Approaches to Teaching the Poetry of John Gower
- Editors: R. F. Yeager, Brian W. Gastle
- Pages: viii & 236 pp.
- Published: 2011
- ISBN: 9781603291002 (Paperback)
“Whether one comes to this book without any familiarity with Gower’s poetry or as a specialist in medieval literature, these essays will successfully furnish their reader with valuable advice for teaching Gower, and advice that is applicable for the teaching of other medieval texts as well.”
—Sixteenth Century Journal
A poet who wrote fluently in Middle English, Anglo-French, and Latin, John Gower typifies the English Middle Ages. His economical and sober style, the topics he addressed—marriage, love, chivalry, social class, law, and religious faith—and the depth and breadth of his references to earlier literature, myth, and folktale made his work attractive not only to contemporaries such as Chaucer but also to later poets such as Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton. Gower is increasingly acknowledged as a poet whose texts offer unique opportunities to teachers wishing to introduce their students to the riches of medieval literature and culture.
The essays in part 1, “Materials,” review the available editions and translations of Gower’s works, compile useful electronic resources for teaching, and discuss the sources and analogues and critical work on his canon. In part 2, “Approaches,” contributors make recommendations for teaching the historical context of Gower’s writing, involving topics from estates theory and law to confession and medicine; for examining his language and rhetoric in the classroom, including reading his work aloud; and for studying his works in various theoretical and comparative ways, with a special focus on his relation to classical as well as other Middle English authors. A final section considers the various classroom contexts in which Gower is taught, from community college to graduate school.
Peter G. Beidler
Craig E. Bertolet
Andreea Boboc
María Bullón-Fernández
Susannah M. Chewning
Joyce Coleman
James M. Dean
Georgiana Donavin
Siân Echard
Erick Kelemen
Leonard Koff
Steven F. Kruger
Scott Lightsey
Carole Lynn McKinney
J. Allan Mitchell
Peter Nicholson
James M. Palmer
S. Elizabeth Passmore
Derek Pearsall
Russell A. Peck
Winthrop Wetherbee
Introduction: Gower in Context (1)
PART ONE: MATERIALS
Texts for Teaching (7)
The Instructor’s Library (17)
Electronic Resources (26)
PART TWO: APPROACHES
Historical Approaches and Context
Teaching Gower’s Reception: A Poet for All Ages (31)
Social Class in the Classroom: Gower’s Estates Poetry (36)
Teaching the Confessio Amantis as a Humanist Document of the First English Renaissance (42)
Bodily and Spiritual Healing through Conversation and Storytelling: Genius as Physician and Confessor in the Confessio Amantis (53)
Teaching Gower and the Law (59)
Language, Literature, and Rhetoric
Teaching Gower Aloud (67)
Hearing Gower’s Rhetoric (77)
Gower before Chaucer: Teaching Narrative and Ethics in “The Tale of Tereus” (83)
Gower’s Triple Tongue (1): Teaching across Gower’s Languages (91)
Gower’s Triple Tongue (2): Teaching the Balades (100)
Learning Gower by Editing Gower (104)
Theoretical Approaches
Teaching Gower’s Liminal Literature and Critical Theory (110)
Gender, Sexuality, and Family Ties in the Confessio Amantis (119)
Postcolonial/Queer: Teaching Gower Using Recent Critical Theory (127)
Comparative Approaches
Gower and The Canterbury Tales: The Enticement to Fraud (136)
The Hag Transformed: “The Tale of Florent,” Ethical Choice, and Female Desire in Late Medieval England (143)
Teaching “The Tale of Constance” in Context (159)
Gower Teaching Ovid and the Classics (172)
Specific Classroom Contexts
Gower in the Community College Curriculum (180)
Chaucer by Default? Difficult Choices and Teaching the Sophomore British Literature Survey (188)
Teaching Gower in the Medieval Survey Class: Historical and Cultural Contexts and the Court of Richard II (194)
Gower in Seminar: The Confessio Amantis as Publishing Opportunity for Graduate Students (202)
Notes on Contributors (209)
Survey Participants (213)
Works Cited (215)
Index (233)
“The essays are clearly written and, because of their range, contain something of interest to any instructor, whether one at a community college or at a major research institution, whether one interested in traditional literary criticism or its more recent manifestations.”
—Tim William Machan, Marquette University
“For anyone who wants to add Gower to their lineup at any level, or for those who already do but find themselves at a bit of a loss for how best to teach him, or for those who just want to try something new, this volume provides it. The background information necessary to introduce his work, as well as road maps for what to do with it, are definitely here.”
—Speculum
