And Jesus said unto him,No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St Luke 9:62.

Sunset and silence! A man: around him earth savage, earth broken; Beside him two horsesöa plough! Earth savage, earth broken, the brutes, the dawn-man there in the sunset, And the Plough that is twin to the Sword, that is founder of cities!

-Colum, Padraic
  Wild Earth,'The Plougher'.

Yes, thus the Muses sing of happy swains, Because the Muses never knew their pains: They boast their peasants'pipes, but peasants now Resign their pipes and plod behind the plough.

-Crabbe, George
  The Village, bk.1, l.21^4.

Are not your kisses then as filthy, and more, As a worm sucking an envenomed sore? Doth not thy fearful hand in felling quake, As one which gathering flowers, still fears a snake? Is not your last act harsh, and violent, As when a plough a stony ground doth rent?

-Donne,John
c.1595  Elegies, no.8,'The Comparison'.

Men of England, wherefore plough For the lords who lay you low?

-Shelley, Percy Bysshe
  'Song to the Men of England'.

I thought of Chatterton, the marvellous boy, The sleepless soul that perished in his pride. Of him who walked in glory and in joy Following his plough along the mountainside: By our own spirits are we deified. We poets in our youth begin in gladness; But thereof comes in the end despondencyand madness.

-Wordsworth,William
  Of the poetThomas Chatterton, who committed suicide at the age of17.'Resolution and Independence', stanza 7 (published1807).