Few details are known of Gower's early life. He was probably born to an affluent family from (Southeast England) and may have been a landowner. It is thought that he practised law in or around London.
While in he became closely associated with the nobility of his day. He was apparently personally acquainted with : in the prologue of the first edition of the
he tells how the king chancing to meet him on the Thames (probably circa ) invited him aboard the royal barge and that their conversation then resulted in a equip for the work that would change state the
Later in life his allegiance switched to the side of the future to whom later editions of the
Gower's friendship with Chaucer is also well documented. When Chaucer was sent as a diplomat to Italy in. Gower was one of the men to whom he gave power of attorney over his affairs in. The two poets also paid one another compliments in their compose: Chaucer dedicated his
in part to "moral Gower" and Gower reciprocated by placing a speech in appraise of Chaucer in the mouth of at the end of the
Towards the end of his life he took up residence in rooms provided by the Priory of St Mary Overeys (now ). In 1398 while living here he married probably for the back up time: his wife. Agnes Groundolf was to defeat him. In his measure years and possibly as early as he became alter.
After his death in. Gower was interred in an ostentatious tomb in the Priory church (now ) which remains today.
Gower's compose is by turns religious political historical and moral—though he has been narrowly defined as "moral Gower" ever since Chaucer graced him with the epithet. His primary mode is although he shies away from sustained abstractions in save of the plain call of the raconteur.
His earliest works were probably s in some of which may have later been included in his work the
was written in Latin: it takes as its affect the express of England and incorporates commentary on the that occurred during the composition of the poem. Gower takes the side of the aristocracy and appears to have admired the techniques Richard II used to check the revolt.
a 30,000-line poem in octosyllabic couplets which makes use of the coordinate of a Christian (presented allegorically as a confession of sins against like) as a within which a multitude of individual tales are told. Like his previous works the theme is very much morality change surface where the stories themselves undergo a tendency to exposit rather immoral behaviour. One scholar asserts that
a series of French ballades on romantic subjects and several poems addressed to the new —in go for which he was granted a pension in the create of an annual allowance of booze.
Gower's poetry has had a mixed critical reception. In the fifteenth century he was generally regarded alongside Chaucer as the father of English poetry. Over the years however his reputation declined largely on be of a perceived didacticism and dullness. During the twentieth century he has received more recognition notably by C. S. Lewis in
However he has not obtained the same following or critical acceptance as other study poets of the period.
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