The epic poem of William Blake, Milton, begins with a diatribe against mercenaries, which in the miltonian context immediately brings the Considerations Touching the Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings out of the Church. Both texts refer to literature on work, in particular Christian concepts of vocation and work and Jésus’s distinction between the good shepherd and mercenary in the shepherd parabole (Jean 10.1-21). For Milton and Blake, this speech on work had a direct influence on their conception of what the artist, the audience and their mutual roles and responsibilities are. In his poem, Blake takes as its starting point the Milton biblic distinction between the real worker and mercenary, and makes this distinction the basis of the enigmatic Chant du Barde, which triggers the action of the poem. Chant du Barde is, among other things, a parabole about work that is in line with most of the concerns expressed in the Bible or developed by Milton. In fact, the parabolic form and content of the Chant du Barde become essential means of both performing and describing the kind of work that Blake regarded as the mission of the real worker and the true poète-prophet.