An Introduction to Piers Plowman
An Introduction to Piers Plowman
William Langland’s allegorical poem Piers Plowman is becoming ever more popular in medieval English literature courses. But most current introductions focus primarily on the B text, leaving a gap in available resources for the poem’s study. As Piers Plowman continues to gain academic attention in all its three versions (the A, B, and C texts), teachers and students need a new perspective and new approach to the poem as an evolving whole.
This first comprehensive introduction to Langland’s masterful work covers all three iterations and outlines the various changes that occurred between each. Useful for individuals reading any version of Piers Plowman, this engaging guide offers a much-needed navigational summary, a chronology of historic events relevant to the poem, biographical notes about Langland, and keys to characters and proper pronunciation. Calabrese’s definitive and refreshingly lively volume allows readers to navigate this daunting poem and to contextualize it within the literary history of Western culture.
Michael Calabrese, professor of English at California State University, Los Angeles, is the author of Chaucer’s Ovidian Arts of Love. A volume in the series New Perspectives on Medieval Literature: Authors and Traditions, edited
This lively book has no peers. . . . Readers seeking a one-stop shop for tools with which to engage with all things Piers could hardly do better than Calabrese’s Introduction. . . . [A] magnificent book.’—Medieval Review ‘A welcome addition to . . . previously available handbooks, guidebooks, and companions.’—Studies in the Age of Chaucer 'Provides a running summary of the poem through its three widely accepted ‘versions,' adding observations, lightly interpretive appreciations, and speculation about the author’s reasons for various revisions. The readings are clarifying and astute, bringing out moments rarely mentioned and offering fresh treatments of famous passages; the critic’s warm voice fosters enthusiasm.'—Choice ‘Introduce[s] readers to the full complexity of the poem and its critical tradition in an engaging and accessible way. . . . Calabrese draws on a shared library of texts and experiences with inventive analogies that bring the poem to life.’—Speculum
A comprehensive and witty guide to understanding Piers Plowman in all its versions, and a manifesto for the pure intellectual pleasure to be had from reading the text as it dynamically unfolds in each of the poet’s reworkings.'—Sarah Wood, author of Conscience and the Composition of Piers Plowman 'Calabrese makes Piers Plowman accessible without sacrificing complexity, guiding readers expertly through the poem’s much-debated development.'—Nicole R. Rice, author of Lay Piety and Religious Discipline in Middle English Literature
Michael Calabrese, professor of English at California State University, Los Angeles, is the author of Chaucer’s Ovidian Arts of Love.
