The Minor Latin Works

Written in the last twenty years of John Gower's career, these Latin poems—designated "minor" due to their relatively short length—are rescued from critical neglect by R. F. Yeager. The poems crystallize around the political turbulence of 1399-1400 when Henry Bolingbroke (later Henry IV) usurped Richard II's throne, and shed light on Gower's shifting allegiances, advice to princes, and famously moral principles on self-rule. Ranging from estates satire to prophecy, Gower's lyrics include the "laureate group," three poems written in support of Henry's coronation, and Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia (A Poem on the Manifold Plague of Vices), which depict sins plaguing the body politic. Facing-page translations and extensive notes allow readers to witness Gower's experimentation with meter and rhyme. The volume finishes with Gower's contemporary Middle English poem, In Praise of Peace. Michael Livingston calls it a "poetic proof," a carefully constructed argument in which Gower offers advice to the new king on the virtues of peacekeeping.