19-) English Literature

19-) English Literature

William Langland

William Langland (/ˈlæŋlənd/; Latin: Willielmus de Langland; c. 1332 – c. 1386) is the presumed author of a work of Middle English alliterative verse generally known as Piers Plowman, an allegory with a complex variety of religious themes , the greatest examples of Middle English alliterative poetry, , 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.

Life

Little is known of Langland’s life: he is thought to have been born somewhere in the region of the Malvern Hills, in Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England around 1330, according to internal evidence in Piers Plowman , 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. The narrator in Piers Plowman receives his first vision while sleeping in the Malvern Hills (between Herefordshire and Worcestershire), which suggests some connection to the area. The dialect of the poem is also consistent with this part of the country. Piers Plowman was written c. 1377, as the character's imagination says he has followed him for "five and forty winters."

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. A fifteenth-century note in the Dublin manuscript of Piers Plowman says that Langland was the son of Stacy de Rokayle.

Langland is believed to have been born in Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire, although Ledbury, Herefordshire, and Great Malvern, Worcestershire also have strong claims to being his birthplace. There is a plaque to that effect in the porch of Cleobury Mortimer's parish church , which also contains a memorial window, placed in 1875, depicting the Piers Plowman vision. Langland is thought to have been a novitiate of Woodhouse Friary located nearby.

There are strong indications that Langland died in 1385 or 1386. A note written by "Iohan but" (John But) in a fourteenth-century manuscript of the poem (Rawlinson 137) makes direct reference to the death of its author: "whan this werke was wrouyt, ere Wille myte aspie/ Deth delt him a dent and drof him to the erthe/ And is closed vnder clom" ("once this work was made, before Will was aware/ Death struck him a blow and knocked him to the ground/ And now he is buried under the soil"). According to Edith Rickert, John But himself seems to have died in 1387, indicating that Langland died shortly before this date. Nonetheless some scholars believe Langland was the author of a 1399 work, Richard the Redeless. It is believed that William Langland was born in the year 1332 in the Worcestershire town of Ledbury, close to the Welsh border. It is quite likely that he went to school at nearby Great Malvern Priory. He was writing poetry at an early age and had a strong religious inclination which almost led to the priesthood. He didn’t quite manage that though as he only took minor orders.

At some point after completing his education he moved to London to seek his fortune. His talent for writing enabled him to make some kind of income copying documents. He supplemented this by singing at masses and, although it is unconfirmed, he may also have made money by reciting prayers for the dead. Indeed a lot of what is “known” about Langland comes directly from his Piers Plowman work as scholars have suggested that it is an autobiographical piece of work.

William Langland is the conjectured author of the fourteenth-century English poem Piers Plowman. Almost nothing is known of Langland himself, and if he authored any other works of literature they are no longer known to us. Nonetheless, on the basis of Piers Plowman alone, Langland is one of the most important figures in Middle English literature. Langland was writing during a period of significant cultural and linguistic change in England. The English language itself had been rapidly changing as a result of the Norman Conquest and increased interaction with the European continent; and English culture had entered a period of significant strife. The rampant corruption of medieval Roman Catholicism had incited a great deal of unrest among the English populace, and a number of authors, Langland among them, would directly address their own thoughts on Christianity, the Church, and the state of England as a whole through the medium of poetic allegory. In so doing, Piers Plowman became (intentionally or not) a rallying-point for one of the largest revolts in medieval history, and the poem would be appropriated by a number of radicals throughout England.

Conjectured Life

Almost nothing is known of William Langland the man, and even his authorship of the widely influential Piers Plowman is only scantily documented. The attribution of Piers to Langland rests principally on the evidence of a manuscript held at Trinity College, Dublin. This document directly ascribes "Perys Ploughman" to one "Willielmi de Langlond", son of "Stacy de Rokayle, who died in Shipton-under-Wichwood, a tenant of the Lord Spenser in the county of Oxfordshire." Other manuscripts also name the author as "Robert or William Langland," or "Wilhelmus W." (most likely shorthand for “William of Wichwood”). The poem itself also seems to point towards Langland's authorship. At one stage the narrator remarks: “I have lyved in londe...my name is longe wille” (B.XV.152). This can be taken as a coded reference to the poet's name, in the style of much late-medieval literature. Although the evidence may appear slender, Langland's authorship has been widely accepted by commentators since the 1920s. It is not, however, entirely beyond dispute, as recent work by Stella Pates and C. David Benson has demonstrated.

Langland's entire identity rests on a string of conjectures and vague hints. It would seem that he was born in the West Midlands: Langland's narrator receives his first vision while sleeping in the Malvern Hills, between Herefordshire and Worcestershire, which suggests some level of attachment to this area. The dialect of the poem also implies that its author originated from this part of the country. Although his date of birth is unknown, there is a strong indication that he died in c.1385-1386. A note written by one "Iohan but" ("John But") in a fourteenth-century manuscript of the poem (Rawlinson 137) makes direct reference to the death of its author: whan this werke was wrouyt, ere Wille myte aspie/ Deth delt him a dent and drof him to the erthe / And is closed vnder clom ("once this work was made, before Will was aware / Death struck him a blow and knocked him to the ground / And now he is buried under the soil"). Since But himself, according to records, seems to have died in 1387, Langland must have died shortly before this date.

The rest of our knowledge of the poet can only be reconstructed from Piers itself. There is in fact a wealth of ostensibly biographical data in the poem, but it is difficult to know how this should be treated. The C-text of Piers contains a passage in which Will describes himself as a “loller” living in the Cornhill area of London, and refers directly to his wife and child: it also suggests that he was well above average height, and made a living reciting prayers for the dead. However, it would be rash to take this episode at face value. The distinction between allegory and real-life in Piers is by no means absolute, and the entire passage, as some have observed, is suspiciously reminiscent of the false confession tradition in medieval literature (represented elsewhere by the Confessio Goliae and by Fals-Semblaunt in Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose). A similar passage in the final Passus of the B- and C-texts provides further ambiguous details. This also refers to Will's wife, and describes his torments by Elde (Old Age), as he complains of baldness, gout and impotence. This may well indicate that the poet had already reached middle age by the 1370s: but once again suspicions are aroused by the conventional nature of this description, and the fact that it occurs towards the end of the poem, when Will's personal development is reaching its logical conclusion.

Further details can be inferred from the poem, but these are also far from unproblematic. For instance, the detailed and highly sophisticated level of religious knowledge in the poem indicates that Langland had some connection to the clergy, but the nature of this relationship is uncertain. The poem shows no obvious bias towards any particular group or order of churchmen, but is rather even-handed in its anticlericalism, attacking the regular and secular clergy indiscriminately. This makes it difficult to align Langland with any specific order. He is probably best regarded, as John Bowers writes, as a member of "that sizable group of unbeneficed clerks who formed the radical fringe of contemporary society...the poorly shod Will is portrayed 'y-robed in russet' traveling about the countryside, a crazed dissident showing no respect to his superiors". Piers-scholar Malcom Godden has proposed that Langland lived as an itinerant hermit, attaching himself to a patron temporarily, exchanging writing services for shelter and food.

The tradition that Langland was a Wycliffite—an early English form of Protestantism before Martin Luther's Reformation—is an idea promoted by Robert Crowley's 1550 edition of Piers and complicated by early appropriation of the Plowman-figure, and it is almost certainly incorrect. It is true that Langland and Wyclif shared many concerns: both question the value of indulgences and pilgrimage, promote the use of the vernacular in preaching, attack clerical corruption, and even advocate disendowment. But these topics were widely discussed throughout the late fourteenth century, only becoming typically associated with Wyclif after Langland's death.

Attribution

The attribution of Piers Plowman to Langland rests principally on the evidence of a manuscript held at Trinity College, Dublin (MS 212). This manuscript ascribes Piers Plowman to Willielmi de Langland, son of Stacy de Rokayle, "who died in Shipton-under-Wychwood, a tenant of the Lord Spenser in the county of Oxfordshire". Other manuscripts name the author as Robert or William Langland, or Wilhelms W. (most likely shorthand for William of Wychwood).

The poem itself also seems to point to Langland's authorship. At one point, the narrator remarks: "I have lived in londe [...] my name is longe wille" (B XV.152). This can be taken as a coded reference to the poet's name, in the style of much late-medieval literature (see, for instance, Villon's acrostics in Le Testament). However, it has also been suggested that medieval scribes and readers may have understood this line as referring to a "William Longwille", the pseudonym used by a Norfolk rebel in 1381.[8]

Although there is little other evidence, Langland's authorship has been widely accepted since the 1920s. It is not, however, entirely beyond dispute, as recent work by Stella Pates and C. David Benson has demonstrated.

All the way through it though are sometimes veiled attacks on all disciplines of the clergy. It seems that he was not afraid to satirise religion which could, of course, have been a dangerous path to take at that time. Perhaps the fact that he favoured neither one side or another of the main religions saved him there – he could not be accused by any of the factions of being against them, and them alone.

The exact date of his death is ambiguous but most records suggest that William Langland died in the year 1390 which would have made him 58 years old.

Piers Plowman

Themes and Summary

William Langland was a 14th century English poet who is most famous for his epic tale of The Vision of Piers Plowman, a long poem written in unrhymed, alliterative verse. Critics have compared this work favourably with the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer who was alive at about the same time. The main problem with this piece of work though is the very size of it – some 47 separate manuscripts. Plowman was split into three different sections, or “dream visions” as they have become known. It was written in “Middle English” and is, as such, difficult to follow but here is an extract from the Prologue which at least gives a flavour of this significant piece of work: Some have suggested that not all of it was written by Langland. Scholars of the work have more or less agreed that Langland was responsible for at least two of the three sections, if not all of them. Some arguments point to as many as five other writers being involved. The absolute truth will probably never be discovered. After such a long passage of time it is difficult to prove it one way or the other.

In addition to Piers Plowman's political role in its own times, the poem is still influential today due to its outstanding literary qualities. The poem is difficult for modern readers; Langland's Middle English is too archaic to be understood without the aid of a glossary or translation. Nevertheless, whether read in translation or in the original, it is clear that the poem is one of the finest works of literature to emerge out of the fourteenth century. Langland's elegant imagery and straight-forward style make the poem one of the most unique of its age. With the exception of a handful of other works written near the same era, Piers Plowman is one of the earliest poems in the English language to be written for a general audience rather than a member of the educated elite. As a result, it is an early example of literary realism, and its plain style would be adopted by a number of other poets in the succeeding decades of the fifteenth century.

Unfortunately much of what is written might not be strictly true. Rather than recording factual accounts of a life the piece may have been of a largely fanciful, fictitious nature. The full title of it was, in fact, The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman. There was something called a tradition of “false confession” found in literature written during the middle ages in England and other parts of medieval Europe. What is found there though is interesting in parts, with descriptions of the life of a man called “Will” with details of life’s trials and tribulations, and descriptions of his wife. There are many religious references which allude, in some ways, to Langland’s tenuous links with the priesthood.

Piers Plowman (written circa 1360–1399) or Visio Willelmi de Petro Ploughman (William's Vision of Piers Plowman) is the title of Langland's Middle English epic. It is written in unrhymed alliterative verse divided into sections called passus (Latin for "steps"). Piers is considered one of the early great works of English literature. It is one of only a few Middle English poems that can stand comparison with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The poem—part theological allegory, part social satire—concerns the narrator's intense quest for the true Christian life, which is told from the point of view of a medieval Catholic narrator who falls asleep in the English Midlands and experiences a series of visions. The poem consists of the narrator's visions, as he is guided by the virtuous plowman, Piers, of the title, and also includes an examination into the lives of three allegorical characters, Dowel ("Do-Well"), Dobet ("Do-Better"), and Dobest ("Do-Best").

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 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.

The poem begins in the Malvern Hills, Worcestershire. The poet falls asleep and has a vision of a tower set high upon a hill and a fortress (dongeon) lying deep in a valley; the tower, in keeping with medieval allegory, is a symbol of Heaven, and the "dungeon" is a symbol of Hell. Between these two symbolic places, there is a "fair field full of folk," representing the world of mankind. In the early part of the poem, Piers, the humble plowman of the title, appears and offers himself as the narrator's guide to truth. The latter part of the work, however, is concerned with the narrator's search for Dowel, ("Do-Well") Dobet ("Do-Better") and Dobest ("Do-best"), three allegorical figures who, as their names suggest, illustrate the ways of virtue. In particular, Dowel illustrates the virtue of conscience, Dobet the virtue of grace, and Dobest the virtue of charity. A sample of the poem's language and style can be heard in the following excerpt, from the poem's prologue:

In a summer season • when soft was the sun,

I clothed myself in a cloak as I shepherd were,

Habit like a hermit's • unholy in works,

And went wide in the world • wonders to hear.

But on a May morning • on Malvern hills,

A marvel befell me • of fairy, methought.

I was weary with wandering • and went me to rest

Under a broad bank • by a brook's side,

And as I lay and leaned over • and looked into the waters

I fell into a sleep • for it sounded so merry.

Then began I to dream • a marvellous dream,

That I was in a wilderness • wist I not where.

As I looked to the east • right into the sun,

I saw a tower on a toft • worthily built;

A deep dale beneath • a dungeon therein,

With deep ditches and dark • and dreadful of sight

A fair field full of folk • found I in between,

Of all manner of men • the rich and the poor,

Working and wandering • as the world asketh.

Some put them to plow • and played little enough,

At setting and sowing • they sweated right hard

And won that which wasters • by gluttony destroy.

Some put them to pride • and apparelled themselves so

In a display of clothing • they came disguised.

To prayer and penance • put themselves many,

All for love of our Lord • living hard lives,

In hope for to have • heavenly bliss.

Such as anchorites and hermits • that kept them in their cells,

And desired not the country • around to roam;

Nor with luxurious living • their body to please.

And some chose trade • they fared the better,

As it seemeth to our sight • that such men thrive.

In a somer seson, whan softe was the sonne,

I shoop me into shroudes as I a sheep were,

In habite as an heremite unholy of werkes,

Wente wide in this world wondres to here.

Ac on a May morwenynge on Malverne hilles

Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte.

I was wery forwandred and wente me to reste

Under a brood bank by a bourne syde;

And as I lay and lenede and loked on the watres,

I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.

Thanne gan I meten a merveillous swevene —

That I was in a wildernesse, wiste I nevere where.

Ac as I biheeld into the eest an heigh to the sonne,

I seigh a tour on a toft trieliche ymaked,

A deep dale bynethe, a dongeon therinne,

With depe diches and derke and dredfulle of sighte.

A fair feeld ful of folk fond I ther bitwene —

Of alle manere of men, the meene and the riche,

Werchynge and wandrynge as the world asketh.

Somme putten hem to the plough, pleiden ful selde,

In settynge and sowynge swonken ful harde,

And wonnen that thise wastours with glotonye destruyeth

And somme putten hem to pride, apparailed hem therafter,

In contenaunce of clothynge comen disgised-

In preieres and penaunce putten hem manye,

Al for the love of Oure Lord lyveden ful streyte

In hope to have heveneriche blisse —

As ancres and heremites that holden hem in hire selles,

Coveiten noght in contree to cairen aboute

For no likerous liflode hire likame to plese.

And somme chosen chaffare; they cheveden the bettre —

As it semeth to oure sight that swiche men thryveth.

The poem is extremely difficult to summarize, due to in part to its nature as a densely allegorical series of dream-visions. The poem has no clear narrative to speak of; although there is a clear protagonist, Piers, and the poem does indeed follow his development as a Christian,. Piers Plowman is more an instructional poem rather than an epic story in the vein of Dante Alighieri or Geoffrey Chaucer. Moreover, Langland's style is somewhat erratic, and the poem frequently diverges into various tangents on political and theological subjects.

Langland's technique in Piers Plowman, however, is exemplary. Unlike Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, or indeed most literature of the fourteenth- and fifteenth-centuries which has survived to the present day, Piers Plowman is written in an alliterative verse style reminiscent of Old English poetry, such as Beowulf. Langland's use of alliterative verse, however, is flexible, integrating a number of aspects of more modern verse styles; the poem is thus a bridge between the medieval poetry of the Anglo-Saxons and the Latinized poetry of latter centuries.

Moreover, the language of Piers Plowman is remarkably plain; Langland went to extensive lengths to ensure that his poem was not bogged down by a dense vocabulary and obscure allusions, and it is quite clear that the poem was intended to be read and understood by a general audience of English-speakers. In this respect, the poem, although very difficult for modern readers, was one of the clearest and most accessible works of literature in its day.

Most of what is believed about Langland has been reconstructed from Piers Plowman. The C text of the poem contains a passage in which the narrator describes himself as a "loller" or "idler" living in the Cornhill area of London, and refers to his wife and child, who are respectively named Katherine and Nicolette.[6] It also suggests that he was well above average height and made a living reciting prayers for the dead in chantries at St Paul's Cathedral.[6] However, the distinction between allegory and reality in Piers Plowman is blurred, and the entire passage, as Wendy Scase observes, is reminiscent of the false confession tradition in medieval literature (also seen in the Confessio Goliae and in Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose).

A similar passage in the final Passus of the B and C texts provides further ambiguous details on the poet's wife and his torments by Elde (Old Age), including baldness, gout, and impotence. This may indicate that the poet had reached middle age by the 1370s, but the accuracy of the passage is called into question by the conventional nature of the description (see, for instance, Walter Kennedy's "In Praise of Aige" and The Parliament of the Three Ages) and the fact that it occurs near the end of the poem, when Will's personal development is reaching its logical conclusion.

The detailed and highly sophisticated religious knowledge displayed in the poem indicates that Langland had some connection to the clergy, but the nature of this relationship is uncertain. The poem shows no obvious bias towards any particular group or order of churchmen, but is even-handed in its anticlericalism. This makes it difficult to align Langland with any specific order. He is probably best regarded, John Bowers writes, as a member of "that sizable group of unbeneficed clerks who formed the radical fringe of contemporary society ... the poorly shod Will is portrayed 'y-robed in russet' traveling about the countryside, a crazed dissident showing no respect to his superiors". Malcolm Godden has proposed that he lived as an itinerant hermit, attaching himself to a patron temporarily and exchanging writing services for shelter and food.

Robert Crowley's 1550 edition of Piers Plowman promoted the idea that Langland was a follower of John Wycliffe. However, this conclusion is challenged by early Lollard appropriation of the Plowman figure (see, for instance, Pierce the Ploughman's Crede and The Plowman's Tale). It is true that Langland and Wycliffe shared many concerns: Both questioned the value of indulgences and pilgrimages, promoted the use of the vernacular in preaching, attacked clerical corruption, and even advocated disendowment. However, these topics were widely discussed throughout the late 14th century and were not specifically associated with Wycliffe until after the presumed time of Langland's death. Also, as Pamela Gradon observes, at no point does Langland echo Wycliffe's characteristic teachings on the sacraments.

Textual Aspects

Piers Plowman is considered to be the biggest challenge in Middle English textual criticism, on par with the Greek New Testament. There are 50-56 surviving manuscripts, depending on the number deemed to be fragments. None of these texts are in the author's own hand, and none of them derive directly from any of the others. All differ from each other.

All modern discussion of the text revolves around the classifications made by Walter William Skeat. Skeat argued that there are as many as ten forms of the poem, but only three are to be considered "authoritative"—the A, B, and C-texts—although the definition of "authoritative" in this context has been rather problematic. According to the three-version hypothesis, each version represents different manuscript traditions deriving from three distinct and successive stages of authorial revision. Although precise dating is debated, the A, B, and C texts are now commonly thought of as the progressive (20-25 yrs.) work of a single author.

According to the three versions hypothesis, the A-text was written c. 1367-1370 and is the earliest. It is considered unfinished and runs to about 2,500 lines. The B-text was written c. 1377-1379; it revises A, adds new material, and is three times the length of A. It runs to about 7,300 lines. The C-text was written in the 1380s as a major revision of B, except the final sections. There is some debate over whether it can be regarded as finished or not. It entails additions, omissions, and transpositions; it is not significantly different in size from B. Some scholars see it as a conservative revision of B that aims at disassociating the poem from radical views expressed by Langland on religious subjects, but there is little actual evidence for this proposal.

Skeat believed that the A-text was incomplete, basing his editions on a B-text manuscript (Oxford, MS. Laud Misc. 581) that he wrongly thought was probably a holograph—that is, written entirely in Langland's own hand. Modern editors following Skeat, such as George Kane and E. Talbot Donaldson, have maintained the basic tenets of Skeat's work: there were three final authorial texts, now lost, that can be reconstructed, albeit imperfectly and without certainty, by rooting out the "corruption" and "damage" done by scribes. Other scholars have hypothesized the existence of a Z-text predecessor to A which contains elements of both A and C. It is the shortest version of the poem, and its authenticity remains disputed.

There are some scholars who dispute the ABC chronology of the texts altogether. There is also a minority school of thought that two authors contributed to the three versions of the poem. Neither of these reappraisals of the textual tradition of the poem are generally seen as very robust. Nevertheless, the troubled textual history of Piers Plowman is necessary to keep in mind when attempting to analyze and describe the poem as a literary work.