In a _s_omer _s_eson * whan _s_oft was the _s_onne
I _sh_ope[17] me in _sh_roudes[18] * as I a _sh_epe[19] were
In _h_abite as an _h_eremite[20] - un_h_oly of workes
_W_ent _w_yde in is _w_orld - _w_ondres to here
Ac on a _M_ay _m_ornynge - on _M_aluerne hulles[21]
Me by_f_el a _f_erly[22] - of _f_airy me thouss te
I _w_as _w_ery for_w_andred[23] - and _w_ent me to reste
Under a _b_rode _b_ank - _b_i a _b_ornes[24] side,
And as I _l_ay and _l_ened[25] - and _l_oked in e wateres
I _s_lombred in a _s_lepyng - it _s_weyved[26] so merye."

[Illustration: TREUTHE'S PILGRYME ATTE PLOW. _From a manuscript in
Trinity College, Cambridge._]

The language of _Piers Plowman_ is a mixture of the Southern and
Midland dialects. It should be noticed that the poem employs the old
Anglo-Saxon alliterative meter. There is no end rime. _Piers Plowman_
is the last great poem written in this way.

The actors in this poem are largely allegorical. Abstractions are
personified. Prominent characters are Conscience, Lady Meed or
Bribery, Reason, Truth, Gluttony, Hunger, and the Seven Deadly Sins.
In some respects, the poem is not unlike the _Pilgrim's Progress_, for
the battle in passing from this life to the next is well described in
both; but there are more humor, satire, and descriptions of common
life in Langland. Piers is at first a simple plowman, who offers to
guide men to truth. He is finally identified with the Savior.

Throughout the poem, the writer displays all the old Saxon
earnestness. His hatred of hypocrisy is manifest on every page. His
sadness, because things are not as they ought to be, makes itself
constantly felt. He cannot reconcile the contradiction between the
real and the ideal. In attacking selfishness, hypocrisy, and
corruption; in preaching the value of a life of good deeds; in showing
how men ought to progress toward higher ideals; in teaching that "Love
is the physician of life and nearest our Lord himself,--" _Piers
Plowman_ proved itself a regenerating spiritual force, a
stepping-stone toward the later Reformation.

The author of this poem was also a fourteenth-century social reformer,
protesting against the oppression of the poor, insisting on mutual
service and "the good and loving life." In order to have a
well-rounded conception of the life of the fourteenth century, we must
read _Piers Plowman_. Chaucer was a poet for the upper classes. _Piers
Plowman_ gives valuable pictures of the li