Piers the Ploughman

Piers the Ploughman, the work of an unknown minor cleric of the late fourteenth century, was perhaps the most widely read work of its day and is now recognized as the great representative English poem of the late Middle Ages. While it offers a vivid picture of fourteenth-century life and is placed firmly in the world of every day, its theme is the pilgrimage of man's soul in search of ultimate truth. Alone among English poets, Langland combines satirical comedy with a rare power of prophecy and vision.