The complete works of John Gower, volume 1 : $b The French worksGower, John
General
The complete works of John Gower, volume 1 : $b The French works
Gower, John
Poetry
The strong presumption (to say no more) which is raised by the
agreement of all these circumstances is converted into a certainty when
we come to examine the book more closely and to compare it with the
other works of Gower. Naturally we are disposed to turn first to his
acknowledged French writings, the _Cinkante Balades_ and the _Traitié_,
and to institute a comparison in regard to the language and the forms
of words. The agreement here is practically complete, and the Glossary
of this edition is arranged especially with a view to exhibit this
agreement in the clearest manner. There are differences, no doubt,
such as there will always be between different MSS., however correct,
but they are very few. Moreover, in the structure of sentences and
in many particular phrases there are close correspondences, some of
which are pointed out in the Notes. But, while the language test gives
quite satisfactory results, so far as it goes, we cannot expect to
find a close resemblance in other respects between two literary works
so different in form and in motive as the _Mirour_ and the _Balades_.
It is only when we institute a comparison between the _Mirour_ and the
two other principal works, in Latin and English respectively, which our
author used as vehicles for his serious thoughts, that we realize how
impossible it is that the three should not all belong to one author.
Gower, in fact, was a man of stereotyped convictions, whose thoughts
on human society and on the divine government of the world tended
constantly to repeat themselves in but slightly varying forms. What
he had said in one language he was apt to repeat in another, as may
be seen, even if we leave the _Mirour_ out of sight, by comparison of
the _Confessio Amantis_ with the _Vox Clamantis_. The _Mirour_ runs
parallel with the English work in its description of vices, and with
the Latin in its treatment of the various orders of society, and apart
from the many resemblances in detail, it is worth while here to call
attention to the manner in which the general arrangement of the French
work corresponds with that which we find in the other two books.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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