Only very little is known about William Langland and most of the evidence we have is taken from his only known work, The Vision of Piers Plowman. According to this, William Langland lived from c. 1330 to 1386. He was born in Malvern near Worcestershire in the West Midlands as the son of Stacy de Rokayle of Shipton-under-Wychwood.

Langland was educated for a career in the church but he got married and only attained minor orders. With his wife he lived in Cornhill in London and earned his living as a psalter-clerk by saying prayers for the souls of patrons and of the dead.

The Vision of Piers Plowman is an allegorical dream poem. It exists in four versions, the Z-, A-, B-, and C-text, which are preserved in about fifty MSS. They were written between 1362 and 1386. During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 passages of the B-text that criticised the church and society were used by the leaders of the revolt so that Langland then wrote the C-version to prevent future misuse.

The eight visions of the poem are dreamt by the protagonist Will. On his search for a way to God he encounters various allegorical figures to help him, and to teach him about Do Well, Do Bet, and Do Best.

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