Mirour de l'Omme ("the mirror of mankind") (also Speculum Hominis), which has the Latin title Speculum Meditantis ("mirror of meditation"), is an Anglo-Norman poem of 29,945 lines written in iambic octosyllables by John Gower (c. 1330 – October 1408). Gower's major theme is man's salvation. Internal evidence (no mention of Richard II) suggests that composition was completed before 1380. G. C. Macaulay discovered the only manuscript in the Cambridge University Library. Only part of the poem survives; the conclusion has been lost.
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👉 Mirour de l'Omme in the context of John Gower
John Gower (/ˈɡaʊ.ər/; c. 1330 – October 1408) was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and the Pearl Poet, and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. He is remembered primarily for three major works—the Mirour de l'Omme, Vox Clamantis, and Confessio Amantis—three long poems written in French, Latin, and English respectively, which are united by common moral and political themes.
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- ⭐ Core Definition: Mirour de l'Omme
- 👉 Mirour de l'Omme in the context of John Gower
- Mirour de l'Omme in the context of Vox Clamantis
Mirour de l'Omme in the context of Vox Clamantis
Vox Clamantis ("the voice of one crying out") is a Latin poem of 10,265 lines in elegiac couplets by John Gower (1330 – October 1408). The first of the seven books is a dream vision giving a vivid account of the Peasants' Rebellion of 1381. Macaulay described the remaining books: "The general plan of the author is to describe the condition of society and of the various degrees of men, much as in the latter portion of the Speculum Meditantis." Fisher concludes that books II-V were written in the 1370s while the author was writing similar passages in Mirour de l'Omme.
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