John Clanvowe

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Sir John Clanvowe (1341-1391) was an English poet first mentioned in the History of English Literature by F. S. Ellis in 1896. He is reputed to be the author of The Cuckoo and the Nightingale, which had previously been attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer. In the poem, the nightingale praises love but the cuckoo mocks it for causing more trouble than joy. The poem is written as a literary dream vision and is an example of medieval debate poetry. A concerto inspired by the poem was composed by Georg Friedrich Handel.

Medieval English Literature (1984), by Thomas Garbaty, states that Clanvowe was born to a Herefordshire family, was a diplomat and soldier, and was a personal friend of Chaucer. The poem's MS title was The Book of Cupid, God of Love. It apparently influenced works by both John Milton and William Wordsworth.

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This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.