The Vision of Piers Plowman II Text B

by William Langland (Editor), Walter W. Skeat (Editor)

early english literature

492 pages, Hardcover

First published March 26, 1963

About the author

William Langland, (born c. 1330—died c. 1400), presumed author of one of the greatest examples of Middle English alliterative poetry, generally known as Piers Plowman, an allegorical work with a complex variety of religious themes.

One of the major achievements of Piers Plowman is that it translates the language and conceptions of the cloister into symbols and images that could be understood by the layman. In general, the language of the poem is simple and colloquial, but some of the author’s imagery is powerful and direct.

Little is known of Langland’s life: he is thought to have been born somewhere in the region of the Malvern Hills, in Worcestershire, and if he is to be identified with the “dreamer” of the poem, he may have been educated at the Benedictine school in Great Malvern. References in the poem suggest that he knew London and Westminster as well as Shropshire, and he may have been a cleric in minor orders in London.

Langland clearly had a deep knowledge of medieval theology and was fully committed to all the implications of Christian doctrine. He was interested in the asceticism of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and his comments on the defects of churchmen and the religious in his day are nonetheless concomitant with his orthodoxy.

(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...)

Reviews

[Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest, I read The Vision of Piers Plowman mainly to see if I could. I wanted to see whether I would be able to understand the text without really studying Middle English. I think I did pretty well, though I'm sure there were subtleties I missed. It was definitely an advantage to know Old Norse, since I was able to port over certain words from there. But overall, I found it read pretty well to my modern-English brain. There are also frequent interjections of Latin, usually from the Vulgate Bible. It was striking, in the midst of what seemed like primitively spelled English words, to suddenly see lines of perfect Latin.

In terms of the content of the poem itself, I found it repetitive and unexciting. There is much use of moralistic allegory, with characters like Dowel (Do-well), Dobet (Do-better), and Dobest (Do-best). Someday I would like to go through it again with a good commentary, as I think I will get more out of it then.

[Abby Desmond]

So good! I love the 14th century and anything to do with it. Much more accessible than Froissart.