Gower's Mirour and its French Sources: A Re-examination of Evidence

Abstract

Dwyer agrees with Elfreda Fowler that no single manual on vices and virtues can account for all contents of Gower's MO. However, he rejects her judgment on relative closeness of Somme des Vices et Vertus and du Monde to Gower's Miroir (483). The existence of two passages in MO that are borrowed from Somme shows that latter work is a closer analogue to Gower than du Monde. The first passage is an extended treatment of fear (Paour), a subdivision of Humility (lines 11293-472 of MO). The inclusion of certain verses from Helinand's Vers de la Mort in both texts proves indebtedness to Somme. The second shared characteristic is the allegory involving Beast of Apocalypse (497). Both MO and Somme offer a unique interpretation of Beast's seven heads as Seven Deadly Sins, a configuration that is unusual in patristic and medieval tradition. On other hand, while Gower preferred Somme over Miroir, he did generally employ an eclectic manner of composition. As proof of this tendency, Dwyer points to VC, written in Cento, and to tale of Pyramus and Thisbe in CA, where Gower likely borrowed from, and adapted, multiple sources. There is therefore no need to posit a single parent to explain Gower's eclectic borrowings in MO, as Fowler does. Moreover, an eye must also be had for Gower's originality. He is both more rigid in his subdivisions of virtues and vices, and more lax in his treatment of some of them (his narrow understanding of Temperance being but one example). Dwyer therefore concludes that one should more reasonably suspect a rather free use of collections and florilegia on Gower's part than a plundering of a single source (488). [CvD]