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"This mid fourteenth-century poem, a discussion of the 'contempt of the world' and the 'Four Last Things', was one of the most popular Middle English texts in its time, as indicated by the large number of extant copies, and illustrations of it in the windows of All Saints, North Street, in York. It was a widely influential compendium of religious instruction, originating in Yorkshire, but more widely disseminated, and thus representing this important regional culture, as well as its absorption into a nationwide religious culture. The only edition, by Richard Morris (1863), is now generally unavailable outside research libraries. The present edition revises Morris's text extensively and offers full modern annotation, including extensive discussion of the poem's sources. Morris's text, although based on an exceptionally good manuscript copy, has been fully collated with the principal early manuscripts; this information is presented in a separate textual commentary. There is an introduction presenting the poem in its context, and a Glossary."--Publisher's website

Old English literature --- Christian life --- Christian poetry, English (Middle) --- History and criticism --- Prick of conscience --- History and criticism. --- Prick of conscience. --- Christian life - Early works to 1800 --- Christian poetry, English (Middle) - History and criticism

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The fifty-plus surviving manuscripts of William Langland's Piers Plowman cast important light on the early public life of this central Middle English work, but they have been relatively neglected by scholarship. This full study of the subject examines the textual variants, marginal rubrics and companion texts in the manuscripts. It illuminates a reception quite distinct from the reformist poems written by Langland's imitators in 'the Piers Plowman tradition'.

Langland, William, --- Influence. --- LITERARY CRITICISM / Medieval. --- Companion texts. --- Design. --- Literary history. --- Literature culture. --- Manuscript tradition. --- Marginal rubrics. --- Medieval manuscript. --- Piers Plowman. --- Planning. --- Textual variants.