The Piers Plowman glossary : Will's visions of Piers Plowman, Do-Well, Do-Better and Do-Best : a glossary of the English vocabulary of the A, B, and C versions as presented in the Athlone editions

This Glossary is designed as a companion to William Langland's dream vision poem, Piers Plowman, widely regarded as the greatest literary work in Middle English preceding Chaucer. It glosses and explains over 5000 English words, and foreign words used as if English, in the A, B and C texts of Piers Plowman printed in the critically-acclaimed Athlone editions. Where possible, it illustrates words with examples from all three versions. The first glossary to Piers Plowman was compiled in 1886 by Sir William Skeat but there has been no attempt, until now, to provide a new glossary that takes account of the considerable advances in Middle English scholarship over the last century. This new Glossary gives particular attention to the distinctive problems inherent in its subject, how the texts were preserved, written and received in their time. It takes account of the dialectical and morphological variations between the three texts; the grammar of Langland's style; the richly figurative texture of the rhetorical language used in the poem; and the remoteness of many elements in its content from modern culture and its values. This Glossary is designed as a companion to William Langland's dream vision poem, Piers Plowman, widely regarded as the greatest literary work in Middle English before Chaucer. It glosses and explains over 5000 English words, and foreign words used as if English, in the A, B and C texts of Piers Plowman printed in the critically-acclaimed Athlone editions. Where possible, it illustrates words with examples from all three versions. The first glossary to Piers Plowman was compiled in 1886 by Sir William Skeat but there has been no attempt, until now, to provide a new glossary that takes account of the considerable advances in Middle English scholarship over the last century. This new Glossary gives particular attention to the distinctive problems inherent in its subject, how the texts were preserved, written and received in their time. It takes account of the dialectical and morphological variations between the three texts; the grammar of Langland's style; the richly figurative texture of the rhetorical language used in the poem; and the remoteness of many elements in its content from modern culture and its values. The Glossary Is Designed To Facilitate Access To William Langland's Fourteenth-century Dream-vision Poem Piers Plowman Which, With Dante's Divine Comedy And Chaucer's Troilus And Canterbury Tales, Proclaimed The Coming Of Age Of European Vernacular Poetry. It Defines The More Than 5,000 English Words, And Words Used As English, In The Three Forms Of The Poem Printed In The Athlone Series. The First Of Its Kind Since Sir Walter Skeat's Pioneering Glossarial Index Of 1886, This Glossary Takes Full Account Of The Intervening Advances In Both Middle English Lexicography And Piers Plowman Scholarship. Each Definition Is Supported By Reference To Instances In Each Of The Forms Where The Word Occurs. Where This Applies They Were Chosen With An Eye To The Dialectal And Morphological Differences In The Three Texts, And To The Rhetorically Sophisticated Grammar Of The Poet's Style. The Glossary, Moreover, Gives Full Attention To The Remoteness Of Many Elements In The Poem's Content From Modern Culture And Its Values.