Poets and Peasants

The scene is the cottage of Cornhill of William Langland, the poet and cleric, on June 15th 1381. It is the time of Wat Tyler Rebellion. Unknown to Langland, his wife and daughter have been disposing of his verses and writings to a rascally Pardoner, under threats. The manuscripts have been distributed to the rebel leaders who have used them to inflame the people. The poet Chaucer calls, anxious to meet the author of Piers Plowman, which he much admires. Chaucer is loyal to the King, but warns Langland of his danger if found to be the author of the writings thus employed. Langland, discovering the truth, is distraught to learn of his wife's perfidy and his daughter's ignorance. For the latter he feels he is much to blame. Chaucer undertakes to see that the Lord Mayor knows that Langland is not responsible. The news comes that Wat Tyler is killed. As the curtain falls the roaring of the crowds comes nearer. Langland, though he knows that unwittingly he has helped to further the bloodshed, does not lose his vision of London as "a City of Light".