Approaches to Teaching Langland’s Piers Plowman
- Editor: Thomas A. Goodmann
- Pages: 266
- Published: 2019
- ISBN: 9781603293402 (Paperback)
- ISBN: 9781603293396 (Hardcover)
“As a whole, the volume is a very welcome addition to the resources available for would-be teachers and students of Piers Plowman, and a testament to the versatility and pedagogical creativity of the poem’s many devotees.”
—Speculum
A series of dream visions, Piers Plowman is a moral reckoning of the whole of medieval England, in which every part of society—from church and king to every sort of “folk”—is considered in the light of the narrator’s interpretation of Christian revelation. The Middle English poem, rich and beautiful, is a particular challenge to teach: it exists in three versions, lacks a continuous narrative, is written in a West Midlands dialect, weaves a complex allegory, and treats complicated social and political issues, such as labor, Lollardy, and popular uprising.
Part 1 of this volume, “Materials,” discusses the different versions, critical and classroom editions, and translations of the poem, as well as the many secondary sources. Part 2, “Approaches,” helps students engage with the poem’s versification, understand its protagonist and its treatment of poverty and equity, and discern connections to the work of other medieval poets, such as Dante and Chaucer.
Judith H. Anderson
C. David Benson
Gina Brandolino
Lawrence M. Clopper
Ian Cornelius
Kate Crassons
Axton Crolley
Mary Clemente Davlin
Richard K. Emmerson
Andrew Galloway
Ralph Hanna
Madonna J. Hettinger
Sarah A. Kelen
Kathryn Kerby-Fulton
David Lawton
Thomas A. Prendergast
Elizabeth Robertson
William E. Rogers
Emily Steiner
Stephanie Trigg
Míċeál F. Vaughan
Lawrence Warner
Nicholas Watson
Acknowledgments (ix)
Preface (xi)
PART ONE: MATERIALS
Introduction (3)
Editions and Facsimiles (4)
Recommended Reading for Undergraduates (12)
Recommended Reading for Advanced Undergraduates and Graduate Students (14)
Aids to Teaching and Advanced Study (16)
The Instructor’s Library (19)
PART TWO: APPROACHES
Introduction (31)
Unliterary Langland? (39)
Practices of Reading
The Subject of Piers Plowman / Piers Plowman and the Discursive (46)
“Lewed” Langland and the Delights of Difficulty (54)
Versification (60)
Repeating Our Agonies: An Approach to Teaching Langland (67)
History and Historicism: Contexts Then and Now
Postsecular Piers (73)
Piers Plowman as Theology: Pedagogy, Politics, Pastness (79)
Hunger Bites: Medieval Malnutrition and a Pedagogy for the Overfed (88)
Super(Plow)man (96)
Piers Plowman in Literary Dialogue
Teaching Langland and Dante (104)
Teaching Langland’s and Chaucer’s Prologues (112)
The Early Modern Plowman in the Classroom (120)
Langland and Allegory (126)
Topics and Tropes
Poetic Anxiety and Popular Culture in Piers Plowman (132)
Piers Plowman and Community (143)
“Mede Overmaistreth Lawe”: Gendered Personification and the Imaginative Power of the Feminine in Piers Plowman (151)
Translation Matters (162)
Curricular Contexts
Falling in Love with Piers Plowman (171)
Teaching Piers Plowman in Interdisciplinary Courses (180)
Teaching the Play of Piers Plowman (187)
Going Forth in the World: Piers Plowman and Service Learning (197)
Beyond the B Text
Giving Priority to the A Version of Piers Plowman (209)
The Pedagogy of an Oppressed Text: The C Version of Piers Plowman (217)
Appendixes
Appendix 1: A Student Introduction to the Language of the C Text (223)
Appendix 2: A Sketch of the Clerical Orders (227)
Notes on Contributors (233)
Works Cited (237)
Index (261)
“[T]his volume offers something for almost everyone interested in teaching or studying Langland.”
—Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching
“This volume offers an exceptionally rich variety of approaches and . . . has the potential to open [Piers Plowman] to many different audiences.”
—Sarah Powrie, St. Thomas Moore College
