Throughout the poem, the writer displays all the old Saxon earnestness. His hatred of hypocrisy is manifest on every page. His sadness, because things are not as they ought to be, makes itself constantly felt. He cannot reconcile the contradiction between the real and the ideal. In attacking selfishness, hypocrisy, and corruption; in preaching the value of a life of good deeds; in showing how men ought to progress toward higher ideals; in teaching that "Love is the physician of life and nearest our Lord himself,—" Piers Plowman proved itself a regenerating spiritual force, a stepping-stone toward the later Reformation.
The author of this poem was also a fourteenth-century social reformer, protesting against the oppression of the poor, insisting on mutual service and "the good and loving life." In order to have a well-rounded conception of the life of the fourteenth century, we must read Piers Plowman. Chaucer was a poet for the upper classes. Piers Plowman gives valuable pictures of the life of the common people and shows them working—
"To kepe kyne In þe field, þe corne fro þe bestes,
Diken[27] or deluen[28] or dyngen[29] vppon sheues,[30]
Or helpe make mortar or here mukke a-felde."
We find in the popular poetry of Piers Plowman almost as many words of French derivation as in the work of the more aristocratic Chaucer. This fact shows how thoroughly the French element had become incorporated in the speech of all classes. The style of the author of Piers Plowman is, however, remarkable for the old Saxon sincerity and for the realistic directness of the bearer of a worthy message.
John Gower.—Gower, a very learned poet, was born about 1325 and died in 1408. As he was not sure that English would become the language of his cultivated countrymen, he tried each of the three languages used in England. His first important work, the Speculum Meditantis, was written in French; his second, the Vox Clamantis, in Latin; his third, the Confessio Amantis, in English.
[Illustration: EARLY PORTRAIT OF GOWER HEARING THE CONFESSION OF A
LOVER (CONFESSIO AMANTIS). From the Egerton MS., British Museum.]
The Confessio Amantis (Confession of a Lover) is principally a collection of one hundred and twelve short tales. An attempt to unify them is seen in the design to have the confessor relate, at the lover's request, those stories which reveal the causes tending to hinder or to further love. Gower had ability in story-telling, as is shown by the tales about Medea and the knight Florent; but he lacked Chaucer's dramatic skill and humor. Gower's influence has waned because, although he stood at the threshold of the Renaissance, his gaze was chiefly turned backward toward medievalism. His contemporary, Chaucer, as we see, was affected by the new spirit.
GEOFFREY CHAUCER, 1340?-1400.
[Illustration: GEOFFREY CHAUCER. From an old drawing in Occleve's
Poems, British Museum.]
Life.—Chaucer was born in London about 1340. His father and grandfather were vintners, who belonged to the upper class of merchants. Our first knowledge of Geoffrey Chaucer is obtained from the household accounts of the Princess Elizabeth, daughter-in-law of Edward III., in whose family Chaucer was a page. An entry shows that she bought him a fine suit of clothes, including a pair of red and black breeches. Such evidence points to the fact that he was early accustomed to associating with the nobility, and enables us to understand why he and the author of Piers Plowman regard life from different points of view.