John Gower, Vox Clamantis. With the kind permission of Glasgow
University Library, Dept. of Special Collections. John Gower,
poet and friend of Chaucer, was born around 1330, into a
prominent Yorkshire family which held properties in Kent,
Yorkshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Gower's coat of arms is
identical to those of Sir Robert Gower of Brabourne. Nothing is
known of his education, though it has been speculated that he
was trained in law. Gower himself held properties in Suffolk and
Kent, where he seems to have resided until taking up residence
in the priory of St. Mary Overies in Southwark, London, around
1377. Gower's first work was Mirour de l'Omme (i.e. Mirror of
Man) (wr. 1376-79), an allegorical poem in French meditating on
the fall of man and the effect of sin on the world. Gower later
latinized the title to Speculum Hominis, and later changed it to
Speculum Meditantis to fit with the titles of his later works.
Around 1377, Gower began work on Vox Clamantis (i.e. The
Clamoring Voice), an essay in Latin