The French Balades

Gower's imaginative French poetry is now available in a new edition with facing page translation, annotations, and introduction. Gower's Traitie employs the French poetic form of balade, typically used for courtly verses, to avow instead the virtues of loving marriage, characteristic of Gower's signature moralizing. His Cinkante Balades confront the tradition of the French Livre de Cent Balades, by describing the feelings of a young man towards his lady, but eventually offering a praise of love insofar as it is subject to reason and morality. Together the two works offer an excellent introduction to the Anglo-Norman works of Gower and are perfect for classroom use.



R. F. Yeager is Professor of English at University of West Florida. He specializes in Old English, Middle English, medieval European literature and historical linguistics.



Acknowledgments General Introduction Traitie selonc les auctours pour essampler les amantz marietz Introduction Text Explanatory Notes Textual Notes Cinkante Balades Introduction Text Explanatory Notes Textual Notes Appendix 1: A Translation of the Traitie (Quixley) Appendix 2: A Note on Gower's French by Brian Merrilees Bibliography