'Pax Poetica': On the Pacifism of Chaucer and Gower

Description: The pacifism of Gower's later writings develops from an early grounding in the legalist theories of Isidore and Gratian to an Augustinian emphasis on motivation. Chaucer's position is less clear, but also eirenic, as inferred from biographical data, from concerns about the morality of war expressed in contemporary literature, and from his adopting Mel and Th narratives in CT.