6. Describe briefly _Piers Plowman_ and its author. Why is the poem called "the gospel of the poor"? What message does it contain for daily labor? Does it apply to any modern conditions? Note any resemblance in ideas between _Piers Plowman_ and such modern works as Carlyle's _Past and Present_, Kingsley's _Alton Locke_, Morris's _Dream of John Ball_, etc. 7. For what is Wyclif remarkable in literature? How did his work affect our language? Note resemblances and differences between Wyclif and the Puritans. 8. What is _Mandeville's Travels_? What light does it throw on the mental condition of the age? What essential difference do you note between this book and _Gulliver's Travels_? CHRONOLOGY, FOURTEENTH CENTURY ======================================================================= HISTORY | LITERATURE ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1327. Edward III | | 1338. Beginning of Hundred Years' | War with France | 1340(?). Birth of Chaucer | 1347. Capture of Calais | | 1348-1349. Black Death | 1356. Mandeville's Travels | | 1359. Chaucer in French War | | 1360-1370. Chaucer's early | or French period | 1373. Winchester College, first | great public school | 1370-1385. Chaucer's Middle or | Italian period 1377. Richard II. Wyclif and the | Lollards begin Reformation | 1362-1395. Piers Plowman in England | | 1381. Peasant Rebellion. Wat Tyler | 1385-1400. Canterbury Tales | | 1382. First complete Bible in | English | 1399. Deposition of Richard II. | 1400. Death of Chaucer Henry IV chosen by Parliament| (Dante's Divina Commedia, | _c_. 1310; Petrarch's | sonnets and poems, 1325-1374; | Boccaccio's tales, _c_. | 1350.) ======================================================================== * * * * * CHAPTER V THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING (1400-1550) I. HISTORY OF THE PERIOD