William Langland

"In a somer seson, whan softe was the sonne, I shoop me into shroudes as I a sheep were, In habite as an heremite unholy of werkes, Wente wide in this world wondres to here. Ac on a May morwenynge on Malverne hilles Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte."

"A fair feeld ful of folk fond I ther bitwene – Of alle manere of men, the meene and the riche, Werchynge and wandrynge as the world asketh."

"In preieres and penaunce putten hem manye, Al for the love of Oure Lord lyveden ful streyte In hope to have heveneriche blisse"

"For hevene myghte nat holden it, so was it hevy of hymself, Til it hadde of the erthe eten his fille. And whan it hadde of this fold flessh and blood taken, Was nevere leef upon lynde lighter therafter, And portatif and persaunt as the point of a nedle, That myghte noon armure it lette ne none heighe walles. Forthi is love ledere of the Lordes folk of hevene, And a meene, as the mair is, [inmiddes] the kyng and the commune."

"Brewesters and baksters, bochiers and cokes – For thise are men on this molde that moost harm wercheth To the povere peple"

"I kan noght parfitly my Paternoster as the preest it syngeth, But I kan rymes of Robyn Hood and Randolf Erl of Chestre."

"For if hevene be on this erthe, and ese to any soule, It is in cloistre or in scole."

"Whan Costantyn of curteisie Holy Kirke dowed With londes and ledes, lordshipes and rentes, An aungel men herden an heigh at Rome crye, "Dos ecclesie this day hath ydronke venym, And tho that han Petres power arn apoisoned alle!""

"First impressions of mediaeval life are usually coloured by the courtly romances of Malory and his later refiners. Chaucer brings us down to reality, but his people belong to a prosperous middle-class world, on holiday and in holiday mood. Piers Plowman stands alone as a revelation of the ignorance and misery of the lower classes, whose multiplied grievances came to a head in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381."