The Lover’s Confession: A Translation of John Gower’s Confessio Amantis

John Gower’s Confessio Amantis (The Lover’s Confession) is one of the most important English works of the Fourteenth Century. Within its frame of the lovesick lover’s confession are well over a hundred stories, mainly derived from classical mythology, the Bible, and history which exemplify the Middle Ages. Echoing the octosyllabic line of the original, this is the first translation of the entire (33,000-line) poem, including its Latin verses and glosses.