Piers Plowman Tradition

Literary/ Cultural Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.02: English Writing and Culture: High and Late Medieval, 1066-1485.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Rory Critten (Université de Lausanne), David Fuller (University of Durham), Natalie Hanna (University of Liverpool), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast), Jamie McKinstry (University of Durham), Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool), Sebastian Sobecki (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)

Domains

Literature Topic

Dates

Date of occurrence 1200

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

Genres and Modes

Prose Fiction Narrative

Inspired largely by William Langland's poem, Piers Plowman , at least fourteen other texts written over the course of the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries feature Piers the Ploughman and/or other characters from the poem. Although there may have been a tradition preceding Langland, his twelve-book poem (written approximately 1360-87) is the most influential of these texts. Set initially in the Malvern hills, it is narrated by a character named Will, who falls asleep and has a vision of a mythical landscape, in which he meets Piers, the humble ploughman, who is attributed Christ-like characteristics. The poem proceeds in the form of a quest for the true Christian life, focused on a search for three characters: Dowel (Do Well),…

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190 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Piers Plowman Tradition". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 July 2012 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=864, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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