"The Lover's Confession": A Translation of John Gower's "Confessio Amantis"

Authors

Brian Gastle, Western Carolina UniversityFollow
Catherine Carter, Western Carolina UniversityFollow
Andrew Galloway, Cornell University

Files

Document Type

Edition and/or Translation

Description

John Gower’s Confessio Amantis (The Lover’s Confession) is one of the most important English works of the fourteenth century, influencing authors from Chaucer to Shakespeare. Within its frame of the lovesick lover’s confession are well over a hundred stories, mainly derived from classical mythology, the Bible, and history which exemplify the Middle Ages serve as moral lessons (exempla) for personal and political behavior. Echoing the octosyllabic line of the original, this is the first complete modern English translation of the entire (33,000-line) poem, including its Latin verses and glosses.

Publication Date

2024

Publisher

Medieval Institute Publications

City

Kalamazoo

ISBN

9781580446808