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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... Read Full Overview

William Langland's Piers Plowman is one of the major poetic monuments of medieval England and of world literature. Probably composed between 1372 and 1389, the poem survives in three distinct versions. It is known to modern readers largely through the middle of the... Read Full 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... Read Full Overview

Simpson's introductory study is based on the B-text, the most widely read and studied of the three versions of Piers Plowman. Aimed at undergraduates, it is the only truly introductory book on the text in existence. Its structure follows that of the poem's eight visions and its... Read Full Overview