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.
I remember Piers Plowman being required reading when I had English literature in my senior year of high school. I haven’t read it since…30 years ago. I honestly don’t remember anything about it.