In
literature, there is a longstanding
tradition of the ploughman as a
metaphor for the
poet author. Origins may lie in the
imagery of the author sowing
ideas and cultivating his work, or from the
Latin technical term,
exaratus, or '
ploughed up', referring to the heavy-handed process of incribing
parchment; the
pen creates
furrows on the
page.
Vergil in his Georgics already makes scattered allusions. William Langland in his Piers Ploughman uses the idea liberally, while the work 'Der Ackerman', (The Ploughman), by Johannes von Tepl, is an autobiographical work, imagining a conversation between him and death. Very often, the metaphor is made clear by the complete incompetence of the protagonist-ploughman in regards to all matters of farming. A 1690 poem reads:
The paper is my land,
It keeps me honest.
The pen is my plow,
It keeps my wit sharp.
The ink is my seed,
It holds my name for the ages.
Alright, it rhymes in German, anyway; you get the idea.