Description
Book SynopsisGower's achievement in writing substantially in all three primary languages of his time-Anglo-French, English, and Latin-was a source of pride to others and, undoubtedly, to him too: into the final years of his life he continued to produce poetry in all three languages. Certainly there is reason to know these poems for the light they shed on the intense partisanship and events of great moment surrounding the usurpation 1399-1400. It was during these parlous times that Gower composed most of the poems included here. All are important documents historically; but they are also poems admirable equally for their skill and craft. In Praise of Peace is in the same position as the shorter Latin works edited and translated in this volume: ignored, neglected, reduced, or relegated to the dusty realm of footnotes. But there is far more at work in this complex poem, as Gower's verse deftly weaves in and out of the historical, political, social, and religious contexts and controversies of its day. In tone, In Praise of Peace is, if not triumphant, determinedly optimistic. In this light, we might view the poem as a coda to Gower's long career, restating and reinvigorating his famously moral principles about just rule of self and society.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Minor Latin Works Introduction 1. De lucis scrutinio An Examination of the Light 2. Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia A Poem on the Manifold Plague of Vices 3. Est amor Love Is 4. O deus immense O Boundless God 5. Quia unusquisque Because Each One 6. Ecce patet tensus Lo, the Taut Bow 7. Rex celi deus King of Heaven 8. O recolende O Venerable 9. H. aquile pullus H. Son of the Eagle 10. Quicquid homo scribat (In fine) To Whatever a Man Writes 11. Presul ouile regis Prelate 12. Unanimes esse qui secula To Be of One Mind He Who the Ages 13. Cultor in ecclesia The Husbandman in the Church 14. Dicunt scripture They Say in Scripture 15. Orate pro anima (Armigeri scutum) Pray for the Soul Textual and Explanatory Notes Appendix: Eneidos bucolis
In Praise of Peace Introduction In Praise of Peace Explanatory Notes Textual Notes Select Bibliography
