A Strike Among the Poets -- Anonymous

(Poem #1340) A Strike Among the Poets In his chamber, weak and dying, While the Norman Baron lay, Loud, without, his men were crying, 'Shorter hours and better pay.' Know you why the ploughman, fretting, Homeward plods his weary way Ere his time? He's after getting Shorter hours and better pay. See! the Hesperus is swinging Idle in the wintry bay, And the skipper's daughter's singing, 'Shorter hours and better pay.' Where's the minstrel boy? I've found him Joining in the labour fray With his placards slung about him, 'Shorter hours and better pay.' Oh, young Lochinvar is coming; Though his hair is getting grey, Yet I'm glad to hear him humming, 'Shorter hours and better pay.' E'en the boy upon the burning Deck has got a word to say, Something rather cross concerning Shorter hours and better pay. Lives of great men all remind us We can make as much as they, Work no more, until they find us Shorter hours and better pay. Hail to thee, blithe spirit! (Shelley) Wilt thou be a blackleg? Nay. Soaring, sing above the mêlée, 'Shorter hours and better pay.' -- Anonymous

Ah, shorter hours and better pay. What we all wish for.

thomas.

[Notes]

To make up for the lack of insightful commentary (really, what would you
expect, except for the obvious statement that I love the conceit :)),
here's a list of sources:

Stanza #1: "The Norman Baron" -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
  http://www.emule.com/poetry/?page=poem&poem=4763

        In his chamber, weak and dying,
          Was the Norman baron lying;
        Loud, without, the tempest thundered
          And the castle-turret shook,

Stanza #2: "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" -- Thomas Gray
  http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1091.html

        The curfew tolls the knell of parting day;
          The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea;
        The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
          And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Stanza #3: "The Wreck of the Hesperus" -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
  http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/717.html

        It was the schooner Hesperus,
          That sailed the wintry sea;
        And the skipper had taken his little daughter,
          To bear him company.

Stanza #4: I have no idea where this comes from. Any pointers, gentle
readers?

Stanza #5: "Lochinvar" -- Sir Walter Scott
  http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/125.html

        O, young Lochinvar is come out of the west,
        Through all the wide Border his steed was the best;

Stanza #6: "Casabianca" -- Felicia Hemans
  http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1000.html

        The boy stod on the burning deck,
          Whence all but him had fled;
        The flame that lit the battle's wreck
          Shone round him o'er the dead.

Stanza #7: "A Psalm of Life" -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
  http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/888.html

        Lives of great men all remind us
          We can make our lives sublime,
        And, departing, leave behind us
          Footprints on the sands of time;

Stanza #8: "To a Skylark" -- Percy Byshhe Shelley
  http://www.bartleby.com/106/241.html

        Hail to thee, blithe spirit!
           Bird thou never wert,
        That from heaven, or near it,
           Pourest thy full heart
   In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.

And finally, 'blackleg' : "A name of opprobrium for a workman willing to
work for a master whose men are on strike" (OED).