Ploughing isn’t quite mowing, of course, but the great Rabbie Burns tilled the same furrow in To A Mouse:
On Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough,
November, 1785
Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie,
O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi’ bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee,
Wi’ murdering pattle!
I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion
An’ fellow-mortal!
I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen-icker in a thrave
‘S a sma’ requet;
I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave,
An’ never miss’t!
Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
Its silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!
An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,
O’ foggage green!
An’ bleak December’s win’s ensuing,
Baith snell an’ keen!
Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,
An’ weary Winter comin fast,
An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro’ thy cell.
That wee bit heap o’ leaves and stibble,
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou’s turned out, for a’ thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble,
An’ cranreuch cauld!
But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best-laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!
Still thou are blest, compared wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward, tho’ I cannot see,
I guess an’ fear
When I was in high school I would mowe my neighbor's huge yard with a push mower. I had a green LG rumor and I put entire Metallica albums on it. It would take me like 6 hrs to mow this damn yard and I'd go through entire albums. But yeah it's just so funny all that work and I'd get like $40 which I didn't have any other income so that was money but just dumb. Your mind wanders though going up and down following the lines. This old guy would take me out fishing though, have our little cheap sandwich, he was a janitor so not like he was rolling in money but he helped me out.
We tend to underestimate the progress we managed to make in the last 100 years or so. There was a small TV segment showing the earliest vacuum cleaners. Both vacuum and cleaning looks like wishful thinking compared to what we have today.
Heck, the rechargeable vacuum I have at home has more power than what I used to the one I plugged to the wall ~20 years ago. Reducing the cost of CFD via higher performance computers did wonders in efficient system design, and that's just one aspect of life.
We have 1.5L Turbo / Hybrid engines which can propel the vehicle quicker than a run of the mill V6 of yore, too, and I find this amazing.
I always wanted to have a bigger engine because of the agility in emergency conditions. Now the bog standard car has more agility than I even dreamed of.
Ploughing isn’t quite mowing, of course, but the great Rabbie Burns tilled the same furrow in To A Mouse: On Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough, November, 1785
Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie, O, what a panic’s in thy breastie! Thou need na start awa sae hasty, Wi’ bickering brattle! I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee, Wi’ murdering pattle!
I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion Has broken Nature’s social union, An’ justifies that ill opinion Which makes thee startle At me, thy poor, earth-born companion An’ fellow-mortal!
I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve; What then? poor beastie, thou maun live! A daimen-icker in a thrave ‘S a sma’ requet; I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave, An’ never miss’t!
Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin! Its silly wa’s the win’s are strewin! An’ naething, now, to big a new ane, O’ foggage green! An’ bleak December’s win’s ensuing, Baith snell an’ keen!
Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste, An’ weary Winter comin fast, An’ cozie here, beneath the blast, Thou thought to dwell, Till crash! the cruel coulter past Out thro’ thy cell.
That wee bit heap o’ leaves and stibble, Has cost thee monie a weary nibble! Now thou’s turned out, for a’ thy trouble, But house or hald, To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble, An’ cranreuch cauld!
But Mousie, thou art no thy lane, In proving foresight may be vain: The best-laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men Gang aft agley, An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, For promis’d joy!
Still thou are blest, compared wi’ me! The present only toucheth thee: But Och! I backward cast my e’e, On prospects drear! An’ forward, tho’ I cannot see, I guess an’ fear
Related, from across the pond, is Robert Frost's Mowing: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53001/mowing-56d231ec...
The study's author is Francesca Gardner. She was predestined from birth to write a study about mowing gardens.
see Nominative Determinism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism
Just writing a personal story about mowing
When I was in high school I would mowe my neighbor's huge yard with a push mower. I had a green LG rumor and I put entire Metallica albums on it. It would take me like 6 hrs to mow this damn yard and I'd go through entire albums. But yeah it's just so funny all that work and I'd get like $40 which I didn't have any other income so that was money but just dumb. Your mind wanders though going up and down following the lines. This old guy would take me out fishing though, have our little cheap sandwich, he was a janitor so not like he was rolling in money but he helped me out.
Larkin wrote that his mower had 'stalled, twice' and that he found 'A hedgehog jammed up against the blades, / Killed.’
It’s a seriously pathetic mower that would be jammed by a hedgehog.
We tend to underestimate the progress we managed to make in the last 100 years or so. There was a small TV segment showing the earliest vacuum cleaners. Both vacuum and cleaning looks like wishful thinking compared to what we have today.
Heck, the rechargeable vacuum I have at home has more power than what I used to the one I plugged to the wall ~20 years ago. Reducing the cost of CFD via higher performance computers did wonders in efficient system design, and that's just one aspect of life.
We have 1.5L Turbo / Hybrid engines which can propel the vehicle quicker than a run of the mill V6 of yore, too, and I find this amazing.
I always wanted to have a bigger engine because of the agility in emergency conditions. Now the bog standard car has more agility than I even dreamed of.
I suspect that a 1970s mower for UK garden use was typically not very beefy. Wikipedia thinks Larkin had some kind of Victa.
Probably a reel mower. A wet fart will clog a reel mower. They were real popular back in the day.
mow mow mow your lawn scarily scarily life is but a scream!