Langland, William (c. 1332-c. 1400)

English poet. His alliterative The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman (see Piers Plowman) was written in three (or possibly four) versions between about 1367 and 1386. The poem forms a series of allegorical visions, in which Piers develops from the typical poor peasant to a symbol of Jesus, and condemns the social and moral evils of 14th-century England. It is a masterpiece in combining the depiction of a spiritual pilgrimage with scenes of contemporary social life for a satirical purpose.

Born in the West Midlands, Langland was educated at the Benedictine monastery in Malvern, became a clerk in minor orders, and went to London where he lived with his wife and daughters in Cornhill. He made a precarious living as a scrivener, by singing requiems for the dead, and sometimes by begging. His experience of poverty and hardship is revealed in the vivid sincerity of the descriptions he gives in his work. He became progressively critical of the Church, whose corruptions he wanted to reform, although his faith remained orthodox.