William Langland's allegorical poem Piers Plowman is becoming ever-more popular in medieval English literature courses. But most current introductions focus primarily on the B text, leaving a gap in available resources for the poem's study. As Piers Plowman continues to gain academic attention in all its three versions (the A, B, and C-texts), teachers and students need a new perspective and new approach to the poem as an evolving whole.

This first comprehensive introduction to Langland's masterful work covers all three iterations and outlines the various changes that occurred between each. Useful for individuals reading any version of Piers Plowman, this engaging guide offers a much-needed navigational summary, a chronology of historic events relevant to the poem, biographical notes about Langland, and keys to characters and proper pronunciation. Calabrese's definitive and refreshingly lively volume allows readers to navigate this daunting poem and to contextualize it within the literary history of Western culture.

About the Author
Michael Calabrese, professor of English at California State University, USA, is author of Chaucer's Ovidian Arts of Love.


Book Information
ISBN 9780813062709
Author Michael A. Calabrese
Format Hardback
Page Count 384
Imprint University Press of Florida
Publisher University Press of Florida