Gower was the exact contemporary of Chaucer, though he died eight years later 1408. His work ‘Vox Clamantis. It is in Latin couplets.
It is inspired by the Peasants’ revolt of 1881. It expresses the fear and terror of the rich landed class at the popular uprising. In this work Gower has no sympathy for popular cause, but the spokesman of the landed gentry. The various leaders of the revolt are represented as wild beasts hungry for human blood or domestic animals that refuse to do their duty. He declares in the end that men should hear ‘the voice of the people, which if often the voice of God.’ He thus strikes a curiously modern note, the note of social democracy.