Piers Plowman

William Langland is the name generally attributed to the author of Piers Plowman, a classic Middle English poem. Written in an unrhymed, alliterative style that was traditional at the time, the poem is composed of a series of dream visions in which the dreamer grapples with issues such as the nature of Christ's love and the relationship between people and God. Piers Plowman is considered to be one of the greatest religious poems in the English language, and Langland ranks among the best of the Middle English authors, along with Geoffrey Chaucer and the anonymous author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Langland is believed to have lived from about 1331 to 1400. Based on the poem, which is thought to be partly autobiographical, Langland probably spent his early years in the Malvern and later lived in London. Some scholars believe that Langland was a poor cleric in one of the minor religious orders; others suggest that he was a monk. Whichever is true, it is evident from his work that he was well-educated, a gifted poet, and very knowledgeable about both the political and the ecclesiastical controversies of his time. It is not certain whether any more of Langland's work has survived. Piers the Plowman's Creed and Richard Redeless, two shorter poems that were previously attributed to Langland, are now believed to have been written by others.