Wir pflügen, und wir streuen

Wir pflügen und wir streuen. Matthias Claudius* (1740-1815). This is part of a poem beginning ‘Im Anfang war’s auf Erden’ (‘In the beginning on earth, there was…’), of which ‘Wir pflügen’ is stanza 3. The poem appeared in the Wandsbecker Bote in 1782, as part of a description of a harvest-time party, ‘Paul Erdmann’s Fest’, in which the neighbours come to Paul’s house and sing a ‘Peasant’s Song’, with stanzas and a chorus, beginning ‘Alle gute Gabe kommt her von Gott dem Herrn’ (‘Here all good gifts come from God the Lord’). JJ observed rather sniffily that ‘it can hardly be called a hymn, though it has passed into a few German hymnals principally for use in school’ (p. 237). It has remained...