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William Langland’s Piers Bowman
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William Langland’s Piers Bowman
Piers Plowman is an English narrative written by William England. It is written as
unrhymed and divided into several sections. Piers Plowman is considered to be among the
greatest works of English literature during the middle age. The poem describes the theoretical
and social theory in which the narrator describes his quest for a true Christian life. The poem
describes the need for new institutional forms and trusts the process of generating these new
forms. It involves a series of dream visions which the dreamer seeks. The paper aims to describe
more on the prologue of Pier Plowman.
Pier Plowman describes the language and sensibilities of different institutions. The poem
investigates the dynamics of various institutional forms: the church and schools, government,
and law, local authorities and national politics, property, marriage, and family. The poem
comments less on the current events of the day than how it brings out the structure of the society,
mostly from its political perspective.
The poem mostly majors on reproducing political conflict rather than modelling the political system.
In the poem, Will meets a doctor at a party and is outraged by his learning and
consumption. Will accuses the doctor of being uncharitable to the poo (example, page 120)r. It
reveals the emptiness of his religious perspective—Pier Plowman majors on such characters with
excessive drinking habits. Langland's political criticism dwells on such feelings and the social
consequences of their immoral behaviour. Waster is a character who appears at the party of the
outrageous labourers and brings out a character who discourses between voluntary and
involuntary poor (Example, page 117) . Langland discusses how sinful consumers cover all the
degrees of social hierarchy hence applying his class distinction to the consumption evaluation.
Waste does not need food because he has not worked on it.
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Pier Plowman is given four seeds representing the virtues: patience, fortitude, and
patience. The virtues are to be stored in unity where the Christians reside, indicating that the
virtues must be well-created and be very helpful to society. Below two virtues will be discussed
patience and Faith.
Patience involves accepting a delay or suffering without being annoyed. It is a virtue that
originated from Pier Plowman's poem in the 13th century. Having patience is a great virtue and a
very earned behaviour. Patience as a virtue teaches the poem's audience how they should live
ethically. It introduces the characters that they should forgive each other. It is described as a
noble condition that enables Christians to accept an unpleasant situation. In Pier Plowman's
poem, patience is described as a spiritual necessity. In verse, Jonah indicates God's delay, but
Gawain describes God as unmoved, showing his patience (example, page 115). Langland
describes patience as a virtue that characterizes God's involvement with history. The theme of
patience shows that the poet had a great biblical aspect.
Faith is a strong belief in the doctrines of any religion dwelling on spiritual conviction
rather than proof. Faith is seen as a biblical figure Abraham, whom Will meets on his way to
Jerusalem. He explains to Will that he seeks the help of Jesus to help in the multitude of many
souls in his coat against his chest (example, page 122). Faith travels for a while with Will and
Hope but flees to come across a wounded man on the road.
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References
Burrow, John A. "Words, Works and Will: Theme and Structure in Piers Plowman." In Piers
Plowman, pp. 111-124. Routledge, 2019.
