Recent criticism of _Piers Plowman_ has done more to weaken the hold of
opinions once generally accepted than to replace them by others better
founded. It is still most probable that 'Long Will', who is more than
once mentioned in the text as the poet, was William Langland. The
earliest external evidence of his home and parentage is given in a
fifteenth-century note in MS. Dublin D 4. 1, of which both the matter
and the vile Latinity bear the stamp of genuineness: 'Memorandum quod
Stacy de Rokayle, pater Willielmi de Langlond, qui Stacius fuit
generosus, et morabatur in Schiptone under Whicwode, tenens domini le
Spenser in comitatu Oxon., qui praedictus Willielmus fecit librum qui
vocatur Perys Ploughman.' Shipton-under-Wychwood is near Burford in
Oxfordshire. The poem shows familiarity with the Malvern Hills and the
streets of London; but it is hard to say how much is fact and how much
is fiction in the references to Long Will in the text itself, more
especially the description of his London life added as the Sixth Passus
in Version C, and reproduced here as the second extract.
Since Skeat's edition for the Early English Text Society, the many
manuscripts have been grouped into three main types. The shortest, or
A-text, appears from internal evidence to have been written about 1362.
The B-text (about 1377) has the most compact manuscript tradition. It is
distinguished by considerable additions throughout, and by the
reconstruction and expansion of the visions of Dowel, Dobet, Dobest,
which make up the second half of the poem. The C-text, the latest and
fullest form, appears to have been completed in the last decade of the
fourteenth century.
Until recently it has been assumed that these three versions represent
progressive revisions by the author. But Professor Manly has found
considerable support for his view that more than one writer—perhaps as
many as five—had a share in the work. For the present, judgement on
this question, and on the intricate problem of the relations of the
different versions, is suspended until the results of a complete
re-examination of all the MSS. are available. It would not be surprising
to find that even when this necessary work is done differences of
opinion on the larger questions remain as acute as ever.
It is impossible in short space to give an outline of the whole work,
which describes no less than eleven visions. The structure is loose, and
allegory is developed or dropped with disconcerting abruptness, for the
writer does not curb his vigorous imagination in the interests of formal
correctness.
The first part is the best known. On a May morning the poet falls asleep
on the Malvern Hills and sees a 'Field full of Folk', where all classes
of men are busy about their occupations, more particularly the nefarious
occupations that engage the attention of the moralist. Holy Church
explains that a high tower in the Field is the home of Truth; and that a
'deep dale' is the Castle of Care, where Wrong dwells with the wicked.
She points out Falseness, who is about to marry Lady Meed (i.e. Reward,
whether deserved reward or bribe). Lady Meed and her company are haled
before the King, who, with Reason and Conscience as his guides, decides
her case, and upholds the plea of Peace against Wrong.
The second vision is prefaced (in the C-text only) by the passage
printed as the second selection. The poet falls asleep again, and sees
Conscience preaching to the people in the Field. Representatives of the
Seven Deadly Sins are vividly described. They are brought to penitence,
and all set out in search of Truth. But no one knows the way. A palmer
who wears the trophies of many pilgrimages to distant saints is puzzled
by their inquiries, for he has never heard of pilgrims seeking Truth.
Then Peter the Plowman comes forward and explains the way in
allegorical terms. Here the first extract begins. The second vision
closes with a general pardon given by Truth to Piers Plowman in this
simple form:
Do wel, and haue wel, and God shal haue þi sowle;
And do yuel, and haue yuel, hope þow non other
But after þi ded-day þe Deuel shal haue þi sowle.
The several visions of the second part make up the lives of
Dowel, Dobet, and Dobest. Piers Plowman is there identified
with Christ, and the poem ends with Conscience, almost overcome
by sin, setting out resolutely in search of Piers.
First impressions of mediaeval life are usually coloured by the
courtly romances of Malory and his later refiners. Chaucer
brings us down to reality, but his people belong to a prosperous
middle-class world, on holiday and in holiday mood. _Piers Plowman_
stands alone as a revelation of the ignorance and misery of
the lower classes, whose multiplied grievances came to a head in
the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. It must not be supposed that
Langland idealized the labourers. Their indolence and improvidence
are exposed as unsparingly as the vices of the rich; and
Piers himself is not so much a representative of the English workman
in the fourteenth century as a character drawn straight
from the Gospels. Still, such an eager plea for humbleness, simplicity,
and honest labour, could not fail to encourage the political
hopes of the poor, and we see in John Ball's letter (p. 160) that
'Piers Plowman' had become a catchword among them. The
poet himself rather deprecates political action. His satire is
directed against the general slackening of the bonds of duty that
marked the last years of an outworn system of society. For the
remedy of abuses he appeals not to one class but to all: king,
nobles, clergy, and workers must model their lives on the pattern
of the Gospels.