ABSTRACT
The commandment to love is in two parts, love God and love man, but the emphasis in Piers Plowman is on realizing the former through the latter. One of the dominant impressions gained from a reading of Piers Plowman is the poet’s dislike, even hate, of worldly wealth and power and those who possess them, and wherever the book is opened one finds evidence of his sympathy with the poor and wretched. A superficial reading might seem to render doubtful a claim that the poem’s main message is that charity or loving-kindness is the universal panacea, for Langland himself appears as an extremely irascible man, with a very long list of fiercely expressed dislikes and even hates. The most obvious need stressed by Langland throughout the poem is practical generosity to the poor, and its importance is indicated by all the abstractions.
