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 Edition because of its skillful emulation of
the original poem's distinct alliterative verse. Selections of the
authoritative Middle English text are also included for comparative
analysis. "Sources and Backgrounds" includes a large collection of
contemporary religious and historical documents pertaining to the poem,
including selections from the Douai Bible, accounts of the plague, and
legal statutes. "Criticism" includes twenty interpretive essays by
leading medievalists, among them E. Talbot Donaldson, George Kane, Jill
Mann, Derek Pearsall, C. David Benson, and Elizabeth D. Kirk. A Glossary
and Selected Bibliography are also included.