The Man Who Dreams, Awakens to Witness Prolonged Truths: Piers Plowman the A Version: Passus 10, lines 124-153

Abstract

William Langland’s Piers Plowman is a 14th-century Christian dream poem that shares common elements with the pulp-noir detective stories of more recent authors like Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler. This interpretation may seem idiosyncratic when speaking about a piece of Middle-English literature that was composed in the late 1300s. Yet, like the contemporary detective novel, Piers Plowman goes about its work by presenting the answers to its own questions in a non-linear fashion, requiring the reader to engage with the piece critically. While some readers will enjoy themselves and glean a nugget of truth—which they will take with them, apply to their lives, and lackadaisically move on—those with a keen eye and skills in deductive reasoning will observe an almost perfect story of contradictions. This translation is a creative adaptation of Langland’s work, intended to recapture the timelessness of a story like Piers Plowman for the pulp fiction readers of today.