The London Lackpenny
This text follows the narration of a poor man who travels through London begging from various people. Everyone, from clergymen to vendors to government officials, turns him down. He had his hood stolen from him and even spies the same hood for sale in the market, but he cannot buy it back and resents the very idea. Although he longs to travel farther, he cannot even afford the ferry fee much less food to sustain himself.
That Now Is Hay Some-Tyme Was Grase
In this short text, Lydgate entreats his reader to set their sights upon heaven, a place full of green grass from which there is no falling. He is frustrated with the corruption of the world and its miseries. He responds to suffering by urging people to distrust the world and to pursue instead all things higher and invisible.
Vox Ultima Crucis
This poem is written from the perspective of Jesus Christ. He tells the reader to hurry onward and to be content because time is limited. In both the positive and the negative sense, he asserts the shortness of the earthly life. As if anticipating the reader's fear, Jesus ends by reminding the reader that he has already sacrificed for the reader's entrance into Paradise.
The Testament of John Lydgate
Lydgate writes from the perspective of the Christ once more. Jesus entreats the sinner to abandon his sinner and continue onward in good spirits because Jesus has already prepared a place for him in heaven. The Christ recounts how he suffered all for this sinner. He personally entreats, reminding the sinner that everything is already complete.
