The busy, bustling “field full of folk” that Will sees in his first few dreams represents society, which is populated by humans from each of the three estates, or social classes: the clergy (first estate), the nobility (second estate), and the peasantry (third estate). However, the field also symbolizes society on a grander scale, as it symbolizes the whole earth, teeming with people from all different walks of life. Since the field is positioned directly between the castle on the hill and the dungeon in the valley, the field symbolizes the way that all people have the capacity to go to either Heaven or Hell, depending on their behavior on earth.
Field Full of Folk Quotes in Piers Plowman
I saw a tower on a hill-top, trimly built,
A deep dale beneath, a dungeon tower in it,
With ditches deep and dark and dreadful to look at.
A fair field full of folk I found between them,
Of human being of all sorts, the high and the low…
Field Full of Folk Symbol Timeline in Piers Plowman
