survived is in the same language, however: it is the Speculum Meditantis , also known by

2030-499: The freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author." Tolkien specifically resented the suggestion that the book's One Ring , which gives overwhelming power to those possessing it, was intended as an allegory of nuclear weapons . He noted that, had that been his intention, the book would not have ended with the Ring being destroyed but rather with an arms race in which various powers would try to obtain such

2088-504: The gods, which is thought to be a reinterpretation of the titan Kronos, from more traditional genealogies. In classical literature two of the best-known allegories are the Cave in Plato's The Republic (Book VII) and the story of the stomach and its members in the speech of Menenius Agrippa ( Livy ii. 32). Among the best-known examples of allegory, Plato 's Allegory of the Cave , forms

2146-417: The iambic tetrameter , and to later centuries of poets to solve the problems of its potential monotony; he himself merely polished the traditional Middle English short line." Fisher concludes that they were living near each other in the period 1376 to 1386. They influenced each other in several ways: Sebastian Sobecki's discovery of the early provenance of the trilingual Trentham manuscript reveals Gower as

2204-634: The idea that Langland was a follower of John Wycliffe . However, this conclusion is challenged by early Lollard appropriation of the Plowman figure (see, for instance, Pierce the Ploughman's Crede and The Plowman's Tale ). It is true that Langland and Wycliffe shared many concerns: Both questioned the value of indulgences and pilgrimages, promoted the use of the vernacular in preaching, attacked clerical corruption, and even advocated disendowment. However, these topics were widely discussed throughout

2262-593: The late 14th century and were not specifically associated with Wycliffe until after the presumed time of Langland's death. Also, as Pamela Gradon observes, at no point does Langland echo Wycliffe's characteristic teachings on the sacraments . The attribution of Piers Plowman to Langland rests principally on the evidence of a manuscript held at Trinity College, Dublin (MS 212). This manuscript ascribes Piers Plowman to Willielmi de Langland, son of Stacy de Rokayle, "who died in Shipton-under-Wychwood ,

2320-505: The origins of sin and the nature of the vices and virtues at the beginning of the Mirour de l'omme , through consideration of social law and order in the discussion of the three estates in the Mirour and Vox Clamatis , to a final synthesis of royal responsibiity of Empedoclean love in the Confessio Amantis . In later years Gower published a number of minor works in all three languages: Critics have speculated on which late work triggered

2378-555: The perception that Gower was a servile follower of the Lancastrian regime. Thus the American poet and critic James Russell Lowell claimed Gower "positively raised tediousness to the precision of science". After publication of Macaulay's edition (1901) of the complete works, he has received more recognition, notably by C. S. Lewis (1936), Wickert (1953), Fisher (1964), Yeager (1990) and Peck (2006). However, he has not obtained

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2436-469: The poem, when Will's personal development is reaching its logical conclusion. The detailed and highly sophisticated religious knowledge displayed in the poem indicates that Langland had some connection to the clergy , but the nature of this relationship is uncertain. The poem shows no obvious bias towards any particular group or order of churchmen, but is even-handed in its anticlericalism . This makes it difficult to align Langland with any specific order. He

2494-467: The poet's wife and his torments by Elde (Old Age), including baldness, gout , and impotence. This may indicate that the poet had reached middle age by the 1370s, but the accuracy of the passage is called into question by the conventional nature of the description (see, for instance, Walter Kennedy 's "In Praise of Aige" and The Parliament of the Three Ages ) and the fact that it occurs near the end of

2552-428: The prisoners get to viewing reality, until one of them finds his way into the outside world where he sees the actual objects that produced the shadows. He tries to tell the people in the cave of his discovery, but they do not believe him and vehemently resist his efforts to free them so they can see for themselves (516e–518a). This allegory is, on a basic level, about a philosopher who upon finding greater knowledge outside

2610-491: The revolt. One is Mirour which uses the metaphor of the stinging nettle to predict the impending catastrophe. The second is the final couplet of Vox Clamantis Book Five Chapter 10. This predicts trouble in a short time. Gower's warnings and call for reform were ignored both before and after the events of 1381. Chaucer used octosyllabic lines in The House of Fame but eschewed iambic rhythm. He "left it to Gower to invent

2668-476: The royal wine allowance mentioned in the Life section. Candidates are Cronica tripertita , In Praise of Peace , O Recolende or an illustrated presentation copy of Confessio with dedication to Henry IV. According to Meyer-Lee "no known evidence relates the collar or grant [of wine] to his literary activity." When Wickert was attempting to date Vox Clamantis Books Two to Seven, she found two passages which predict

2726-434: The same following or critical acceptance as Geoffrey Chaucer. Rigby, Stephen H, ed. (2019). Historians on John Gower . Woodbridge: D.S. Brewer. ISBN   9781843845379 . Archived from the original on 12 December 2019 . Retrieved 19 December 2019 . William Langland William Langland ( / ˈ l æ ŋ l ə n d / ; Latin : Willielmus de Langland ; c.  1330  – c.  1386 )

2784-428: The ship’s course".Subsequent books decry the sins of various classes of the social order: priests, friars, knights, peasants, merchants, lawyers. The last two books give advice to King Richard II and express the poet's love for England. As Gower admits, much of Vox Clamantis was borrowed from other authors. Macaulay refers to this as "schoolboy plagiarism" Peter classifies Mirour and Vox as "complaint literature" in

2842-507: The study of nature with methods of categorisation and mathematics by such figures as naturalist John Ray and the astronomer Galileo is thought to mark the beginnings of early modern science. Since meaningful stories are nearly always applicable to larger issues, allegories may be read into many stories which the author may not have recognized. This is allegoresis, or the act of reading a story as an allegory. Examples of allegory in popular culture that may or may not have been intended include

2900-463: The style of much late-medieval literature (see, for instance, Villon 's acrostics in Le Testament ). However, it has also been suggested that medieval scribes and readers may have understood this line as referring to a "William Longwille", the pseudonym used by a Norfolk rebel in 1381. Although there is little other evidence, Langland's authorship has been widely accepted since the 1920s. It

2958-510: The temporality of a story, while infusing it with a spiritual context. Mediaeval thinking accepted allegory as having a reality underlying any rhetorical or fictional uses. The allegory was as true as the facts of surface appearances. Thus, the Papal Bull Unam Sanctam (1302) presents themes of the unity of Christendom with the pope as its head in which the allegorical details of the metaphors are adduced as facts on which

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3016-520: The three works were intended to present a systematic discourse upon the nature of man and society": They provide as organized and unified a view as we have of the social ideals on England upon the eve of the Renaissance. This view may be subsumed under the three broad headings: individual VIRTUE, legal JUSTICE, and the administrative responsibility of the KING. The works progress from the description of

3074-489: The vein of Langland. His third work is the Confessio Amantis , a 30,000-line poem in octosyllabic English couplets, which makes use of the structure of a Christian confession (presented allegorically as a confession of sins against Love) as a narrative frame within which a multitude of individual tales are told. Like his previous works, the theme is very much morality, even where the stories themselves have

3132-463: The word allegory comes from Latin allegoria , the latinisation of the Greek ἀλληγορία ( allegoría ), "veiled language, figurative", literally "speaking about something else", which in turn comes from ἄλλος ( allos ), "another, different" and ἀγορεύω ( agoreuo ), "to harangue, to speak in the assembly", which originates from ἀγορά ( agora ), "assembly". Northrop Frye discussed what he termed

3190-420: The work that would become the Confessio Amantis . Later in life his allegiance switched to the future Henry IV , to whom later editions of the Confessio Amantis were dedicated. Much of this is based on circumstantial rather than documentary evidence, and the history of revisions of the Confessio Amantis , including the different dedications, is yet to be fully understood. The source of Gower's income remains

3248-516: The works of Bertolt Brecht , and even some works of science fiction and fantasy, such as The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis . The story of the apple falling onto Isaac Newton 's head is another famous allegory. It simplified the idea of gravity by depicting a simple way it was supposedly discovered. It also made the scientific revelation well known by condensing the theory into a short tale. While allegoresis may make discovery of allegory in any work, not every resonant work of modern fiction

3306-644: Was probably born into a family which held properties in Kent and Suffolk . Stanley and Smith use a linguistic argument to conclude that "Gower’s formative years were spent partly in Kent and partly in Suffolk". Southern and Nicolas conclude that the Gower family of Kent and Suffolk cannot be related to the Yorkshire Gowers because their coats of arms are drastically different. Macaulay and other critics have observed that he must have spent considerable time reading

3364-493: Was the son of Stacy de Rokayle . Langland is believed to have been born in Cleobury Mortimer , Shropshire , although Ledbury , Herefordshire, and Great Malvern , Worcestershire also have strong claims to being his birthplace. There is a plaque to that effect in the porch of Cleobury Mortimer's parish church , which also contains a memorial window, placed in 1875, depicting the Piers Plowman vision. Langland

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