Piers Plowman by William Langland: A New Annotated Edition of the C-Text

by Derek Pearsall, William Langland

Overview

William Langland's poem stands at the centre of the study of ideological conflict, social change and religious ideas in the later fourteenth century. It is a poem that vividly encapsulates the great issues and debates of the day and acts as a commentary on cataclysmic events such as the Peasants' Revolt (1381), the condemnation of Wyclif's ideas (1382) and the rise of Lollardy. It is also one of the greatest poems of the English Middle Ages, worth reading beside Dante and Chaucer.The poem has provoked a sophisticated and wide-ranging critical literature. It needs to be read in an edition by an expert conceived with the student-reader in mind. Of the A, B and C versions of the text of Piers Plowman, only a student-geared edition of the B-text exists and that edition is now becoming dated. The C-text, which supersedes B in terms of Langland's poetic career, is also a more complete and carefully structured poem. It needs to be available in an equally readerly edition; this is such an edition. For his new edition of the C-text of Piers Plowman, Derek Pearsall has completely revised the text, added side glosses for the benefit of student readers of the poem (though without sacrificing the glossary), and revised and updated the explanatory notes. The Introduction has also been expanded, revised and reshaped to take account of this. Since the new edition involves a significant reworking of the previous edition and justifies library copy replacement, a hardback library edition will be available for a limited period.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780859897846
Publisher:	Liverpool University Press
Publication date:	10/15/2008
Series:	University of Exeter Press - Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies Series
Edition description:	2
Pages:	438
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Derek Pearsall is Professor Emeritus of Harvard University and a pre-eminent scholar of Langland and Chaucer; he has published widely on both authors.

Table of Contents

Plowman xi
Introduction 1
Prologue The Fair Field Full of Folk 43
Passus I Holy Church 56
II The Marriage Plans of Meed the Maid 68
III Meed the Maid at Westminster 80
IV Meed the Maid on Trial 102
V The Author's Apologia and the Sermon of Reason 110
VI The Confession of the Sins 121
VII The Shriving of the Folk; Piers Plowman's Guide to Truth 140
VIII The Ploughing of the Half-Acre 156
IX The Pardon Sent from Truth 171
X The Search for Dowel: The Discourse of the Friars, Thought and Wit 187
XI Learning and Salvation: the Discourse of Study, Clergy and Rechelesnesse 201
XII The Debate about Salvation continued: Discourse of Rechelesnesse on Humility and Patient Poverty 216
XIII Rechelesnesse Concludes; the Mirror of Middle-Earth 228
XIV Imaginatif 238
XV The Feast of Patience and the Meeting with Activa Vita 250
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XVI Patience and Liberum Arbitrium 265
XVII Liberum Arbitrium on Charity and the Church 282
XVIII The Tree of Charity and the Meeting with Faith 296
XIX Hope and the Good Samaritan 309
XX The Crucifixion and the Harrowing of Hell 322
XXI The Founding of Holy Church 344
XXII The Coming of Antichrist 363
Textual Variants 379
Reference List 392
Glossary

Editorial Reviews

"Scholarly and accessible, this will be an invaluable edition for both students of the poem and those specializing in the field."—Medium Aevum

"... making this edition one of the most valuable tools available."—Year's Work in English Studies

From the Publisher

"...a fine edition which will make the C Version more accessible and comprehensible, and, I hope, more widely read." -Review of English Studies

Review of English Studies

"...Pearsall gives a great deal of aid with the social and political context of Piers, ranging from straightforward explanation of personal allusions or glosses on the detail of fourteenth-century ecclesiastical organization to fruitful comment on the largest questions about Langland''s society." -English Language Notes

English Language Notes

"This volume has now been fully revised and reformatted, much to the benefit of all readers. . . . Those who do not own the previous edition--and many who do--will welcome this new edition."

Choice

"For the first time it is possible to see the C-text purged of scribal ineptitudes and arguably as Langland''s maturest work ... The effect, at times, is that of the bright colours of a Renaissance painting emerging from under the dirt, varnish and academic pieties of generations." -English

English