Who is William Langland

William Langland (; Latin: Willielmus de Langland; c. 1332 – c. 1386) is the presumed author of a work of Middle English alliterative verse generally known as Piers Plowman, an allegory with a complex variety of religious themes. The poem translated the language and concepts of the cloister into symbols and images that could be understood by a layman.

Life

Little is known of Langland himself. It seems that he was born in the West Midlands of England around 1330, according to internal evidence in Piers Plowman. The narrator in Piers Plowman receives his first vision while sleeping in the Malvern Hills (between Herefordshire and Worcestershire), which suggests some connection to the area. The dialect of the poem is also consistent with this part of the country. ...
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William Langland Poems

• The Vision Of Piers Plowman - Part 01
  What this mountaigne bymeneth and the merke dale
  And the feld ful of folk, I shal yow faire shewe.
  A lovely lady of leere in lynnen yclothed
  Cam doun fom [the] castel and called me faire, ...
• The Vision Of Piers Plowman - Part 04
  ' Cesseth!' seide the Kyng, ' I suffre yow no lenger.
  Ye shul saughtne, forsothe, and serve me bothe.
  Kis hire,' quod the Kyng, 'Conscience, I hote!'
  ' Nay, by Crist!' quod Conscience, ' congeye me rather! ...
• The Vision Of Piers Plowman - Part 12
  ' I am Ymaginatif,' quod he, 'ydel was I nevere,
  Though I sitte by myself, in siknesse nor in helthe.
  I have folwed thee, in feith, thise fyve and fo
  And manye tymes have meved thee to [mlyn[n]e on thyn ende, ...
• The Vision Of Piers Plowman - Part 15
  Ac after my wakynge it was wonder longe
  Er I koude kyndely knowe what was Dowel.
  And so my wit weex and wanyed til I a fool weere;
  And some lakked my lif - allowed it fewe - ...
• The Vision Of Piers Plowman - Part 17
  'I am Spes, a spie,' quod he, 'and spire after a knyght
  That took me a maundement upon the mount of Synay
  To rule alle reames therewith - l bere the writ here.'
  'Is it asseled?' I seide. 'May men see thi lettres?' ...

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William Langland Quotes

• There smites nothing so sharp, nor smelleth so sour as shame.
• Who will bell the cat
• Necessity has no law.

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Comments about William Langland

• Se25a: "teach this to the ignorant, for the learned know it already: truth is the most perfect treasure on earth." william langland. "piers the ploughman" about 1377
• Gracehammanphd: i love this question. for me, it was william langland's piers plowman. took me so many tries to begin to grasp its internal logic and strange beauty.
• Chilledhazlenut: all would be well if the different orders of society would do their duty. ~ william langland
• Qctimes: in sports as in life, sometimes you have to wait. there is a reason the phrase credited to medieval english writer william langland in his circa 1370s poem “piers plowman”
• Thehistoryguy: 'so it is nowadays. the labourer is angry unless he gets high wages.' william langland, poet, 14th century.

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