Die lateinischen Zitate in Piers Plowman: Intertextualität und Traditionalität

PPl resembles a compendium of literary conventions and homiletic methods from vertical debate to complex allegory and multi-tiered exegesis. Biblical quotations serve as unifying elements, since ultimately the biblical pre-text does not remain verbal. In his diversified forms of quoting and alluding, WL tries to put into words the very secret of the Incarnation which, in Dowel, Dobet, Dobest, is the key to the true Christian life. The Word is shown to be among us, most especially where the gospel’s report of Christ’s life and suffering is closely blended into the life of the dreamer and the apparition of Piers. Piers, who is never presented in explicit terms, resists all attempts at a descriptive definition. The dreamer is himself unable to distinguish Piers and Christ (B.19.10-11), just as the words of the Vulgate are blended into the personal discourse of the poet. The C text reneges on some of the boldest forms of quotation and intertextual effects.