Throughout the tales in the Confessio Amantis, John Gower proposes that reciprocal love is the remedy to what ails man and society. This book explores how Gower uses the aspects of love in the Confessio-the notions of kinde, or passionate love, and reason in the sphere of love; honeste love in the Marriage Tales of the Four Wives; passionate and excessive love in the Forsaken Women's tales; and Amans's lovesickness. In her thorough examination of Gower's work, Ellen S. Bakalian shows how Gower emphasizes and illustrates a belief that reason must rule man in all things, including his natural instincts to love.
Biography
An independent medieval scholar who holds a doctorate in English and American Literature from New York University, Ellen S. Bakalian also has one foot firmly planted in the world of journalism. Her articles have appeared in The New Yorker and Ladies Home Journal. She also writes for the A&E's literary website, creating teaching guides for their adaptations of literary classics.
