John Gower's Poetic: The Search for a New Arion

Description: Examines Gower's efforts to establish his reputation as a poet. Frequently using Chaucer for comparison or contrast, Yeager explores Gower's stylistics, his concerns with audience, his relations with French tradition and particular sources, his so-called digressiveness, and his status as a social and moral writer. Yeager develops the views of previous Gower critics and considers the complete corpus of the poet, concentrating on Confessio Amantis.; Unlike Chaucer, who casts himself as a "maker," Gower sees himself as"auctor" or "poete"--self-consciously, a "new Arion."