Abstract
Schueler argues that a proper understanding of CA (including its literary merit) depends upon allegorical function of Genius. Whereas many critics see Genius as hopelessly stuck between Christian morality and courtly love, Schueler suggests that he is not spokesman for courtly love to begin with. The apparent contradiction between and love is resolved once we recognize that Genius stands for natural procreation and works for a Venus who in turn serves Nature, handmaiden of God (245). In tradition Gower inherits from Jean de Meun and Alain of Lille, Genius interprets love from perspective of Christian morality. This also explains various apparent digressions in CA: the priest’s most compelling purpose ... is to draw these parallels between laws governing human passion and those governing other aspects of moral behavior (248). Genius does not contradict himself, but contradicts a set of scholarly preconceptions about what allegorical love poetry should be (248). [CvD]
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