An Introduction to "Piers Plowman" by Michael Calabrese (review)

An Introduction to "Piers Plowman" provides a sophisticated and accessible guide for students who are beginning to study Langland's sprawling masterpiece. Buoyed by his obvious enthusiasm for the poem, Michael Calabrese gives clarity to the poem's frequently disorientating narrative, analyses its political and social commentary, and cajoles his readers into appreciating the poem's artistry.

The guide is divided into chapters which consist of a summary and an extended analysis of each section of the poem. The analysis often contains generous quotations from the poem: some familiarity with Middle English is assumed, though most difficult words are glossed. Uniquely among similar student handbooks, Calabrese's commentary gives equal weight to each of the three versions of the poem. Therefore, his chapters follow the events of the poem from start to finish across all versions, with separate chapters covering the differences between versions when they diverge significantly. Further material in appendices and an opening chapter offers background historical context, a chronology of important dates, a pronunciation guide, and an alphabetical list containing descriptions of the poem's characters and allegorical figures.

The major strength of Calabrese's guide is his sensitive attention to the poem's different versions. He explains how Langland edited, deleted, and shifted material between sections, and he offers suggestions as to why. In this way, Calabrese encourages students to see Piers Plowman as a dynamic text shaped over time both by Langland's reactions to contemporary events and by his desire to improve his work. Readers must be aware that Calabrese's explanations for Langland's revisions are often impressionistic or speculative. For example, Calabrese frequently offers his opinion on the poetic success of some sections as a reason for their revision, praising particular lines as an improvement of the dull, unpolished original version (although he also points out when he prefers the original). In addition, he often explains changes in the C version by imagining an aging Langland redrafting aspects of the poem because he has grown less patient and less optimistic than his younger, B-version self. At times, he gives a little too much space to these speculations, since they lack obvious evidence. Nevertheless, Calabrese is to be commended for encouraging readers to see the various texts of the poem as the product of Langland's intentions evolving over time, and thereby he offers an important corrective to the tendency for students to focus solely on the B version of the poem.

The guide is also made distinctive by Calabrese's enthusiastic voice, which vigorously promotes the importance and aesthetic success of the poem. Calabrese draws on a sprawling range of modern and historical parallels and analogues to show how the poem is relevant today, connecting the poem's action with famous moments from English literary history, as well as with modern politics and culture. Some of these well-intentioned examples may seem tenuous, as for instance when he points out that the poem's treatment of the importance of love parallels John Lennon's "all you need is love" (265), or that Holy Church parallels Glinda the Good Witch from The Wizard of Oz (46, 294). At the same time, such eclectic examples help to dislodge the impression that Langland's world was totally alien to our own, and thereby show students that they can appreciate the poem as they would modern works of literature. At times, Calabrese's insistence that modern readers will enjoy the poem is a little unconvincing, as when he suggests that readers will "savor the guilty pleasure of Langland's gossipy love-triangle" between Holy Church, Leautee and Mede(47). However, though such efforts may feel patronising to some readers, they nevertheless convey an evident enthusiasm for the poem, jolting readers from any expectation that medieval literature is dry and uninteresting, and in this way Calabrese teaches readers to enjoy the poem's complexity and aesthetic achievement.

An introductory commentary must compromise on some historical specificity, and accordingly Calabrese's commentary occasionally lacks historical...