William Langland

William Langland (1330?-1400?), English poet, who was supposedly the author of the religious allegory The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman (written 1360?-1400?), better known as Piers Plowman. His birthplace is uncertain, but was probably in Shropshire, and he was probably educated at the monastery of Great Malvern. Little is actually known of Langland; even the authorship of the various works usually attributed to him is in doubt. Three manuscript versions of Piers Plowman are in existence. Considered one of the greatest English poems of medieval times, this work bitterly satirizes corruption among the clergy and the secular authorities, and upholds the dignity and value of labor, personified by Piers Plowman. It was written in accented alliterative verse and takes the form of a dream vision—a favorite device of medieval poetry—describing a panorama of medieval society. Within the dream are woven recountings of a series of journeys in the search for truth—that is, the love of God. Some scholars maintain that Piers Plowman was the work of five poets; others claim it was written by one person, whose name may have been Langland.