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) .
"[1]: xxx Fisher concludes that books II-V were written in the 1370s while the author was writing similar passages in Mirour de l'Omme.
[2]: 101–2 Both Wickert and Fisher agree that the existence of this manuscript is strong evidence that the bulk of Vox was written before the Peasants' Revolt.
"[4] Most critics cite the remaining books as an example of estate satire where the author complains about various problems in society.
[3]: 55–58 Fisher summarizes: "What distinguishes Gower's views from those of many of his contemporaries, and places him among the progressive thinkers of this day, is his emphasis upon legal justice and regal responsibility for all the estates, defined in terms of "le biencoomue," "bonus communi," or "the common good," depending on the language in which be happened to be writing" [2]: 178 Wickert asks the rhetorical question: "Did Gower achieve his goal?"
Macaulay observed "His knowledge of Ovid seems to have been pretty complete, for he borrows from almost every section of his works with the air of one who knows perfectly well where to turn for what he wants".
[2]: 150 Gower acknowledged one source: "Peter of Riga wrote what I have written in his Aurora, and he will be a true witness and authority in this case.
This is evidently a thing to be noted, because if the author, when describing (for example) the vices of monasteries, is found to be merely quoting from Alexander Neckam, we cannot attach much value to his account as a picture of the manners of his own time.
"[1]: xxxii–xxxiii In addition to the major sources listed above, Pouzet believes other material found in the library of the priory St Mary Overie may have influenced Gower.
[7] Shrank suggests that portraying the rebels as lower forms was derived from Cicero's claims about civilized societies in De Inventione.
[9]: 157 Both Visio and Chronica "represent a thorough re-creation of historical events, reordered and recombined so as to fulfill the poet's own artistic vision and political purpose.
"[9]: 162 Cornelius remarked that "Visio Anglie is distinguished from [other] chronicles, however, by Gower's unbridled fictive imagination, beside which the inventions of Walsingham and Froissart appear tame.
"[10]: 23 Wickert divides Book I into three sections:[3]: 25–26 Gower provides a traditional prologue by stating the author, subject and purpose.
I shall enter the recent misfortunes that my country has exhibited, for it is a worthy labor to report the deeds of one's native land.
[3]: 25 The revolting peasants are transformed into asses, oxen, swine, dogs, cats, foxes, birds, flies and frogs.
This is understandable ... but in no way accords with the attitude that Gower adopts in the following books of the Vox Clamantis and in Mirrour de l'Omne.
The description of the storm and the panic of the captain draws heavily upon the account of Ceyx and Alycone told in Ovid's Metamorphoses,[11]: 367 A Christian prayer follows which is answered in the next chapter.
[2]: 179 Book IV deals with the failings of various religious orders including monks, Canons regular, nuns, and mendicant friars.
Hodgson observes that Chaucer's Friar Huberd in GP 208-269 manages to commit all the sins described by Gower in Chapters 16–23.
[15]: 18 Chapter 5 begins with the commonplace: "The sea is the proper habitat of a live fish, and the monastery is the right home for a monk.
Chapters 7 and 8 return to praise of the good knight who defends other classes and acts for honor rather than love, money or fame.
Stockton notes Gower reworked Genesis 3:19 to obtain "O sinner, the sweat and toil of the world be thine; in them shalt thou eat thy bread.
": lines V.561-568 Gower argues for divinely ordained labour as alternative to the popular verse: Chapter 9 contains the passage which foreshadows the Revolt of 1381.
Wickert observes: "Of course, one does not expect sympathies for the agricultural worker, be he bound or free, in a country squire of the time -- even before the Peasants' Revolt.
Stockton observed: "Chapter 2, which is written with real feeling, ironically places Gower on the same side as the peasants, who hated lawyers and attacked them in the Great Revolt.
The pleas for justice lacks conceptual clarity and is permeated with ideas from the Bible and Cicero's De re publica[3]: 101–15 Bad counsel from elders given to the boy king was condemned in the first version.
[11]: 232–3 Ayers asserts the praise of the Black Prince's foreign exploits in Chapter 13 contradicts the notion of Gower as a pacifist follower of Christ.
: line VI.999 [2]: 184 The original version (A-text) of Book VI held the boy king blameless for the problems of the kingdom.
: lines VI.1174-1183 This sermonizing summary of the preceding five books begins with a reinterpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a statue (Daniel 2:31-44) comprising gold, brass, iron and clay segments.
Macaulay observed that conclusion has been altered to be a fitting form of introduction for the Chronica Tripertita which comes in as an appendix added in later years.