What is it about?
This essay revisits the question of the authorship of the short Middle English poem, 'Passe forth thou pilgrim'. The poem is attributed to John Gower in its earliest surviving manuscript by the scribe John Shirley but modern scholarship has dismissed this attribution.
Featured Image
Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash
Why is it important?
The modern editor of John Gower's works, G. C. Macaulay, dismissed the idea that the poem 'Passe forth thou pilgrim' was written by Gower. This has resulted in the poem being neglected. This article covers questions of authorship, attribution, and authenticity, questioning the reasoning behind Macaulay's conclusion.
Perspectives
The work of modern editors is invaluable in providing access to medieval texts but returning to the original manuscripts can still yield new insights.
Professor Margaret Connolly
University of St Andrews
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: JOHN SHIRLEY AND JOHN GOWER, April 2020, JSTOR,
DOI: 10.2307/j.ctvxhrm0d.15.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
