Vielchieva K. William Langland's "Piers Plowman": the Genre Poetics

The object is W. Langland's poem "Piers Plowman". The goal is to define the specific character of the genre poetics of W. Langland's poem "Piers Plowman" in literary, religious and philosophic context on the background of historical and cultural situation of 14th-century England. Methods - "close reading", hermeneutic, cultural-historical, historical and literary, cultural-philosophical, mythopoetic, motive analysis, phylosophical-aesthetic and comparative-typological approaches. Consideration has been given to the historical situation, the spiritual climate and the literary process of the epoch, which affected the poetics of Langland’s work. The thesis demonstrates differences between the genres of allegorical vision and revelatory vision, as well as the development of the dream form in fiction. The research highlights connection of Langland's poem with medieval religious and philosophical ideas, among which most attention has been paid to the treatment of the problem of salvation. Complex analytical reading of the poem resulted in discovering the specific character of its genre poetics. Drawing on the traditions of scholastic discussions, biblical commentary and preaching art, combining tendencies of high intellectual as well as folk culture, Langland shares typical of the High and Late Middle Ages aspiration for summing and unites different genre elements within the framework of the whole, using artistic potential of allegorical vision. Langland's work contributed to the national artistic tradition and influenced English literature of the 16th - 17th centuries, works of E. Spenser and J. Bunyan in particular. Application sphere - academic process.