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| Author: William/ Anderson Langland | Editor: Elizabeth D. Kirk Judith H. Anderson | Translator: E. Talbot Donaldson |
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| Format: | Paperback |
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Product Summary
Format: Paperback
Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
ISBN-10: 0393960110
ISBN-13: 9780393960112
Buy.com Sku: 30059014
Publish Date: 4/10/2007
Dimensions:
(in Inches) 8.25H x 5.25L x 0.75T
Pages:
288
See more in English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
| A translation of the 14th century poem, which offers a picture of society in the late Middle Ages on the threshold of the early modern world. |
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From the Publisher:
E. Talbot Donaldson wrote in his first book on Piers Plowman that Langland 'in his emphasis on the individual...was in advance of his own church and of his own nation--and, indeed, of himself.' Paradoxically, as Donaldson also recognized, Langland was 'a political and religious moderate' whose cast of mind was 'conservative and traditionalist.' The poem that resulted from this curious paradox presents one of the great enigmas of all English poetry, as well as one of the major works of the Middle Ages.The translator of this work was a founding editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature. |
Annotation:
The earliest manuscript copy of this alliterative, allegorical poem dates from 1362. In subsequent years, various differing editions appeared, though each was probably drawn from one of the three permutations of the text known as Versions A, B, and C. This critical edition of the poem presents all three Versions with helpful notes. The poem regards the dream vision the poet William has of Piers the Plowman, an allegory about the simple life exploring the seven deadly sins via vivid personified portraits with social and political relevance specific to the conditions of 14th-century London, including the wicked Lady Bribery. Though tempted by a cast of dangerous characters, Piers stays focused on the farming tasks at hand. When nearby Easter bells chime, William is awakened back into his real life.
The earliest manuscript copy of this alliterative, allegorical poem dates from 1362. In subsequent years, various differing editions appeared, though each was probably drawn from one of the three permutations of the text known as Versions A, B, and C. This critical edition of the poem presents all three Versions with helpful notes. The poem regards the dream vision the poet William has of Piers the Plowman, an allegory about the simple life exploring the seven deadly sins via vivid personified portraits with social and political relevance specific to the conditions of 14th-century London, including the wicked Lady Bribery. Though tempted by a cast of dangerous characters, Piers stays focused on the farming tasks at hand. When nearby Easter bells chime, William is awakened back into his real life.
Author Bio
William Langland
The very little extant information regarding the life of William Langland, the presumed author of THE VISION OF WILLIAM CONCERNING PIERS THE PLOWMAN, has been gleaned from the pages of this allegorical poem. Because it was written in the Midland dialect, the author is assumed to be from the West of England; however, its accurate portrait of London suggests he was intimate with the city and may have lived there for a time. There is also reference within the text to the existence of a wife and child. Above all, the piety of the simple life is emphasized, and it is probable that Langland was himself a farmer, though because of the unusual number of extant manuscripts (over 50, the earliest version dated at 1362), it can be gathered that he achieved a certain amount of fame. His highly alliterative work is written in the popular verse form of earlier days--formally less forward-thinking than that of his contemporary Chaucer, and presumably appealing to uneducated readers (listeners), not to the courtly audience that Chaucer attracted.
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