inhabitants of the house are rich or poor, but neither
the wife nor the husband says a word. The gentlemen
eat the puddings, then one of them tells the other to
take his knife and “tak off the auld man’s beard, / And
I’ll kiss the goodwife” (ll. 31–32). Since there is no hot
water to shave the husband, they threaten to use the
pudding broth, which causes the husband to shout his
outrage. Because he has spoken fi rst, the wife skips
across the fl oor, saying, “Goodman, you’ve spoke the
foremost word, / Get up and bar the door” (ll. 43–44).
Of course, it is too late.
The ballad follows standard form and is divided into
11 four-line BALLAD STANZAs, rhyming abcb. Some schol-
ars have related it to the FABLIAU, though it lacks certain
elements. Others have examined it as a commoner’s
version of FLYTYNG.
FURTHER READING
Bronson, Bertrand Harris. The Traditional Tunes of the Child
Ballads, with Their Texts, According to the Extant Records
of Great Britain and America. Vol. 4. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1992.
Gary Kerley
GNOMIC VERSE See ANGLO-SAXON RIDDLES.
GOWER, JOHN (ca. 1330–1408) John Gower
was born into a prosperous Kentish family. It is almost
certain that he lived in Kent throughout the fi rst half of
his life and later held properties in Suffolk and Kent.
Though details of his education and personal life are
scarce, there is speculation that he trained in law and
was married, possibly for the second time, to Agnes
Groundolf in 1398. Gower was a court poet during the
reigns of Richard II and Henry IV, devoting his time to
writing while living at the priory of St Mary Overie’s in
Southwark from 1377 until his death.
Although a considerably learned man whose moral
and philosophical works are admirable in their own
right, it is almost impossible to refer to Gower or his
work without mentioning GEOFFREY CHAUCER, with
whom he was close friends. In Chaucer’s dedication
of TROILUS AND CRISEYDE to his good friend, he coined
the nickname “moral Gower.” There is speculation,
however, that the two authors eventually became
estranged because a tribute to Chaucer in the fi rst
version of Gower’s COURTLY LOVE poem CONFESSIO
AMANTIS (The Lover’s Confession) is removed in a later
version. While Gower was greatly admired by his
peers, his status as a poet declined from his late-medi-
eval position alongside Chaucer and JOHN LYDGATE.
Over time, he was reduced to “dull Gower,” an unfl at-
tering epithet bestowed as a result of superfi cial criti-
cal attention in the 19th century. However, renewed
interest in Gower in the late 20th century and early
21st century has prompted critics to recognize the
value of his poems and rekindle admiration for them
on their own merits.
Gower’s principal works are three long poems writ-
ten in three different languages. His fi rst large-scale
work, the Mirour de l’Omme (The Mirror of Man) an
ALLEGORY written in French (1376–78), is concerned
with humanity following the Fall of Adam and Eve,
virtues, and vices. Gower later Latinized the poem’s
title to Speculum Hominis and made a fi nal name change
to Speculum Meditantis. His second major work, an
essay in Latin elegiac verse, Vox Clamantis (The Voice of
One Crying), written ca. 1379–81, is an apocalyptic
poem of seven books that deals with politics and king-
ship while containing refl ections of the disturbances of
the early years of Richard II and the PEASANTS’ REVOLT
in 1381.
Gower’s most acclaimed work, Confessio Amantis,
existed in three manuscript versions by the 1390s.
Written at the command of Richard II, Confessio is a
collection of tales illustrating the vices that may accom-
pany love, expressed by a lover to a priest of Venus.
The poem is a superb contribution to courtly love lit-
erature in English.
In addition to the three major poems, Gower wrote
several minor poems in English, French, and Latin
throughout his lifetime. Blind by the time of his death
in 1408, he left a considerable estate. John Gower was
buried in St. Mary Overie’s, now the cathedral of St.
Savior’s, in Southwark.
FURTHER READING
Echard, Siân, ed. A Companion to Gower. Cambridge: D.S.
Brewer, 2004.
Mary R. Rambaran-Olm210 GNOMIC VERSE