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Chaucer's influence on English poetry, even after his death, appears almost unparalleled in the history of English Literature . In fact,immediately after him, there was a trend to follow and imitate him and to produce literary works on his model.Of course,his successors and imitators were not quite successful in their imitation of their mighty master. In fact,the standard achieved by them is found below Chaucer's.

Lydgate

Of Chaucer's immediate followers and imitators,John Lydgate is considered the most remarkable literary figure. He is even given a rank very near to his great master.But actually his literary achievements are nothing exceptional.His literary works have never the recognition of Chaucer's. 

Lydgate is taken as the most prolific author of the fifteenth century, rather of the whole of the middle English period. His composition is found to include about 1,43,000 lines.Lydgate's longest poems are The Storie of Thebes and The Troy Book,both of which are taken from notable French romances. His other works include Fall of Princes or Tragedies of John Bochas, adopted from Boccaccio's De Casibus Illustrium Virorum. The Temple of Glass and The Assembly of Gods are written in an allegorical vein.Lydgate is also the author of another voluminous work -The Pilgrimage of the Life of Man-which is sort of translation from the French works of Guillaume De Guileville. This iis also a sort of allegory and may be taken as forerunner of Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.Of course, Lydgate has noting of Bunyan's moral conviction,character -painting and vigorous description. The best and most poetical among Lydgate's enormous works is,perhaps, The Life of Our Lady, containing several lives of the saints. This appears to bear the Cynewulfian tradition to versify the lives of saints.

Lydgate has some shorter verses, not at all of a high order,but well indicative of his poetical genius. Of them two of his bestiaries -The Churl and the Bird and The Horse, the Sheep and the Goose-may be mentioned as quite lively works. These two works are somewhat fables, written on the modelof Aesop.Chaucer's influence is noted here, though Lydgate never attained the chaucer-as-chronicler height.

Lydgate's literary woks are, no doubt, bulky, but least chaucerian in any aspect.His imitation has own days for a twofold reason. First,he carried on the tradition of story telling in verse,so much popular in the age. Second ,he provided the common readers with the numerous stories of varied interests in a simple and straightforward manner.

Hoccleve

Among the English Chaucerians,Thomas Hoccleve is not as prolific an author as Lydgate, But like him, he is found to imitate Chaucer's, without any noticeable success.

Hoccleve is particularly noted for his Regement of Princes, based on the Latin work De Regimina Principum. The poem,of course a long one, contains some 5500 verses dealing with the matters of varied interests -political, ethical,ecclesiastical, and so on. The poem reveals his gift of story -telling, imitated from Chaucer.There are,no doubt, some dissertations,with illustrations,that make the work didactic.


Some other Literary Names

Besides Hoccleve aand Lydgate,the best known English Chaucerians,therw are a number of other followers and imitators.They include Benedict Burgh,George Ashby,John Walton and Henry Bradshaw.Their verses,mainly didactic, illustrate amply the decadence that came over Chaucer's imitators.

In addition to those imitators,there are several poems,written by other poets but there is no definite indication of authorship here.Of such poems,bearing Chaucerian traits, may be mentioned The Second Merchants Tale.a verse narrative, La Belle Dame Sans Merci ,a French translation, The Cuckoo and The Nightingale ,an allegory ,The Court of Sapines ,The Assembly of Ladies and The Flower and the Leaf. The last named work,is also a finely conceived allegory ,the flower is the symbol of gay and transitory element and the leaf stands for the virtue of endurance .

Hawes
The last important name among the English chaucerians is Stephen Hawes .He wrote towards the end of the fifteenth century and in the opening of the sixteenth, at aa time when the courtly poetry of the Chaucerian tradition had become almost antiquated. In fact,in Stephen Hawes is found the last exponent of that great tradition. 

Hawes,who had his education at Oxford ,is the author of several works.His most important works is the The pastime(passetyme) of pleasure (written about 1505-06).The theme here is both allegorical and didactic .The next important works include The Example of Virtue ,probably  written much earlier(in 1503-04).This is also allegorical and didactic. The work presents a complete allegory of the life of man from his youth to age .The conversion of Swearess written a little before 1509.is a noble work. of course ,from the technical standpoint, by Hawes.The authors is also didactic here.

Hawes's other works include A Joyful Meditation to all England of the Coronation of Henry the Eighth( 1509) and The Comfort of Lovers (date unknown).Both these works bear out his technical sophistry as also didactic note.

Hawes's poetry, no doubt ,has medieval limitations ,such as long digressions ,debates and moralization .But the allegorical and symbolic aspects ofvhid poetry is noteworthy and it anticipates in some way Spenser. His versification is exclusively Chaucerian with rarely occasional variations. His couplets are quite popular. occasionally decasyllabic couplets.although they are not always as much balanced as Chaucer's. 
The Scottish Chaucerians
Chaucer's literary influence in his age was not confined to England only.It extended to scotland and proved instrumental to the emergence of the golden age of Scotish poetry in the 15th century .As a matter of fact,the Scottish poets,inspired by Chaucer.are found to limitate and follow their master with greatest success than their English counterparts .King James I,Henryson,Dunbar and Douglas appear much truer abler descendants of Chaucer, than Lydgate,Hoccleve and even Hawes.

The first of the Scottish poet to show the Chaucerian inspiration is a king, James I.Of course ,these are double about the authenticity of his literary acquirement .yet he is generally accepted as the authors of The Kings Quair or The King's Book.Its inspiration mainly lies in Chaucer Knightes Tale. Bearing the reminiscences of Chaucer's The Knightes Tale,The King's Quair is a delightful romance in verse.

A more original Scottish Chaucerian is Robert Henryson,a school master.His poetry is ,however ,found promoted by Chaucer's influence. His most noted work-The Testament of Cresseid -is a sequel to Chaucer's celebrated Troilus and Criseyde.Henryson is also found influenced by Aesop in his  longest and ,in some way,most popular work,Morall Fabillis of Esope .In this respect. his gift of story -telling is revealed particularly in his entertaining poem-The Town Mouse and The Field Mouse.

William Dunbar is generally given the highest position among the Scottish Chaucerians. Dunbar's works include The Golden Targe,The Thrissil and the Rois, The  Freiries of Berwick ,Tidings from the session. The Dance of sevin Deidlie synnis .Flyting of Dunbar and Kannedie. The Lament for the Makaris,  and so on. These are mainly allegorical although some of themhave some occasional episodes as the motif.

A prominent literary figure among the Scottish Chaucerians is Gavin (Gawin) Douglas, who was a chauchman -a bishop ,of the works, written by Douglas, The Palice of Honour, supposed to be his earliest work,is long (about 2166 lines),successful and popular .This is modelled after Chaucer's Hous of Fame,and shows him as an intimate follower of Chaucer.Douglas's next important work King Hart is also an allegorical work,although it is considered much better than his previous work,The Palice of Honour.

Among the Scottish Chaucerians,an early Scottish poet,Henry, better known as Blind Harry (blind from his birth)is to be mentioned. He has a chronicle romance Wallace to his credit. This is almost a parallel to Barbour's The Bruce.Henry's hero.however, is no historical personality like Robert Bruce.He is a semi - legendary and semi- historical figure and seems to possess something of English Robin Hood in his activities and objectives.

The Scottish Chaucerians are not found simply imitative.Their literary fidelity to Chaucer is sincere, but their literary production is no blind imitation,without any mark of originality.They are found to have grasped Chaucer well.catching often his sentiments with a remarkable well balanced, showing both devotion and inspiration and better appreciation of the great master.

Chaucer's successors and imitators

Green Land | November 27, 2016 | 0 comments
Chaucer's influence on English poetry, even after his death, appears almost unparalleled in the history of English Literature . In fact,immediately after him, there was a trend to follow and imitate him and to produce literary works on his model.Of course,his successors and imitators were not quite successful in their imitation of their mighty master. In fact,the standard achieved by them is found below Chaucer's.

Lydgate

Of Chaucer's immediate followers and imitators,John Lydgate is considered the most remarkable literary figure. He is even given a rank very near to his great master.But actually his literary achievements are nothing exceptional.His literary works have never the recognition of Chaucer's. 

Lydgate is taken as the most prolific author of the fifteenth century, rather of the whole of the middle English period. His composition is found to include about 1,43,000 lines.Lydgate's longest poems are The Storie of Thebes and The Troy Book,both of which are taken from notable French romances. His other works include Fall of Princes or Tragedies of John Bochas, adopted from Boccaccio's De Casibus Illustrium Virorum. The Temple of Glass and The Assembly of Gods are written in an allegorical vein.Lydgate is also the author of another voluminous work -The Pilgrimage of the Life of Man-which is sort of translation from the French works of Guillaume De Guileville. This iis also a sort of allegory and may be taken as forerunner of Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.Of course, Lydgate has noting of Bunyan's moral conviction,character -painting and vigorous description. The best and most poetical among Lydgate's enormous works is,perhaps, The Life of Our Lady, containing several lives of the saints. This appears to bear the Cynewulfian tradition to versify the lives of saints.

Lydgate has some shorter verses, not at all of a high order,but well indicative of his poetical genius. Of them two of his bestiaries -The Churl and the Bird and The Horse, the Sheep and the Goose-may be mentioned as quite lively works. These two works are somewhat fables, written on the modelof Aesop.Chaucer's influence is noted here, though Lydgate never attained the chaucer-as-chronicler height.

Lydgate's literary woks are, no doubt, bulky, but least chaucerian in any aspect.His imitation has own days for a twofold reason. First,he carried on the tradition of story telling in verse,so much popular in the age. Second ,he provided the common readers with the numerous stories of varied interests in a simple and straightforward manner.

Hoccleve

Among the English Chaucerians,Thomas Hoccleve is not as prolific an author as Lydgate, But like him, he is found to imitate Chaucer's, without any noticeable success.

Hoccleve is particularly noted for his Regement of Princes, based on the Latin work De Regimina Principum. The poem,of course a long one, contains some 5500 verses dealing with the matters of varied interests -political, ethical,ecclesiastical, and so on. The poem reveals his gift of story -telling, imitated from Chaucer.There are,no doubt, some dissertations,with illustrations,that make the work didactic.


Some other Literary Names

Besides Hoccleve aand Lydgate,the best known English Chaucerians,therw are a number of other followers and imitators.They include Benedict Burgh,George Ashby,John Walton and Henry Bradshaw.Their verses,mainly didactic, illustrate amply the decadence that came over Chaucer's imitators.

In addition to those imitators,there are several poems,written by other poets but there is no definite indication of authorship here.Of such poems,bearing Chaucerian traits, may be mentioned The Second Merchants Tale.a verse narrative, La Belle Dame Sans Merci ,a French translation, The Cuckoo and The Nightingale ,an allegory ,The Court of Sapines ,The Assembly of Ladies and The Flower and the Leaf. The last named work,is also a finely conceived allegory ,the flower is the symbol of gay and transitory element and the leaf stands for the virtue of endurance .

Hawes
The last important name among the English chaucerians is Stephen Hawes .He wrote towards the end of the fifteenth century and in the opening of the sixteenth, at aa time when the courtly poetry of the Chaucerian tradition had become almost antiquated. In fact,in Stephen Hawes is found the last exponent of that great tradition. 

Hawes,who had his education at Oxford ,is the author of several works.His most important works is the The pastime(passetyme) of pleasure (written about 1505-06).The theme here is both allegorical and didactic .The next important works include The Example of Virtue ,probably  written much earlier(in 1503-04).This is also allegorical and didactic. The work presents a complete allegory of the life of man from his youth to age .The conversion of Swearess written a little before 1509.is a noble work. of course ,from the technical standpoint, by Hawes.The authors is also didactic here.

Hawes's other works include A Joyful Meditation to all England of the Coronation of Henry the Eighth( 1509) and The Comfort of Lovers (date unknown).Both these works bear out his technical sophistry as also didactic note.

Hawes's poetry, no doubt ,has medieval limitations ,such as long digressions ,debates and moralization .But the allegorical and symbolic aspects ofvhid poetry is noteworthy and it anticipates in some way Spenser. His versification is exclusively Chaucerian with rarely occasional variations. His couplets are quite popular. occasionally decasyllabic couplets.although they are not always as much balanced as Chaucer's. 
The Scottish Chaucerians
Chaucer's literary influence in his age was not confined to England only.It extended to scotland and proved instrumental to the emergence of the golden age of Scotish poetry in the 15th century .As a matter of fact,the Scottish poets,inspired by Chaucer.are found to limitate and follow their master with greatest success than their English counterparts .King James I,Henryson,Dunbar and Douglas appear much truer abler descendants of Chaucer, than Lydgate,Hoccleve and even Hawes.

The first of the Scottish poet to show the Chaucerian inspiration is a king, James I.Of course ,these are double about the authenticity of his literary acquirement .yet he is generally accepted as the authors of The Kings Quair or The King's Book.Its inspiration mainly lies in Chaucer Knightes Tale. Bearing the reminiscences of Chaucer's The Knightes Tale,The King's Quair is a delightful romance in verse.

A more original Scottish Chaucerian is Robert Henryson,a school master.His poetry is ,however ,found promoted by Chaucer's influence. His most noted work-The Testament of Cresseid -is a sequel to Chaucer's celebrated Troilus and Criseyde.Henryson is also found influenced by Aesop in his  longest and ,in some way,most popular work,Morall Fabillis of Esope .In this respect. his gift of story -telling is revealed particularly in his entertaining poem-The Town Mouse and The Field Mouse.

William Dunbar is generally given the highest position among the Scottish Chaucerians. Dunbar's works include The Golden Targe,The Thrissil and the Rois, The  Freiries of Berwick ,Tidings from the session. The Dance of sevin Deidlie synnis .Flyting of Dunbar and Kannedie. The Lament for the Makaris,  and so on. These are mainly allegorical although some of themhave some occasional episodes as the motif.

A prominent literary figure among the Scottish Chaucerians is Gavin (Gawin) Douglas, who was a chauchman -a bishop ,of the works, written by Douglas, The Palice of Honour, supposed to be his earliest work,is long (about 2166 lines),successful and popular .This is modelled after Chaucer's Hous of Fame,and shows him as an intimate follower of Chaucer.Douglas's next important work King Hart is also an allegorical work,although it is considered much better than his previous work,The Palice of Honour.

Among the Scottish Chaucerians,an early Scottish poet,Henry, better known as Blind Harry (blind from his birth)is to be mentioned. He has a chronicle romance Wallace to his credit. This is almost a parallel to Barbour's The Bruce.Henry's hero.however, is no historical personality like Robert Bruce.He is a semi - legendary and semi- historical figure and seems to possess something of English Robin Hood in his activities and objectives.

The Scottish Chaucerians are not found simply imitative.Their literary fidelity to Chaucer is sincere, but their literary production is no blind imitation,without any mark of originality.They are found to have grasped Chaucer well.catching often his sentiments with a remarkable well balanced, showing both devotion and inspiration and better appreciation of the great master.
readmore
The most domineering figure in Middle English literature is definitely age of Chaucer . His vast and varied works constitude the bulk of its glory and quality .  Yet , there are some other works by some other literary men. his contemporaries. 
Those works of his time are not comparable with Chaucer's masterpieces . Yet these have shares in the contribution to the enlargement of English literature in the later half of the Medieval age and the preparation for the impending Renaissance in the realm of English art and literature . 


Chaucer's contemporaries are more or less found his imitators or followers. His majestic influence on them is evident  iin greater or lesser degrees. Of such contemporaries William Langland, John Gower and Barbour are to be mentioned in particular.

William Langland

The name of William Langland has a celebrity in the English language for singular work -The Book of Piers, the plowman. In the English literature of the fourteenth century, Langland's Piers Plowman stands out as the most renowned work , save Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales . Whereas the later is a social chronicle, with engaging tales, Piers Plowman is an impressive allegory, more deeply concerned with religious, ethical, social and economic problem of the time. Piers Plowman is definitely a nnovel and radical work for his age. This is aa provocative probe into the depth of the social and moral life of the age. Like Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales this remains a fine mirror of the variety and complexity of medieval life.

Like The Canterbury Tales, Piers Plowman has a prologue that has the typical dream convention of medieval literature. This describes how the author falls asleepon tthe May morning on the Malvern Hills. He has a vision of a fair field, full of folk from different ranks and occupations.This Prologue, as in Chaucer's Prologue,records a graphic picture of the English society of the fourteenth century.Social scenes,rather than Chaucer's social types, however are more conspicuous in Langland's Prologue.

The frame work of Language's poem is allegorical. This describes a series of remarkable visions.This dreamer, that is the poet himself,has these visions in tthe dream. Langland's convictions of the moral faith and the social vices of his age find expression through these visions. His ethical point of view is quite clear here. His emphasis is on the supreme sermons of truth, work and love. Mans chief task is to seek truth. to have faith to succeeded in his work and love alone leads him to heaven. Piers Plowman.stands in the pivotal position of the entire theme. He symbolizes the moral virtues of life -truth, work and love. He remains the very object and inspiration for noble living.

Langland's Piers Plowman is a mighty achievement in the English literature of the fourteenth century.It ranks very high as a social study and a  moral sermon. Its significance lies mainly in its threefold manifestation. First,its is aa graphic picture of contemporary life and manners.Second,it is aa penetrative satire on social and ecclesiastical follies and vices. Third,it is a powerful allegory of human life and morality. As a social picture,the poem throws interesting side lights on medieval life. manners and customs in different places and occupations.  As a social satire the poem stands out remarkably. This is,  perhaps, the first great English satire. The poet is particularly quite critical of luxury and vices in high places, religious and secular.  As an allegory,  it brings out subtly the strife between good and evil in the human soul. The poet's emphasis is always on righteous living .

Piers Plowman also bears out Langland's radical view as a reformer.  His reformative zeal is equally evident in his treatment of political,  social and ecclesiastical matters . He advocates social equally and equal social responsibility . He is found to emphasize a life of simplicity,  sincerity and restraint.  Indeed,  in him is heard the echoes of the impending Puritanism.

Langland's work is no exhibition of grand poetry of the Chaucerian height. In him is seen neither an artist nor a musician .The poem is written in the old alliterative meter. But the handling of the alliterative line is always easy and confident,  and as a result,  Piers Plowman never appears as a poem monotonous or hard to read.

John Gower

John Gower,who lived between 1325 and 1408, was Chaucer's contemporary, and had,perhaps, some intimacy with him. Of course,he was more medieval than the great master, and was a little behind his time. His major works,mainly narrative, were written in the eighties of fourteenth century, at aa time written in the eighties of the fourteenth century, at a time when Chaucer had already reached the height of his literary excellence.

Gower's first important work,Speculum Homms or Speculam Meditantis is in French. This is aa long sermon against the sins of the time. His next work Vox Clamantis is in Latin. This is a dream allegory with a social -political theme. This is about the peasants' uprising of the fourteenth century.

John Gower's last important work,produced in 1383-84, is in English. This is Confessio Amantis, an ambitious project to present in pleasing verses numerous stories  ,taken from various sources. The work, which is a long compilation of 40,000 octo-syllabic lines, contains more than a hundred stories of varying lengths and from diverse sources , from the Holy Bible to Ovid.  There is a well set plan to tell some engaging tales in a simple and melodious style.

Growers  work is well-planned,  but not properly executed . It marks little originality in his imagination or in his ideas. The influence of Chaucer on him is, no doubt , patent,  but there is no Chaucerian sense of proportion and control over the total structure. Moreover , the constant  moralizing  trend and the conventional bias of the middle ages , expressed in him , weary and make him more mechanically medieval.  Gower has also neither the skill of character portraits nor the sense of wit and humour,  so prominently found in Chaucer.

Growers writing however,  is not without literary qualities. His originality,  as a story teller in verse, is amply evident. No previous author is found to have versified so large a collection of stories or devised such an ingenious and elaborate scheme of combination . Moreover, Gower's mode of narration is simple and straightforward and he never becomes tedious in his story-telling.  His description art is well combined with his meditative depth. His language is developed and polished that marks the cultured London dialect- the king's English.

John Barbour

Like Langland,John Barbour (poet)our was a literary follower of Chaucer.But,unlike Langland, he was a Scottish poet. Though himself a chaurchman, he was no author of religious or ethical works.His principal work The Bruce is rather political and patriotic. 

Barbour's The Bruce, written between 1373 and 1378,is a sort of the national epic for the Scottish people. The author is found to present and preserve here poetically the memorable history of the heroic struggle of the Scottish people,under Bruce's leadership and their ultimate success.

Though based on history, Barbour's The Bruce like other national epics,contains a good deal of fictional matters.Lots of the material of romances are found mingled with the facts of history. All this, however,serves to add to the poetical as well as popular appeal of the work.

Barbour,of course,is not found to possess the hightest gifts of an epic or narrative poet. But he possesses a style that is simple, sincere and straight -forward,with a high degree of rapidity and sonority. Barbour is supposed to have been the author of some other literary works-Lives of the Saints,  a lengthy work in couplets,  The Stewarties Oryginalle, containing the genealogy of the Scottish Kings , Siege of Troy,  a fragmentary work , and The Bulk of Alexander , a happy popular poem.

Poetry in the age of chaucer (except chaucer)/chaucer's contemporaries

Green Land | November 25, 2016 | 2comments
The most domineering figure in Middle English literature is definitely age of Chaucer . His vast and varied works constitude the bulk of its glory and quality .  Yet , there are some other works by some other literary men. his contemporaries. 
Those works of his time are not comparable with Chaucer's masterpieces . Yet these have shares in the contribution to the enlargement of English literature in the later half of the Medieval age and the preparation for the impending Renaissance in the realm of English art and literature . 


Chaucer's contemporaries are more or less found his imitators or followers. His majestic influence on them is evident  iin greater or lesser degrees. Of such contemporaries William Langland, John Gower and Barbour are to be mentioned in particular.

William Langland

The name of William Langland has a celebrity in the English language for singular work -The Book of Piers, the plowman. In the English literature of the fourteenth century, Langland's Piers Plowman stands out as the most renowned work , save Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales . Whereas the later is a social chronicle, with engaging tales, Piers Plowman is an impressive allegory, more deeply concerned with religious, ethical, social and economic problem of the time. Piers Plowman is definitely a nnovel and radical work for his age. This is aa provocative probe into the depth of the social and moral life of the age. Like Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales this remains a fine mirror of the variety and complexity of medieval life.

Like The Canterbury Tales, Piers Plowman has a prologue that has the typical dream convention of medieval literature. This describes how the author falls asleepon tthe May morning on the Malvern Hills. He has a vision of a fair field, full of folk from different ranks and occupations.This Prologue, as in Chaucer's Prologue,records a graphic picture of the English society of the fourteenth century.Social scenes,rather than Chaucer's social types, however are more conspicuous in Langland's Prologue.

The frame work of Language's poem is allegorical. This describes a series of remarkable visions.This dreamer, that is the poet himself,has these visions in tthe dream. Langland's convictions of the moral faith and the social vices of his age find expression through these visions. His ethical point of view is quite clear here. His emphasis is on the supreme sermons of truth, work and love. Mans chief task is to seek truth. to have faith to succeeded in his work and love alone leads him to heaven. Piers Plowman.stands in the pivotal position of the entire theme. He symbolizes the moral virtues of life -truth, work and love. He remains the very object and inspiration for noble living.

Langland's Piers Plowman is a mighty achievement in the English literature of the fourteenth century.It ranks very high as a social study and a  moral sermon. Its significance lies mainly in its threefold manifestation. First,its is aa graphic picture of contemporary life and manners.Second,it is aa penetrative satire on social and ecclesiastical follies and vices. Third,it is a powerful allegory of human life and morality. As a social picture,the poem throws interesting side lights on medieval life. manners and customs in different places and occupations.  As a social satire the poem stands out remarkably. This is,  perhaps, the first great English satire. The poet is particularly quite critical of luxury and vices in high places, religious and secular.  As an allegory,  it brings out subtly the strife between good and evil in the human soul. The poet's emphasis is always on righteous living .

Piers Plowman also bears out Langland's radical view as a reformer.  His reformative zeal is equally evident in his treatment of political,  social and ecclesiastical matters . He advocates social equally and equal social responsibility . He is found to emphasize a life of simplicity,  sincerity and restraint.  Indeed,  in him is heard the echoes of the impending Puritanism.

Langland's work is no exhibition of grand poetry of the Chaucerian height. In him is seen neither an artist nor a musician .The poem is written in the old alliterative meter. But the handling of the alliterative line is always easy and confident,  and as a result,  Piers Plowman never appears as a poem monotonous or hard to read.

John Gower

John Gower,who lived between 1325 and 1408, was Chaucer's contemporary, and had,perhaps, some intimacy with him. Of course,he was more medieval than the great master, and was a little behind his time. His major works,mainly narrative, were written in the eighties of fourteenth century, at aa time written in the eighties of the fourteenth century, at a time when Chaucer had already reached the height of his literary excellence.

Gower's first important work,Speculum Homms or Speculam Meditantis is in French. This is aa long sermon against the sins of the time. His next work Vox Clamantis is in Latin. This is a dream allegory with a social -political theme. This is about the peasants' uprising of the fourteenth century.

John Gower's last important work,produced in 1383-84, is in English. This is Confessio Amantis, an ambitious project to present in pleasing verses numerous stories  ,taken from various sources. The work, which is a long compilation of 40,000 octo-syllabic lines, contains more than a hundred stories of varying lengths and from diverse sources , from the Holy Bible to Ovid.  There is a well set plan to tell some engaging tales in a simple and melodious style.

Growers  work is well-planned,  but not properly executed . It marks little originality in his imagination or in his ideas. The influence of Chaucer on him is, no doubt , patent,  but there is no Chaucerian sense of proportion and control over the total structure. Moreover , the constant  moralizing  trend and the conventional bias of the middle ages , expressed in him , weary and make him more mechanically medieval.  Gower has also neither the skill of character portraits nor the sense of wit and humour,  so prominently found in Chaucer.

Growers writing however,  is not without literary qualities. His originality,  as a story teller in verse, is amply evident. No previous author is found to have versified so large a collection of stories or devised such an ingenious and elaborate scheme of combination . Moreover, Gower's mode of narration is simple and straightforward and he never becomes tedious in his story-telling.  His description art is well combined with his meditative depth. His language is developed and polished that marks the cultured London dialect- the king's English.

John Barbour

Like Langland,John Barbour (poet)our was a literary follower of Chaucer.But,unlike Langland, he was a Scottish poet. Though himself a chaurchman, he was no author of religious or ethical works.His principal work The Bruce is rather political and patriotic. 

Barbour's The Bruce, written between 1373 and 1378,is a sort of the national epic for the Scottish people. The author is found to present and preserve here poetically the memorable history of the heroic struggle of the Scottish people,under Bruce's leadership and their ultimate success.

Though based on history, Barbour's The Bruce like other national epics,contains a good deal of fictional matters.Lots of the material of romances are found mingled with the facts of history. All this, however,serves to add to the poetical as well as popular appeal of the work.

Barbour,of course,is not found to possess the hightest gifts of an epic or narrative poet. But he possesses a style that is simple, sincere and straight -forward,with a high degree of rapidity and sonority. Barbour is supposed to have been the author of some other literary works-Lives of the Saints,  a lengthy work in couplets,  The Stewarties Oryginalle, containing the genealogy of the Scottish Kings , Siege of Troy,  a fragmentary work , and The Bulk of Alexander , a happy popular poem.
readmore
 
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