文法是中世紀文教的首要基礎學門，不僅維繫文化傳承，其重要地位更構 成特有的文法傳統與文識文化。同時，文法此一符號系統也提供中世紀文學一 個舉足輕重的表義架構。中世紀文法分為教學與理論二部：前者旨在傳授拉丁 文法，訓練閱讀與解釋文學本文之能力；後者則是針對語言符號本身的系統性 論述。本文以藍格蘭之<<彼爾士農夫>>為例，探討文法對中世紀文識文化的重 要意涵。藍格蘭在<<彼爾士農夫>>中對文法所引生之文識文化有深入的省思； 此外，他也在詩中巧妙運用文法比喻來描述理想的基督教倫理關係。因此文法 實為<<彼爾士農夫>>之表義基礎。

　　　　　Medieval writers were trained to write, think and speak by the disciplines of the trivium, among which grammar was the most fundamental. The discipline of grammar served to sustain the culture's written tradition and thereby created a dominant grammatical culture. More importantly, grammar, due to its foundational nature, provided medieval writers an intellectual frame of reference in which to produce their poetic texts. William Langland's Piers Plowman is particularly illuminating in this regard since the problem of grammatica is the central issue in the poem. In this essay, I will first investigate the significance and implicatiion of grammatica, and then examine how Langland reflects upon the problems of grammatica and how he appropriates grammar to make his poem mean. In the Middle Ages, grammar was understood to have two related branches: pedagogical grammar, whose aim was the teaching of correct Latin through the study and exposition of canonical texts of the auctores, and theoretical grammar, which involved and abstract and systematic account of literary discourse and language itself. In the following discussion, I will first examine the implications of both pedagogical grammar and theoretical grammar.