John Gower

John Gower

John Gower shooting the world, a sphere of earth, air, and water (from a manuscript of his works ca. 1400). The text reads:
Ad mundum mitto mea iacula dumque sagitto
At ubi iustus erit nulla sagitta ferit
Sed male viventes hos vulnero transgredientes
Conscius ergo sibi se speculetur ibi

John Gower (c. 1330 – 1408) was an English poet who wrote in English, French and Latin. His most famous work is the Confessio Amantis.

Quotes

• For whan men wene best to have achieved,
  Ful ofte it is al newe to beginne:
  The werre hath no thing siker, thogh he winne.
  • "In Praise of Peace", line 117.

Confessio Amantis

Quotations are taken from the third recension of the poem, unless otherwise stated.

• Bot for men sein, and soth it is,
  That who that al of wisdom writ
  It dulleth ofte a mannes wit
  To him that schal it aldai rede,
  For thilke cause, if that ye rede,
  I wolde go the middel weie
  And wryte a bok betwen the tweie,
  Somwhat of lust, somewhat of lore.
  • Prologue, line 12.

• But in proverbe I have herde say,
  That who that wel his werk beginneth,
  The rather a good end he winneth.
  • Prologue (First recension), line 86.

• For loves lawe is out of reule.
  • Bk. 1, line 18.

• It hath and schal ben everemor
  That love is maister wher he wile.
  • Bk. 1, line 34.

• He hath the sor which no man heleth,
  The which is cleped lack of herte.
  • Bk. 4, line 334.

• O fol of alle foles,
  Thou farst as he betwen tuo stoles
  That wolde sitte and goth to grounde.
  • Bk. 4, line 625.

• The beauté faye upon her face
  Non erthly thing it may desface.
  • Bk. 4, line 1321.

• Nevere yit
  Was non, which half so loste his wit
  Of drinke, as thei of such thing do
  Which cleped is the jolif wo.
  • Bk. 6, line 31.

• What is a lond wher men ben none?
  What ben the men whiche are alone
  Withoute a kinges governance?
  What is a king in his ligance,
  Wher that ther is no lawe in londe?
  What is to take lawe on honde,
  Bot if the jugges weren trewe?
  • Bk. 7, line 2695.

• So goth the world, now wo, now wel
  • Bk. 8, line 1738.

Criticism

• O moral Gower!
  • Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde, Bk. 5, line 1856.

• In the content of his work it is interesting to notice that he is profoundly English. His romanticism, and his choice of the theme of Time and Age – both these look back to the Anglo-Saxons and forward to the nineteenth century. Yet his form is French. The heart is insular and romantic, the head cool and continental: it is a good combination.
  • C. S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love (1975 [1936]), p. 222.