John Gower with Eve Salisbury and Georgiana Donavin
Everyone’s heard of Geoffrey Chaucer, but he wasn’t the only poet writing powerful and political verse in fourteenth-century London. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Eve Salisbury and Georgiana Donavin about John Gower, his poetry, and why we should all get to know him.
Six Degrees of Chaucer: How Southwark Shaped The Canterbury Tales
Sebastian Sobecki has found a network of intriguing connections between Geoffrey Chaucer and some of the biggest influencers of the day, including John Gower, and Bishop William of Wykeham, chancellor of England.
Verba vana: empty words in Ricardian London
Verba vana: empty words in Ricardian London By Robert Ellis PhD Dissertation, Queen Mary, University of London, 2012 Abstract: Verba Vana, or ‘empty…
John Gower’s Handwriting identified
John Gower, considered to be one of the greatest poets of medieval England, left behind several remarkable works. A scholar has now been able to identify poems that were written by his own hand, including a poignant piece about how he was going blind.
Accessus: Where Premodern Meets Hypermodern
Taking a look at Accessus: A Journal of Premodern Literature and New Media, a free online publication sponsored by The Gower Project
The Lover’s Confession: Three Tales by John Gower
Sarah Higley, from the University of Rochester, created this film based on three stories from Confessio Amantis: The Travelers and the Angel, The Tale of Machaire and Canace, and The Tale of Florent.
10 Things to See at Southwark Cathedral
My 10 favourite things about Southwark Cathedral.
A Burnable Book – novel starring Chaucer and Gower gets strong reviews
A Burnable Book is the title of Bruce Holsinger’s new historical thriller, set in the 14th century, with Geoffrey Chaucer as one of the main characters
Valentine’s Day Medieval Love: Books for that special someone
Love is in the air! Here are a few medieval books on the topic of love for your Valentine.
Chaucer, Gower, and What Medieval Women Want
Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower, friends and colleagues, both chose to retell the same story at roughly the same time in their story collections, The Canterbury Tales and the Confessio Amantis.
Chaucer’s Arthuriana
The majority of medieval scholars, including Roger Sherman Loomis, argue that the popularity of the Arthurian legend in England was therefore on the wane in the latter half of the fourteenth century; as a result, the major writers of the period, such as John Gower and Geoffrey Chaucer, refrained from penning anything beyond the occasional reference to King Arthur and his court.
Madness and Gender in Late-Medieval English Literature
Madness has been long misrepresented in medieval studies. Assertions that conceptions of mental illness were unknown to medieval people, or that all madmen were assumed to be possessed by the devil, were at one time common in accounts of medieval society.
Queer Pedagogy (A Roundtable)
A roundtable discussion on teaching Queer Theory with Susannah Mary Chewning (Union County College) Lisa Weston (California State University–Fresno); and Michelle M. Sauer, (University of North Dakota)
(Un)Natural Love: Homosexuality in Late Medieval English Literature: Langland, Chaucer, Gower, and the Gawain Poet
We can examine in their works if there are any mentions of homosexuality, and, more importantly, whether these mentions bear a strong marking of late medieval English society. Do the four authors take different approaches to the subject? Do they take approaches at all, or do they omit any mention of homosexuality?
Producing the Middle English Corpus: Confession and Medieval Bodies
In Producing the Middle English Corpus: Confession and Medieval Bodies, I argue that confessional discourse played an important role in the creation of the Middle English canon.
The Peasant Diet: Image and Reality
There is no single image of the peasant as food consumer just as there is no single ‘reality’ of peasant standards of living in the Middle Ages. The peasants’ obsession with food in literature coincides with an equally popular upper-class assumption that what is actually eaten by the peasants is unpleasant to persons of breeding.
The Loathly Lady and the Riddle of Sovereignty
SESSION 3: Knowing Women – Gender and Identity The Loathly Lady and the Riddle of Sovereignty Taylor, Arwen (Indiana University) Abstract What do…