The Solitary Reaper

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Solitary Reaper is a poem by William Wordsworth in which the poet recounts his tale of meeting with a girl, reaping in the fields alone.

[edit] Summary

In this poem, the poet William Wordsworth describes and exemplifies a once in a lifetime kind of memory that is meant to be taken out of the vaults of memory and savoured forever.

The poet sees a 'highland lass' (a girl who lives in highland) reaping the crop and singing while she does so. She is all alone in the field and is cutting and binding the grains accompanied by her melancholy and gloomy song. The maiden's song is so euphonious and overwhelming that it is overflowing the valley.

The poet compares the song of the girl with a song of a nightingale, soothing his sorrows and easing his weariness just in the same way as the nightingale welcomes the weary travelers in the shady oasis in the Arabian sands. It is also compared to the song of a cuckoo bird, which is harbinger of summer and bringer of happiness. The song of the maiden is as thrilling and persuasive as the song of the cuckoo bird which is effective enough to break the silence of the seas.

The poet cannot understand the dialect of the song, so, he is unable to comprehend its meaning, but is able to gauge from its sad tone that it probably relates to some unhappy memory or some battles fought long ago. The poet also feels that the song may be about the commonplace and unanimous things like sorrow, loss or pain.

The poet felt that the girl's song had no end and would endure forever. The poet saw the girl singing as the sickle bent over. The song was so mesmerizing and spellbinding that it held the poet motionless and still. As the poet monted over the hill, the song could not be heard but it left an indelible impression on the poet's heart. For the poet, it always remained to be a fresh and evocative memory.

Wordsworth's preface to the 'lyrical ballads' argues that poetry contains a natural delineation of human passions, human characters, and human incidents and that it ought not be judged by the presence of artificial, poetic diction. Rather, the language of conversation in the middle and lower classes of society can be its medium. The Solitary Reaper exemplifies these beliefs.the poem is something like this:

        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 meloncholy strain;
        O listen! for the vale profound
        Is overflowing with the sound

        No nightingale did ever chaunt
            More welcome notes to weary bands
        Of travellers in some shady haunt,
            Among arabian sands:
        A voice so thrilling ne'er heard
        in springtime from the cuckoo bird
        breaking the silence of the seas
        Among the farthest hebrides.

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

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