The farmer is a central figure in rural literature, joining intimate knowledge of land and weather with the economic necessity of producing food. Poetry may portray farmers as independent, enduring, conservative, exploited, prosperous, or vulnerable to forces beyond their control. Their sowing, tending, and harvesting readily become metaphors for human effort and consequence. The farmer can embody continuity and stewardship, but may also represent ownership, social hierarchy, and the difficult boundary between working with nature and mastering it.

The farmer may be an owner, tenant, manager, or practical worker, so the surrounding social context matters. Poetry can portray farmers as patient stewards, shrewd businesspeople, victims of weather and debt, or representatives of inherited custom. Their repeated acts of sowing and reaping readily become metaphors for effort and consequence. Students should not assume that every farmer owns the land. Related terms include tenant farmer, landowner, farmhand, husbandry, harvest, livestock, and cultivation.