John Lydgate wrote poems in 14th century England. He was a monk with an abundance of time to spare, so he wrote extremely lengthy texts of poetry, often mirroring writers who preceded him. He wrote both religious and secular poems, although some common themes apply to both.
In his writing, Lydgate continually presents the human experience as one of challenge and misery. He writes in consolation to the reader, as a participant in this suffering, often depicting his subjects as the poor and the miserable. In contrast, some of Lydgate's poems such as "The Testament of John Lydgate" are written from the perspective of Jesus Christ, as encouragement to the suffering person. In the consideration of the summation of Lydgate's writing, he appears to offer Jesus as his personal solution to the immense suffering of existence.
Because Lydgate is such a prolific poet, Lydgate's poetry is often a challenge to read in and of itself. He employs length and explicitness at ever turn, often repeating a theme in the last line of each stanza of a poem such as in "The Testament of John Lydgate." In this lengthy canon, Lydgate rewards his readers by baring his deepest concerns. He does not personally insert himself as either author or subject of his poems, but the ideas presented in the poems are so clearly personal because they appear continually throughout multiple poems in many different phrases and iterations but always the same meaning. The avid reader of Lydgate's poetry is left to conclude that he wrote compulsively, in a continual attempt to explain where he found value in life.
