Piers Plowman
Elyssa-Beth Bender
British Literature
Dr. Zeiger
14 March 2013
William Langland: Piers Plowman The life of William Langland is a mystery. There is very little known about the man who wrote the Middle English, alliterative poem known as Piers Plowman. I did gather that he was born in the West Midlands around 1330 and may have died in 1386 (William Langland). Though much not can be found on Langland’s life, one can infer that he had many different life experiences in which he may drawn from to write Piers Plowman (Calabrese 123). Whether one looks at the elegant trial of Lady Meed at the King’s court, to impoverished life lived on Piers Plowman’s half-acre. Also the narrator in Piers Plowman seems to indicate that Langland may have been exposed to a higher education (Calabrese 123). There are three different versions of Piers Plowman, known as the A-text, the B-text, and the C-text The A-text is the earliest and shortest of the three versions and is about 2,400 lines long (Greenblatt 297). The B-text is an revision of the A-text in which the original 2,400 lines are still there but turned into a 4,000 line piece of work. During my reading of the B-Text, I found that it was more poetic in its form (Greenblatt 297). What I also found was that the C-text was almost a full revision of the B-Text with not much more added. The A-text seemed to be written in 1370 while the B-text. The C-text may have been written in 1381 during the “Peasants Revolt of 1382” (William Langland).
The opening lines let the reader know what to expect: a man named Will on a religious quest that is set in a dream-like, vision state. He wakes up in Field Full of Folk in the opening scene. It is quite obvious to the reader that Will is a very righteous man as he is described to be wearing “shroudes as [he] a sheep were, / In habite as an heremite unholy of werkes.” (line 124). This indicates that Will is in clothes made of sheepskin, a symbolic meaning to The Lamb (Calabrese
British Literature
Dr. Zeiger
14 March 2013
William Langland: Piers Plowman The life of William Langland is a mystery. There is very little known about the man who wrote the Middle English, alliterative poem known as Piers Plowman. I did gather that he was born in the West Midlands around 1330 and may have died in 1386 (William Langland). Though much not can be found on Langland’s life, one can infer that he had many different life experiences in which he may drawn from to write Piers Plowman (Calabrese 123). Whether one looks at the elegant trial of Lady Meed at the King’s court, to impoverished life lived on Piers Plowman’s half-acre. Also the narrator in Piers Plowman seems to indicate that Langland may have been exposed to a higher education (Calabrese 123). There are three different versions of Piers Plowman, known as the A-text, the B-text, and the C-text The A-text is the earliest and shortest of the three versions and is about 2,400 lines long (Greenblatt 297). The B-text is an revision of the A-text in which the original 2,400 lines are still there but turned into a 4,000 line piece of work. During my reading of the B-Text, I found that it was more poetic in its form (Greenblatt 297). What I also found was that the C-text was almost a full revision of the B-Text with not much more added. The A-text seemed to be written in 1370 while the B-text. The C-text may have been written in 1381 during the “Peasants Revolt of 1382” (William Langland).
The opening lines let the reader know what to expect: a man named Will on a religious quest that is set in a dream-like, vision state. He wakes up in Field Full of Folk in the opening scene. It is quite obvious to the reader that Will is a very righteous man as he is described to be wearing “shroudes as [he] a sheep were, / In habite as an heremite unholy of werkes.” (line 124). This indicates that Will is in clothes made of sheepskin, a symbolic meaning to The Lamb (Calabrese
Cited: Burrow, J.A. The Ending Lines in Piers Plowman. Notes & Querles (2012). vol. 59 Issue 3, p 316-400. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Feb. 2013. Calabrese, Michael. Piers Plowman: A Parallel-Text Edition of The A,B,C, And Z Versions. Journal of English & Germanic Philogy. (2012): vol. 35 issue 12 127-130. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Feb. 2013. Deagman, Rachel. The Formations of Forgiveness in Piers Plowman. Journal of Medieval & Early Modern Studies (2010). vol. 40 issue 2 p. 273-97. Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. "William Langland" Encyclopedia Britannica. Britannica Online Web. 27 Feb, 2013 Greenblatt, Stepehn. “William Langland:Piers Plowman” The Norton Anthology English Literature vol. A. New York 397- 408.