Piers Plowman Trinity College, Cambridge MS B.15.17 (W)

2. Piers Plowman Trinity College, Cambridge MS B.15.17 (W)

3. The dreamer asleep in an initial, from Corpus Christi College, Oxford MS 201 (F)

4. In a somer seson, whan softe was the sonne,I shoop me into shroudes as I a sheep were,In habite as an heremite unholy of werkes,Wente wide in this world wondres to here.Ac on a May morwenynge on Malverne hillesMe bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte.I was wery forwandred and wente me to resteUnder a brood bank by a bourne syde;And as I lay and lenede and loked on the watres,I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.Thanne gan I meten a merveillous swevene -- That I was in a wildernesse, wiste I nevere where.A[c] as I biheeld into the eest an heigh to the sonne,I seigh a tour on a toft trieliche ymaked,A deep dale bynethe, a dongeon therinne,With depe diches and derke and dredfulle of sighte.A fair feeld ful of folk fond I ther bitwene -- Of alle manere of men, the meene and the riche,Werchynge and wandrynge as the world asketh. Piers Plowman B 1.1-19

5. Piers Plowman: the conventional view of the text A-Version c.2500 ll.; 11 passus + prologue late 1360s (Kane 1368-74) 10 MSS (scattered) 3 dreams B-Version c. 7200 ll. (700 added; 4000 continuation); prologue + 20 passus late 1370s (Kane 1377-81) 14 MSS; Crowley 1550 print; 1 B + A MS. Metropolitan circulation. 8 dreams total, incl. 2 dreams-within-a-dream C-Version Revision of B; 100 lines longer w/many alterations & omissions; Prologue + 22 passus (last two unrevised) by 1387 (Kane); 1388 (Middleton) 18 MSS; 6 A+C; 3 C + A + B (western circulation)

6. POETIC STYLES and DIALECTS OF LATE MEDIEVAL ENGLAND (1) The wery huntere, slepynge in his bed, To wode ayeyn his mynde goth anon; rhymed syllabic verse The juge dremeth how his plees ben sped; (Chaucer, The ParliamentofFowls 99-105, The cartere dremeth how his cart is gon; Londondialect c. 1380-82) The riche, of gold; the knyght fyght with his fon; The syke met he drynketh of the tonne; The lovere met he hath his lady wonne. Ac on a May morwenynge on Maluerne hilles unrhymed alliterative long lines Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me þo3te. (Piers Plowman B.1.1-10; I was wery forwandred and wente me to reste Northwest Midlands dialect, Vnder a brood bank by a bourne syde, near Malvern & Worcester, c. 1370) And as I lay and lenede and loked on þe watres I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.

8. Ac on a May morwenynge on Malverne Hilles Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte. I was wery forwandred and wente me to reste Under a brood bank by a bournes syde, And as I lay and lenede and loked on þe watres I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.

9. Ac on a May morwenynge on Malverne Hilles Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte. I was wery forwandred and wente me to reste Under a brood bank by a bournes syde, And as I lay and lenede and loked on þe watres I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.

10. Ac on a May morwenynge on Malverne Hilles Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte. I was wery forwandred and wente me to reste Under a brood bank by a bournes syde, And as I lay and lenede and loked on þe watres I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.

11. Ac on a May morwenynge on Malverne Hilles Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte. I was wery forwandred and wente me to reste Under a brood bank by a bournes syde, And as I lay and lenede and loked on þe watres I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.

12. Ac on a May morwenynge on Malverne Hilles Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte. I was wery forwandred and wente me to reste Under a brood bank by a bournes syde, And as I lay and lenede and loked on þe watres I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.

13. Ac on a May morwenynge on Malverne Hilles Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte. I was wery forwandred and wente me to reste Under a brood bank by a bournes syde, And as I lay and lenede and loked on the watres I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.

14. Ac on a May morwenynge on Malverne Hilles Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte. I was wery forwandred and wente me to reste Under a brood bank by a bournes syde, And as I lay and lenede and loked on the watres I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.

15. Ac on a Maymorwenynge on MalverneHilles Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte. I was wery forwandred and wente me to reste Under a brood bank by a bournes syde, And as I lay and lenede and loked on the watres I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.

16. Ac on a Maymorwenynge on MalverneHilles Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte. I was wery forwandred and wente me to reste Under a brood bank by a bournes syde, And as I lay and lenede and loked on the watres I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.

17. Ac on a Maymorwenynge on MalverneHilles Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte. I was weryforwandred and wente me to reste Under a broodbank by a bournessyde, And as I lay and lenede and loked on the watres I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.

18. Ac on a Maymorwenynge on MalverneHilles [aa/ax] Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte. [aa/ax] I was weryforwandred and wente me to reste [aa/ax] Under a broodbank by a bournessyde, [aa/ax] And as I lay and lenede and loked on the watres [aa/ax] I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye. [aa/ax]

19. Oft him an-haga are gebideþ Metodes mildse þeah-þe he mod-cearig Geond lagu-lade lange scolde Hreran mid handum hrim-cealde sæ Wadan wræc-lastas. Wyrd biþ ful aræd. Swa cwæþ eard-stapa earfoþa gemyndig Wraþra wael-sleahta wine-maga hryre. Oft ic scolde ana uhtna gehwelce Mine ceare cwiþan nis nu cwicra nan ðe ic him mod-sefan minne durre Sweotule asecgan. Ic to soþe wat ðæt biþ on eorle indryhten þeaw ðæt he his ferhþ-locan fæste binde Healde his hord-cofan hycge swa he wille. (“The Wanderer,” ll. 1-14)

20. Oft himan-hagaare gebideþ Metodesmildse þeah-þe he mod-cearig Geond lagu-ladelange scolde Hreran mid handumhrim-cealde sæ Wadanwræc-lastas. Wyrd biþ ful aræd. Swa cwæþ eard-stapaearfoþa gemyndig Wraþrawael-sleahtawine-maga hryre. Oft ic scolde anauhtna gehwelce Mine cearecwiþan nis nu cwicra nan ðe ic him mod-sefanminne durre Sweotuleasecgan. Ic to soþe wat ðæt biþ on eorleindryhten þeaw ðæt he his ferhþ-locanfæste binde Healde his hord-cofan hycge swa he wille. (“The Wanderer,” ll. 1-14)

21. Persons and parisshe preestes pleyned hem to the bisshop That hire parisshes weren povere sith the pestilence tyme, To have a licence and leve at London to dwelle, And syngen ther for symonie, for silver is swete. Piers Plowman Prol 83-86 And somme chosen chaffare; they cheveden the bettre— As it semeth to ours sight that swiche men thryveth. Piers Plowman Prol 31-32 He sette nat his benefice to hyre And leet his sheep encombred in the myre And ran to Londoun unto Seinte Poules To seken hym a chaunterie for soules, Or with a bretherhed to been withholde; But dwelte at hoom, and kepte wel his folde, So that the wolf ne made it nat myscarie; He was a shepherde and noght a mercenarie. General Prologue 507-14 This worthy man ful wel his wit bisette: Ther wiste no wight that he was in dette, So estatly was he of his governaunce. General Prologue 279-81 Prologues in Chaucer and Langland

23. From Canterbury Cathedral Pilgrim with a badge-covered hat From Rome From St. James, Compostella From Walsingham

29. From James Simpson, Piers Plowman: An Introduction to the B-Text (London Longman, 1990)

34. From James Simpson, Piers Plowman: An Introduction to the B-Text (London Longman, 1990)

37. THREE-AND-A-HALF VIEWS OF THE TEARING OF THE PARDON • In the context of the second vision, the tearing fulfills the Mosaic typology of the biblical genre that has arisen as Langland's latest experiment in finding an authoritative mode for his poem. • In the context of the poem at large, the tearing arises from the conflict of the priest and Piers over the pastoral authority to wield such a document (7.107-147.). 3. In the context of the previous passus--of the real world of which Piers is a part--the tearing results from an insurmountable disjunction between the idealized and traditional social relations described by the Pardon and the intractable class and economic conflicts revealed elsewhere in the poem: a. 7.61-64 vs. 6.302-318, on landless laborers b. 7.9-12, kings and knights, vs. 6.21-56 (the bargain with Piers) and 6. 159-70 (the knight's failure to discipline Waster) c. 7.40-60a, lawyers, vs. 3.13-25, justices and Meed d. 7.18-39, merchants, vs. 2.213-217, 3.76-92, 5.198-273, esp. 242ff, on the undermining of the feudal order 3A: Simpson's view, that Piers realizes the harshness of the creed's demands: that one simply can't do well enough to earn one's salvation. This turns into the theme of the poem after Will awakes, though right away we can see a problem: Will is looking for a person, a noun, a personification; the "pardon" contained a verb. Moreover, one could argue that Piers is confronted here by the same harsh terms he dealt out to the wasters in the previous passus.

38. From James Simpson, Piers Plowman: An Introduction to the B-Text (London Longman, 1990)

40. From James Simpson, Piers Plowman: An Introduction to the B-Text (London Longman, 1990)

41. From James Simpson, Piers Plowman: An Introduction to the B-Text (London Longman, 1990)

42. The conflict we read is not that of "characters" but of discourses.... Piers Plowman is a dialogic poem constructed from the discourses of Langland's day -social, political, theological, and academic. These are monologic discourses: they exist to over-determine their readers, over whom they assume a position of authority and social power. Yet in practice human beings are surrounded bymonologic discourses that clamor for our attention, yet differ and conflict in the demands they make. Such discourses are therefore lived and experienced as being dramatically plural. Will's search is indeed for "a single Truth," but his consciousness is itself plural and split: necessarily so, for it is constituted by the discourses that divide it. If truth cannot be seen as single or stable, the seeker cannot be either. It would be fair to say that the subject of Piers Plowman responds differently in different discourses, according to the semantic role offered by whichever is the dominant context at a given time: as dreamer when the conditions of the dream-vision prevail, as prospective penitent when the discourse of penance is strong, as a scholar in scholarly contexts, and so on. It is not the treatment of a persona we see primarily here, but the trying on of the different subjectivities that the different discourses confer-and, finally, the refusal of all. David Lawton, “The Subject of Piers Plowman,” Yearbook of Langland Studies 1 (1987): 1-30 (4, 14)

43. I believe that it would be a mistake to see Langland’s poem as moving from a failed attempt to reform society, in the Visio, to an acknowledgment, in the Vita, that this is achieved only through reform of the individual. The poem does not seem to work with these terms. To adapt some terminology from Marx, it seems as free from the idealistic illusion (that we can be changed without radical change to our society) as from the materialistic illusion (that society can be changed without radical change in us). The poem’s values are collective throughout: they frustrate our distinction between private ad public, between personality and “al maner of men.” David Lawton, “The Subject of Piers Plowman,” Yearbook of Langland Studies 1 (1987): 1-30 (20-21)

44. Many men sayn that in sweveninges Ther nys but fables and lesynges; But men may some swevenes sen Whiche hardely that false ne ben But afterward ben apparaunt. This may I draw to warraunt An author that hight Macrobes, That halt nat dremes false ne lees But undoth us the avysioun That whilom mette kyng Cipioun. And whoso saith or weneth it be A jape, or elles nycete, To wene that dremes after falle, Let whoso lyste a fol me calle. For this trowe I, and say for me, That dremes signifiaunce be Of good and harm to many wightes That dremen in her slep a-nyghtes Ful many thynges covertly That fallen after all openly. Chaucer[?], Romaunt of the Rose, ll. 1-20 Maintes gens dient que en songes N'a se fables non et mençonges; Mes l'en puet tex songes songier Qui ne sont mie mençongier, Ains sont aprés apparissant, Si en puis bien traire a garant Un actor qui ont non Marcobes, Qui ne tint pas songes a lobes, Ainçois escrist la vision Qui avint au roi Cypion. Quicunques cuide ne qui die Que soit folece ou musardie De croire que songes aviegne, Qui ce vodra, por fol me tiegne, Car endroit moi ai je creance Que songes soit signifiance Des biens as gens et des anuis; Car li plusor songent de nuis Maintes choses couvertement Qu’il voient puis apertement. Guillaume de Lorris, Roman de la Rose The Opening of the Roman de la Rose

45. The Seven Liberal Arts were divided into the Trivium ("the three roads") and the Quadrivium ("the four roads"). The Trivium consisted of: Grammar Rhetoric Logic The Quadrivium consisted of: Arithmetic Geometry Music Astronomy