John Gower (Gower John)

(ca. 1330-1408)
Wealthy nobleman of the county of Kent, lived in London. Friend Gower was Dzh.Choser, who entrusted him with their powers in the affairs of the absence in England and devoted Troila and Hrizeidu. Gower made generous donations to the monastery of Saint Mary Overy in Southwark, where he lived and where in 1397 and in 1398 married Agnis Graundolf. About life Gower has very little documentary evidence to suggest that in his declining years he became blind.
Mirror of the human (Mirour de l'omme), or the thinker's Mirror (Speculum meditantis, between 1376 and 1379) - the first of three major works of Gower, written in French. This poem, with more than 30 000 octosyllabic strings, twelve strings are paired with one stanza rhyme type aavaavvvavva. Such a technically challenging form of Gower was fluent in. The poem, which is deeply analyzed the manifestations of evil in contemporary society, was considered lost until its manuscript was accidentally discovered in 1895 at Cambridge University. Also survived fifty French ballads Gower.

Main essay Gower in the Latin language, preserved in ten manuscripts, - The voice of one crying (Vox clamantis), an allegory of the 10 265 elegiacs. The piece is written in 1382, although possible and later editorial. Like a mirror of the human, voice of one crying explores the varieties of evil in the modern religious and socio-political structure, the first of seven books devoted to the history of the peasant uprising in 1381.

In English written Confessions of a lover (Confessio amantis, 1 st edition - OK. 1390; Last revised - OK. 1393), preserved in forty-three manuscripts published in 1483 William Caxton in 1532, and T. Bertletom. The first edition of the poem is dedicated to Richard II and (in the Epilogue) Henry of Lancaster, the final version - one of Henry IV of Lancaster. Numbering above 34 000 poetry, Confessions of love consists of a prologue and eight books, written short couplet, in which the poet showed exceptional skill. The composition is a collection of stories and moralistic, strung on a fragile thread of allegorical fiction, in which Gower-lover confesses the sins of genius, the priest of Venus. Each confession Genius gives the opportunity to speak with preachy discourse. His aim Gower declared 'to find the middle' between instruction and entertainment, and many of the stories told in the Confessions of love stories - true masterpieces of narrative. Around 1400 went to Spanish and Portuguese translations of the poem - the first English work, which has been translated into foreign languages.