The Solitary Reaper

The Solitary Reaper

Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! For the Vale profound
Is overflowing with sound

 No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travelers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird.
Breading the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.

 Will no one tell me what she sings?
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For ol, unhappy, far-off-things,
And battles long ago;
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?

 Whate’er the theme, the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending:
I saw her singing at her work,
And o’er the sickle bending;
I listened, motionless and still;-
And as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.

 William Wordsworth

  

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth is the founder of the Romantic Movement of English literature.  He is one of the most remarkable English Poet.   He is known as Lakeland Poet because he lived in that area.  This place is full of beautiful landscapes, green pastures and numerous lakes.  He is called as nature poet.  For he focusses the relationship between the nature and the humans.  He became the Poet Laureate of England in 1843.

The Solitary Reaper was written on 5^th November 1805 and published in 1807 in the collection Poems.  As his works were based on experiences, “Solitary Reaper” too was based on his experiences on observing someone else.

He was a great poet and Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death from Pleurisy on 23 April 1850.

 Summary

The poem is about a girl, a Highland lass who is working in the field alone.  She is harvesting her crops and gathering them and singing a sad tune which echoes around the deep valley.  The poet wants all of us to listen to hear the tune which gently passes.

He compares her sweet voice to a nightingale.  He says no nightingale could sing in the deserts more beautiful than the girl.  He even says that a cuckoo bird cannot hum a tune sweeter than the girl.  Her songs and her beautiful sweet voice breaks the silence in the Hebrides, a groups of Islands off the coast of Scotland.

In fact the poet has no idea about the theme of the song.  But he guesses that it may be about a war long, something mundane or even a painful suffering.

 

Detail analysis

“Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! For the Vale profound
Is overflowing with sound”

 In the first stanza the poet describes a girl who is working in the field.  She is a highland girl reaping the crop and singing while she works.  The poet request the passersby to stop for a while to listen to her song without making any noise.  The poet now describes the actions of the girl. She is cutting and binding the crop alone and continues to sing the song. The poet likes her song and he feels that the song echoes all over the valley.

 “No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travelers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird.
Breading the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.”

 In the second stanza he compares her voice to the nightingale.  The nightingale is a bird famous for its melodious voice which sings to the travelers in the Arabian Desert when the travelers take rest at an Oasis.  But the poet says even that nightingale could not sing better than the girl.  Her voice is so thrilling and Cuckoo bird which sings in the Hebrides during the spring season.  Even the cuckoo bird cannot sing more sweetly than this girl.

 “Will no one tell me what she sings?
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For ol, unhappy, far-off-things,
And battles long ago;
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?”

 Third stanza says about the language of the girl who is singing alone in the field.  The poet could not understand her language, or its theme.  He wants someone to say the meaning of the song.  From the way it is sung the poet comes to a conclusion that the song conveys about an unhappy incident or about a battle field sufferings.  It could be a natural sorrow, loss or pain that give agony to the girl.

“Whate’er the theme, the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending:
I saw her singing at her work,
And o’er the sickle bending;
I listened, motionless and still;-
And as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.” 

The fourth and last stanza is about a simple conclusion from the poet.  Now he is not ready to waste the time in thinking about the language or its theme.  The poet wants to enjoy the song with his whole heart.  There is no end to her song.  She keeps on singing the same melodious tone. The poet could see the girl who is at work with sickle in her hand, but singing the same song with more emotions.  He says he listens without making any noise or movement.  When he goes to the uphill he still remembers the music of the song.  It lingers in his heart forever.  He didn’t hear it anymore after that.  But he always remember her song. 

Literary devices 

The poet has used Rhetorical Questions to make the point clear.  Example “Will no one tell me what she sings?”, “That has been, and may be again?”

 Assonance is a repetition of vowel sound in the same line.  I sound in “Single in the field” and O sound and A sound in “Yon solitary Highland Lass!”

 Imagery is used to make the readers to see the things with their five senses.  For example “Reaping and singing by herself”, and “I saw her singing at her work”

 Symbolism is used to bring out the ideas and literal meaning.  “Cuckoo” and “Nightingale” are used as symbols to the sweet voice of the girl.

 Enjambment is a continuation of the emotional thought in the verse.

For example “Breading the silence of the seas

                       Among the Farthest Hebrides.”

 Alliteration is used to show the repetition words or letter in the same line.

P in “Perhaps the plaintive number flow” and N sound in “No Nightingale did ever chaunt”

 Hyperbole is used to exaggerate the simple idea. For example

 “No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travelers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands: 

Thus the simple poem become a significant one for the readers to enjoy.  The poem which express the song of the simple country girl who works in the field captivates the heart and mind of the poet.  The poet enjoys and listen the song with unspeakable emotions.  He requests the natures to be quite and also he wants all to listen the song.  He could not think anything else except the song which according to him conveys some kind of pain or suffering.  He paints this accidental experience with deep and strong feelings.  He could not forget this particular song forever.  He could not erase it from his mind, for it expresses some sort of pain and suffering. The poet wants the readers to be there to listen, enjoy and absorb the same experience.

 Thank you