Love and Ethics in Gower's Confessio Amantis

In Love and Ethics, Peter Nicholson offers a comprehensive and accessible reading of Gower's Confessio, as well as a guide to the issues that it poses, linking all of the diverse elements of Gower's complex poem into a single broad view of its purpose and structure. Beginning with an investigation of the literary antecedents of the poem, the author then distinguishes the Confessio from its predecessors in order to discover what is most unique about it. In viewing the Confessio both as a poem and as a work of moral instruction, Love and Ethics illustrates the work's concern with the laws that govern human love, and its understanding of the elusiveness of moral certainty in a fallen world. Intended for both specialists and non-specialists, Love and Ethics addresses many of the specific concerns of current Gower criticism, provides complete translations of all foreign quotation, and guides the novice reader through Gower's Middle English.