week 7: Confessio Amantis - the framework
For the purposes of the forum, I would like to ask you just for brief initial impressions concerning the combination of the "commentary on the state of the world" in the Prologue and the traditional dream vision frame opening. How do they fit together?
In the session, we will start with a discussion of Gower's "cultural" adaptation of the original tale. We have noted the aspects in which the Latin narrative resonates with some dominant plot patterns of romance, as well as those that make it potentially unpromising as "romance material". Does Gower make any steps towards a "romancing" of his material (expand on the observations you have made on the previous "assignment")?
Next, we will connect our observations on Gower's reshaping of the tale for a specific message with the framework in which he places the tale.