Excerpt from Sir Gawain and the Green: Piers the Ploughman

In purpose the poem is didactic and satiric 1s a series of allegorical visions. The author seeks to expose the sins and abuses O his time, and to instill the religious principles which would reform these, both m the individual and m society. Any work with such an aim is likely to emphasize the darker side of human nature, and this has to be kept m mind 111 using Piers Plowman as a document for the history Of society. Though a severe critic of social and ecclesiastical conditions, the poet cannot be regarded as a radical innovator with respect to institutions. He not only accepts the division of society into classes, but finds the reform of abuses to lie in each man's doing his duty in that sphere of life in which God has placed him. The laborer is not urged to seek to rise above his class, and when the knight ofiers to learn to plough, Piers recommends him to attend to his knight's business to pro tect the church, to treat his tenants and workmen well, to keep down the game that destroy farmers' crops, and to avoid dissipation. The author, though a reformer, is no leveler, and his gospel is a gospel of work.

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