Russell a Peck – författare

Though never quite matching the popularity and scholarly acclaim of his friend and contemporary Geoffrey Chaucer, the English poet John Gower produced an impressive body of poetry in Anglo-Norman French, Latin, and Middle English and has earned his reputation as one of the great English poets of the fourteenth century. His Confessio Amantis, or “The Lover’s Confession,” ranks among the Middle English texts most frequently copied before the advent of the printing press. The poem both follows and builds upon the model of fourteenth-century Christian confessions by shaping the lover’s account into a frame narrative for a collection of shorter poetic tales, pairing courtly-love reinterpretations of the seven deadly sins with moralizing narratives drawn from biblical, classical, and medieval sources. Volume 3 of this three-volume edition presents Books 5, 6 and 7, including translations of Latin components, alongside a comprehensive bibliography, glosses, and explanatory notes.

Though never quite matching the popularity and scholarly acclaim of his friend and contemporary Geoffrey Chaucer, the English poet John Gower produced an impressive body of poetry in Anglo-Norman French, Latin, and Middle English and has earned his reputation as one of the great English poets of the fourteenth century. His Confessio Amantis, or “The Lover’s Confession,” ranks among the Middle English texts most frequently copied before the advent of the printing press. The poem both follows and builds upon the model of fourteenth-century Christian confessions by shaping the lover’s account into a frame narrative for a collection of shorter poetic tales, pairing courtly-love reinterpretations of the seven deadly sins with moralizing narratives drawn from biblical, classical, and medieval sources. Volume 2 of this three-volume edition presents Books 2, 3 and 4 of Gower’s poem, including translations of Latin components, alongside a comprehensive bibliography, glosses, and explanatory notes.

Written in the fifteenth century by anonymous authors, these four Middle English poems demonstrate admiration towards Old Testament Jewish heroines, during a time of antisemitic sentiment in England. The Storie of Asneth presents her life, from her marriage to Joseph to her conversion and visitation by an angel. The alliterative Pistel of Swete Susan follows the virtuous wife Susannah, as she is falsely accused of adultery by two lecherous elders. The last two tales, excerpted from the fourteenth-century Middle English Metrical Paraphrase of the Old Testament, give contrasting accounts of Hebrew female virtue. The Story of Jephthah and his Daughter narrates Jephthah’s foolish vow that forces him to sacrifice his daughter to God. The Story of Judith details her infiltration, seduction, and slaughter of enemy general Holofernes to save her city. Altogether, these tales celebrate Christian values of piety, chastity, faithfulness, and duty to one’s community. Russell Peck argues that they targeted an audience of aristocratic women.