Public Poetry and the Psychology of Confession in John Gower’s Confessio Amantis

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the political, confessional, and psychological frames of John Gower’s Confessio Amantis (c. 1390-93). This dissertation proposes an integrated understanding of the poem’s frames, in which both the confessional and psychological frames respond to the political one that Gower presents in the poem’s Prologue. By moving the discussion of politics to a setting of unrequited courtly love and then establishing a need for the failed lover to confess (his sins against Love), Gower creates complex layers of meaning that ultimately seek to educate his readers. This dissertation examines Gower and the Confessio under different contexts, starting with his historical context. Thus, the first two chapters provide a broader perspective on the external factors that influence Gower’s writing. Chapter 1 examines Gower’s self-establishment as a figure of authority writing in the vernacular to lay the foundation for the meticulous production of his manuscripts and works. Chapter 2 examines the English political situation that led Gower to write the Confessio, in particular the politics of 1380s and how they are represented in the poem, as well as Gower’s position as a public poet. The Confessio is a response to the division Gower sees corrupting both the nation and its people; this chapter thus sheds light on how the poet moves from the body politic to the individual. Moving on to Gower’s literary contexts, Chapter 3 provides an overview of confession as a practice in the late Middle Ages and compares medieval manuals for penitents and theological treatises on confession to the portrayal of the lover’s confession in the poem. This chapter establishes that confession is not just a listing of sins but an examination of the penitent’s conscience and that both the penitent and the priest can learn from the confessional process. With confession established as a means of probing into the penitent’s conscience, Chapter 4 then studies the lover and his priest (i.e. Amans and Genius), and how they represent the mental faculties of Will and Wit in Gower’s scheme of the psyche. Highlighting their development as the confession progresses, the chapter shows how these characters come to embody Gower’s model for the readers’ education. Finally, the Conclusion delves into the perceived “incongruities” of the poem, particularly those from Book VIII, and suggests a reading that reconciles its seeming disparate frames under one unified voice.