To prepare for next week:
Next week we will be looking at the alliterative allegorical poem Piers Plowman, ed.
by A.V.C. Schmidt (Everyman edition – the second edition only). It is important that
you read an edition of the B-text, since the Passus numbers of other versions do not
correspond to the work I am setting. I would like you to read at least the Prologue,
Passus 5 – 7, and Passus 18 – 20 in the original. You will already have read some of
this for last week’s translation classes. I would also like you to read as much as you
can of the rest of Piers Plowman in translation: A.V.C. Schmidt translated his own
edition in an Oxford World Classics volume.
As for secondary reading, Schmidt’s introduction to his translation, or sections 1 – 6
of the introduction to his edition might be a good place to start, or James Simpson’s
Piers Plowman: An Introduction to the B-Text. David Aers has written several books
on Piers Plowman, and the volume edited by John A. Alford, A Companion to Piers
Plowman, may also be useful. If you are unsure about how the idea of an allegory
works, look at the second chapter of C.S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love.
As you read, it may be helpful to consider and make notes on some of the following:
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The depiction of society in the poem
The presentation of representatives of religion
The handling of the allegory – how does it shift or slip through the poem?
The relative value of spiritual knowledge and good deeds
The roles of allegorical characters like “Truth”, “Repentance”, “Mercy”,
“Rightwisnesse”, “Conscience”, “Kynde” and so on – how do these figures
stretch the meanings of the concepts they represent?
You might find it helpful to think about some of these issues in comparison with
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, for example.
You should then attempt one of the essay questions below and hand your essay into
me at Pembroke College by 5pm on Monday 25 October.
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Either: “For all the learned debate in Piers Plowman, it is the poem’s
imagery which communicates most effectively.” Discuss.
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Or: “Piers Plowman might appear radical in its critique of society, but this
disguises Langland’s deeper conservatism.” Do you agree?
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Or: “Piers Plowman’s depictions of sin are so vivid, they overpower the
poem’s attempts to imagine redemption.” Do you agree?