Piers Plowman - by William Langland

Piers Plowman is a Middle English allegorical poem attributed to William Langland, blending social satire and theological exploration in unrhymed alliterative verse across three surviving versions (A, B, and C texts). The narrator, a figure named Will, embarks on a dream quest for spiritual truth amid a corrupt society, encountering personified virtues and vices in a "fair field full of folk" representing medieval England's diverse classes—from corrupt clergy to idle laborers. Key visions include a pilgrimage led by the humble plowman Piers, symbolizing honest work and redemption; debates on doing well (ethical living), better (charity), and best (divine grace); and apocalyptic scenes of Christ's Harrowing of Hell and the Antichrist's rise, culminating in a call for church reform. Themes of social injustice, the limits of reason versus faith, penance over rebellion, and the redemptive power of love critique feudalism, ecclesiastical greed, and the Peasants' Revolt era, while emphasizing humility and communal labor for salvation