Really the only difficult thing about Piers Plowman is finding a good translation that is readable and hasn’t lost the original context.

I recommend that anyone trying to read it, go out and find following version:

ISBN: 9780393960112

Title: Piers Plowman: An Alliterative Verse Translation

Author: William Langland

Translator: E. Talbot Donaldson

Edited & Annotated: Elizabeth D. Kirk & Judith H. Anderson

I spent a lot of time looking through options for reading Piers Plowman, and this version is highly readable, annotated extremely well, and doesn’t seem to mess up any of the context.

Sidenote: The translator also has a pretty good Beowulf Translation, which I have also picked up and started reading.

  • ExpectoPropolis@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    O wow you unlocked fond memories of my Medieval Literature class in college! My professor was able to read/perform Middle English so he would often bring whatever we were reading to life. I just pulled Piers Plowman off my shelf, as your post inspired me. Of course it’s a Norton Critical Edition, but it is also the Donaldson translation - just different editors.

    If this time period is interesting for you, I also remember covering Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Dante’s The Divine Comedy, Gawain and the Green Knight, and Boccaccio’s The Decameron. I happen to love the latter. I pulled it out during lockdown, as it seemed appropriate (i.e. plague).