Piers Heirs: Late Medieval Public Poetry and Its Audience

FAIN: FA-11010-75

Anne L. Middleton
University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA 94704-5940)

To study the literary and polemical heritage of the 14th century poem Piers Plowman, by examining the commentary, records of ownership, and uses made of the poem's major figures and themes in vernacular works from the poet's lifetime. The continuing yet changing use of the poem through the later 14th century to the Tudor period reflects a large-scale shift in literary values and social ideals, as well as in the composition of the literate lay audience. Nothing substantial has been written on this subject, occupying a territory between literary analysis, intellectual and social history.