God Spede the Plough
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
God Spede the Plough is the name of an early sixteenth-century manuscript text that borrows twelve stanzas from Chaucer's Monk's Tale. It is a short, satirical complaint listing all the parasitic clergy who are going to demand a piece of the plowman's harvest, rendering his work futile. Perhaps there is an allusion to 1 Corinthians 9:10--"...when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing the harvest." Ironically, or rather appropriately, this verse is used by St. Paul in an argument for his (and other apostles') right to have his food and other basic needs supplied by the laity of the early church. The poem also despises taxation and issues the same sort of complaint as that found in the Second Shepherds' Play.
