"B" Text (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature) - Softcover

Langland, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1840221038 ISBN 13: 9781840221039

Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 1999

Synopsis

An allegorical satire on alliterative verse, describing the vision of the 14th-century poet who falls asleep in the Malvern Hills. Langland covers all aspects of political and theological debate, and echoing common sentiments in its satire of the corrupt church, especially the Friars.

About this title

From the Back Cover

E. Talbot Donaldson wrote in his first book on Piers Plowman that Langland 'in his emphasis on the individual...was in advance of his own church and of his own nation--and, indeed, of himself.' Paradoxically, as Donaldson also recognized, Langland was 'a political and religious moderate' whose cast of mind was 'conservative and traditionalist.' The poem that resulted from this curious paradox presents one of the great enigmas of all English poetry, as well as one of the major works of the Middle Ages.

About the Author

E. Talbot Donaldson was Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at Indiana University. His books include Piers Plowman: The C-Text and Its Poets, Chaucer's Poetry: An Anthology for the Modern Reader, and, with George Kane, the definitive edition of Piers Plowman: The B Version. He was a founding editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1840221038
• ISBN 13: 9781840221039
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304
• Editor: Tiller Terence