The Clerkly Maker: Langland's Poetic Art

Abstract

A.V.C. Schmidt is concerned to rebut the common view of Langland as more concerned with the content of his 'message' than with the minutiae of his art. He bases his study on close examination of particular lines and passages which establish convincingly that the poetry of Piers Plowman demands and deserves the most attentive scrutiny and is inseparable from a proper concern with its structure and themes. In this study of the B-text of Piers Plowman A.V.C. Schmidt argues that Langland is a writer who combines the Latin learning of a medieval 'clerk' with the traditional skills of an alliterative 'maker' to create an art unique for its linguistic subtlety and poetic richness.Beginning with an account of Langland's attitude to the moral and artistic demands of his poem, the book proceeds to a detailed study of the nature of his versecraft, examining the structure of the line, enjambement and a variety of devices used to enrich the texture, from complex forms of alliteration to pararhyme and rhyme. These are considered in the light of what Langland may have learned from medieval Latin poets and writers on the art of poetry. A.V.C. Schmidt is concerned to rebut the common view of Langland as more concerned with the content of his 'message' than with the minutiae of his art. He bases his study on close examination of particular lines and passages which establish convincingly that the poetry of Piers Plowman demands and deserves the most attentive scrutiny and is inseperable from a proper concern with its structure and themes. A.V.C. Schmidt is a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, and university lecturer in English. He is co-editor of the influential journal of medieval studies, Medium Aevum.