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.
There were originally thought to be three
versions of Piers Plowman: the A version of the
text, which was the earliest, followed by the B
and C versions that consisted of revisions and
further amplifications of the major themes of A.
However, a fourth version, called Z, has been
suggested and the order of issue questioned. The
version described here is from the B text, which
consists of (1) a prologue and seven passus
(divisions) concerned primarily with the life of
man in society, the dangers of Meed (love of
gain), and manifestations of the seven capital
sins; and (2) 13 passus ostensibly dealing with
the lives of Do-wel, Do-bet, and Do-best; in
effect, with the growth of the individual
Christian in self-knowledge, grace, and charity.
In its
general structure the poem mirrors the
complexity of the themes with which it deals,
particularly in the recurring concepts of
Do-wel, Do-bet, and Do-best, all in the end seen
as embodied in Christ. They are usually
identified with the active, contemplative, and
“mixed” religious life, but the allegory of the
poem is often susceptible to more than one
interpretation, and some critics have related it
to the traditional exegetical way of
interpreting the Scriptures historically,
allegorically, anagogically, and topologically.
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.
