Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
Will, a wandering hermit searching for Truth/God
Form and Meter
The poem is written in alliterative verse, meaning that a number of stressed syllables of words in each line begin with the same sound. Its lines are unrhymed and consist of two halves on either side of a caesura, or break, between grammatical structures.
Metaphors and Similes
Similes:
About Will: “I set off like a sheep in a shaggy woolen smock." In the New Testament, sheep represent saved Christians.
About the castle of Truth, which lies in the East, and is associated with light: “a castle that shines like the sun”
Alliteration and Assonance
The entire poem is alliterative. One example: “Prunella Proudheart fell prostrate and prone,”
Irony
Genre
theological allegory , dream-vision, quest, social satire, beast fable, debate, and sermon.
Setting
The Malvern Hills, Dreams, London, Jerusalem
Tone
Varied: Earnest, Dark, Angry, Devout, Humorous
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonists: Will, Piers Plowman, Conscience. Antagonists: False Friars, the Antichrist
Major Conflict
Doing well vs. being corrupt
Climax
Step VII The Tearing of the Pardon, Step XIII The Harrowing of Hell, and Step XX the battle with the Antichrist form the poem's climax
Foreshadowing
Grace warns of the coming of the Antichrist
Understatement
Allusions
There are numerous religious, literary, historical allusions in the poem:
Saint Paul, Satan, Christ, Peter, The devil, Caesar, Adam, Eve, Cain, Judas, Saint Luke, Lucifer, God, Satan, Beelzebub, Solomon, Mary, King David, Matthew, Saul, Samuel, Agag the Amalechite, Moses, Benedict, Bernard, Francis, Robin Hood, The Earl of Chester, Luke, Matthew, Mark, Saint Paul, Saint Peter of Rome, Saint James, Cato, Saint Gregory, John, Comestor, Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar, Joseph, Pope Gregory, Aristotle, Noah, John the Baptist, Mary Magdalene, Augustine, Emperor Trajan, Plato, Socrates, Ambrose, Saint Avery, Zacchaeus, Isidore, Saint Bernard, John Chrysostom, Friar Geoffrey, Friar John, King Edward the Confessor, King Edmund, Saint Anthony, Saint Giles, Mahomet, Benedict, Bernard, Dominic, Francis, Constantine, Hosea, Moses, The Holy Ghost, Abraham, Isaiah, Gabriel, Judas, John the Baptist, Joshua, Judith, Judas Maccabaeus, The Samaritan, Paul the Apostle, Lazarus, Magi, Caiaphas, Thomas of India, Thaddeus, Antichrist, Seneca.
Piers Plowman contains the first known reference to the tales of Robin Hood.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Personification
The poem is filled with personifications of abstract ideas. For example: Native Wit, Holy Church, Truth, Wrong, Miss Money, Falsehood, Flattery, Fidelity, Guile, Sir Simony, Civil-Law, Envy, Anger, Covetousness, Avarice, Lust, Gluttony, Conscience, Reason, Peace,Wrong, Humility, Fidelity, Wastrel, Repentance, Lust,Anger,Covetousness, Aunt Abstinence, Sloth, Hope, Grace, Patience, Gluttony, Hunger, Death, Do-well, Do-better, Do-best, Intelligence, Nature, Mind, Lady Life, Sir See-well, Sir Say-well, Sir Hear-well, Sir Work-well-with-your-hands, Sir Godfrey Go-well, Dame Study, Learning, Fortune, Scripture, Fleshly-fancy, Lovely-to-look-at, Imagination, The Doctor, Patience, Learning, Free Will, Pride, Justice, Peace, Love, Mercy, Book, Need, Old Age, Contrition, Amends, False-Witness, Honesty, Dread
