The miller stands between harvest and bread, transforming farmers' grain into a form suitable for cooking and trade. Traditionally, millers occupied an important and sometimes mistrusted position because they controlled weighing, tolls, and the machinery of processing. In poetry and ballad, the miller may appear as a sturdy worker, comic rogue, prosperous tradesman, or figure of local power. Mill wheels, dust, sacks, and grinding sounds surround the role with imagery of ceaseless motion, transformation, and the conversion of labour into sustenance.

A miller grinds harvested grain into flour or meal, occupying the important stage between farm and bread. Traditional millers often received a portion of grain as payment, which contributed to their ambiguous reputation in folktales and ballads as prosperous, comic, or dishonest figures. Poetry may use grinding as an image of time and transformation. Related terms include mill, millstone, flour, grain, sack, watermill, windmill, toll, and grinding.