William Langland 1332-1400

Ac on a May  mornwenyng on Maluerne hulles
        Me byfel for to sepe for weyrynesse of wandryng
          ca 1380
        
        

illiam Langland, who was one of the first poets to write in English since the Norman Conquest was probably born in Herefordshire somewhere between Colwall and Ledbury. He is famous for writing The Vision of William Concerning Piers The Plowman,
an allegorical poem with religious and moral themes.The poem starts off with his wandering over the Malverns, and seems to mention such local places as the imagery that may be seen if one visits the choir stalls at the priory church of St Giles in Little Malvern.

If one assumes that he is identified with the dreamer in his poem then it is probable that he had some education at the Benedictine school in Malvern.

Written about the same time as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales this poem too gives a valuable insight into contemporary society with its social comment and irony.

Langland lived for a while in Cornhill, London where he was probably a cleric in minor religious orders.

This poem is, amongst other things, a good example of how the meaning of words can change over the centuries. For example the word nice originally meant ignorant, as in the passage ...for he was nice and cooth no wysdome.

Has anyone described you as a nice person?

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hits since Feb 10th 2006