ABSTRACT

This chapter shows how work to date helps outline the ways in which John Gower's work opens itself up to economic issues, with the goal of moving from what has been done with business and the economy in Gower to a discussion of what may yet be done. More recent scholarship has continued to wrestle with Gower's politics, with similar implications for describing his economic involvements. One enduring approach that has tended to explore economic issues is Gower's handling of estates satire, which in the Mirour and Vox leads him to describe a variety of economic social types. Craig E. Bertolet relates the recurring economic language of estates satire to Gower's identity as a London poet; he carefully notes the shifting role of "professional classes", and Gower's larger concerns "deceptive trading, sedition, and dangerous speech", concerns shared with the city's ruling elite.