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104th out of 351 books
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370 voters
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Piers Plowman
Astonishing in its cultural and theological scope, William Langland s iconoclastic masterpiece is at once a historical relic and a deeply spiritual vision, probing not only the social and religious aristocracy but also the day-to-day realities of a largely voiceless proletariat class.E. Talbot Donaldson s translation of the text has been selected for this Norton Critical E...more
Paperback, 644 pages
Published
March 19th 2006
by W. W. Norton & Company
(first published 1360)
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My first impression of this book was that it reminded me a lot of Pilgrims' Progress, however it is nowhere near as simple or as straight forward as Bunyan's text. In fact, having been written three hundred years earlier, not only does the text need to be translated from the original text, the period in which it was written is vastly different. Where Pilgrim's Progress is about a man's Christian journey, Piers the Ploughman is about a man who goes on an allegorical travel through the dream worl...more
Stephanie Ricker
rated it
Aaaagh, dream visions! I hate them so. I know this is a very important piece of Middle English literature. I still hate it. I can't help it. I don't care about Piers and his half acre of land, and I really dislike allegory most of the time (I'm with you, Tolkien), I don't dig your theology, and this thing is so incoherent and scattered anyway.
*takes a deep breath* *lets it out*
But. There were certain lines that were nice, mainly for their alliteration:
“Of t...more
*takes a deep breath* *lets it out*
But. There were certain lines that were nice, mainly for their alliteration:
“Of t...more
I read this as part of a high school English assignment...I completely dreaded it from the moment I was given the assignment, and dragged my feet- but when I actually started reading, I completely fell in love.
If you can force yourself to get past (or rather, appreciate) the style of writing, it's an incredibly worth-while read!
If you can force yourself to get past (or rather, appreciate) the style of writing, it's an incredibly worth-while read!
Written by a guy we know nothing about in the fourteenth century, this is a wildly confusing text which is also very interesting (if one is at all interested in the devotional or theological life of England in the fourteenth century). Theology seems to have been akin to poetry for this time period: there were few definates, and everything was held in balance by forces which weren't quite in concert with one another. That is, scripture (including Apocraphal scripture) is more or less behind all t...more
Beautifully written, thought-provoking medieval allegory about the role of Christ's Church on earth. Somewhat difficult to understand, but very rewarding. In the tradition of Dante's "Divine Comedy" or Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." The author provides a scathing indictment of the problems of the contemporary Church, while calling upon its leaders for repentance.
Historically significant, this text well depicts the day to day struggles of a common man with no voice and no power. I found the text slightly tedious due to the religious/spiritual context and the allegory that i could not completely relate to. An important work nonetheless and one that I am glad to have plowed through.
Awful. Just awful. If you want medieval Middle English fun, read Chaucer. Compared to The Canterbury Tales, this is REAL Middle English and it is almost unreadable. I am a fairly accomplished and tolerable reader, but this was just too much. After you try to read this, Chaucer will seem like Dr. Seuss...
I thought Piers was really quite clever. I only read a few of the passus, but I enjoyed the glimpse into 14th century religious thought and criticism. One day, when I'm not cramming for a silly exam, I'd like to sit down with the whole thing.
Did not enjoy this work, but I found one of the main components of it really interesting: what are considered economic issues in present-day capitalism ("late capitalism") were moral issues in Medieval times. For instance, Piers asks questions about the morality of charging a poor person the same price the wealthy man pays.
This dual-language edition, while not an authoritative version of the text, still provides readers with a well-glossed translation parallel to the original Middle English verse.
Painful. I'm not much for medieval literature generally, but ouch.
one of Douglas's favorites that dad rad and liked in 2009
A quite interesting and visionary medieval work.
Strive for "do best."
Painful.
Gawain and the Green Knight- I read this with my story w/ my book club. Interesting, but I'm not sure I enjoyed it. It's a story that other stories allude to, so that was satisfying to have checked off the list. Hope it might deepen my understanding of other books.
I'm reading this for my English 400-level seminar class at Dominican University. Frankly, I find it pretty tedious, and since I ain't a bleever, the religious stuff is "a real drag," as Ringo Starr might have once said. But it's interesting at least due to the details about life in 14th Century England. Yawn.
Joanna
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
nobody
Recommended to Joanna by:
Princeton Review
Shelves:
gre-prep,
old-timey-classics
oy...I'm really not feeling the love for this one. It's far too heavy on the medieval religious allegories & moralizing...moving on as quickly as possible...it's almost painful!
Maybe I'm not as strait-laced as I thought I was, since I much prefer the bawdiness of The Cantebury Tales!
Maybe I'm not as strait-laced as I thought I was, since I much prefer the bawdiness of The Cantebury Tales!
Get by the language, already! If you can't do that at some time in your life, you'll miss some of the finest things humankind has written. This is a fascinating look at life at the brink of a new age. Sparked a revolution of sorts I read somewhere. There's a lesson for us today in this book.
I was required to read this "poem" for my English class. Although it was enjoyable with the elaborate descriptions and the personification of the sins and good traits we possess, it was still incredibly difficult to understand.
A very confusing book requiring too much attention to be enjoyable, but of the complex compound metaphors that I can understand, there are a few incisive comments that are as relevant today as in the late Middle Ages.
There's something about archaic English poetry that I just adore. Superficially this is just your average, Medieval religious instruction, no one is going to make a film of it, but succeeds beyond that with it's storytelling.
Everyone should read a medieval text other then Chaucer and this is a good one to pick. Langland wrote three versions because he accidentally sparked a revolution with the first version!
The most painful book I've ever read.
Read: Passus I-IV
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