Piers Plowman (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: William Langland
- First Published: 1362
- Type of Work: Poetry
- Type of Plot: Social
- Time of Work: Fourteenth century
- Setting: England
- Genres: Poetry, Allegory, Narrative poetry
- Subjects: Spiritual life or spirituality, England or English people, Good and evil, Antichrist figures, Visions, epiphanies, or revelations, Theology, Fourteenth century, Allusions
- Locales: England
Characters Discussed
Piers the Plowman, the hardworking, sincere, and honest plowman who with each appearance in the poem becomes more clearly an incarnation of Christ. In the poet’s second vision, Piers volunteers to lead the assembly of the seven deadly sins to Holy Truth and thus earns a pardon for himself and his heirs forever. The third vision of the poet concerns Piers’s quests for the states of Do-Well, Do-Better, and Do- Best. Piers also explains the Tree of Charity and the nature of the Trinity of God to the poet and appears as the Good Samaritan, as the builder of...
[The entire page is 573 words long]
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