William Wordsworth

"The Solitary Reaper“

Prof. Dr. Ahmed T. Hussein

 The Solitary Reaper

Behold her, single in the field, No Nightingale did ever chaunt

Yon solitary Highland Lass! More welcome notes to weary bands
Reaping and singing by herself; Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Stop here, or gently pass! Among Arabian sands:
Alone she cuts and binds the grain, A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
And sings a melancholy strain; In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
O listen! for the Vale profound Breaking the silence of the seas
Is overflowing with the sound. Among the farthest Hebrides.
 William Wordsworth

 William Wordsworth is one of the most important English poets

and a founder of the Romantic Movement of English literature, a
style of writing that focuses on emotion and imagination.
Wordsworth became known as a Lakeland Poet because of the
area where he lived, which is renowned for its beautiful, wild
landscapes, charming pastures, and countless lakes. He was often
called a nature poet because of his emphasis on the connection
between humans and the natural world. He became widely
successful and was named Poet Laureate of England in 1843.
 The Solitary Reaper

Will no one tell me what she sings?— Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow As if her song could have no ending;
For old, unhappy, far-off things, I saw her singing at her work,
And battles long ago: And o'er the sickle bending;—
Or is it some more humble lay, I listened, motionless and still;
Familiar matter of to-day? And, as I mounted up the hill,
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain, The music in my heart I bore,
That has been, and may be again? Long after it was heard no more.
 Summary of ‘The Solitary Reaper’

“The Solitary Reaper” by William Wordsworth is written as a recollection of an

overwhelming emotional experience. It is about the song sung by a Solitary
Reaper. ‘The Solitary Reaper’ was singing and doing her work without minding
about anyone. But the poet was observing her, mesmerized by the song. He
compares her song to that of Nightingale and the Cuckoo-bird, yet he states that
her song is the best. Despite the poet’s inability to decipher the song’s meaning,
he understands that it is a song of melancholy. The poet listened motionlessly
until he left the place, but the song never left him. Even after a long time, he has
come away from that place, he says, he could still listen. The song continued to
echo in his heart long after it is heard no more. The beautiful experience left a
deep impact and gave him a long-lasting pleasure.
 The Setting of ‘The Solitary Reaper’

The setting of "The Solitary Reaper" takes place in a field where a rural girl stands alone in a
field, cutting grain, and singing a song. The opening of the poem asks the reader watch her as
no one else is present and listen to the song that the speaker compares to that of a nightingale.
Her task is to "cut and bind the grain," which we can also presume is quite a strenuous task as
the speaker indicates to us that her song is sung with a "melancholy strain." We really do not
know what song is sung, other than it is something that sparks the imagination of the speaker.
The girl, alone in the natural setting, singing her song makes her a moment where speaker, in
true Wordsworthian fashion, experiences "a spontaneous overflow of emotions." He compares
the girl's song to natural elements (the nightingale or the cuckoo bird) and also to a song sung
to "Arabian travellers." The speaker asks if he will ever know the literal meaning of the song
(second to last stanza), but also understands that he might never know the exact meaning, but
that the melody lingers in his heart "Long after it was heard no more." This implies tht the
meaning of the song is not its literal meaning, but rather what it inspired in the speaker. In the
final analysis, the poem ends up becoming about the speaker's ability to be inspired by the girl's
song, as opposed to the girl herself.
 The Vocabulary of ‘The Solitary Reaper’

Highlands:
The Highlands are a mountainous region in the northwest of Scotland. Because of its many
mountain ranges, the area is scarcely populated—and is known instead for its natural beauty. It
includes the Hebrides, a chain of Islands off the northern coast of Ireland. It was traditionally a
Gaelic speaking region of Scotland, though by Wordsworth's time the predominant language in
the region was Scots—albeit a form of the language strongly influenced by Gaelic. Despite its
geographic isolation, the region was bound culturally and economically to the rest of the British
Isles, trading in black cattle and whiskey, and exporting its distinctive tartan-pattern kilts,
which became a fashion craze in the 1820s across Europe.

Lass:
A girl, usually young or unmarried. The word was widely used in regional English dialects,
particularly the dialects of the North and Midlands of England. In the dialect spoken around
London—the dialect that eventually became dominant—the word was not used. As a result,
even in Wordsworth's time, it likely sounded archaic and regional, a mark of backwardness. In
Scottish dialects, the word had a more specific application: it often meant a serving-girl.
 The Vocabulary of ‘The Solitary Reaper’

Reaping:
The act of cutting wheat, barley, or another grain. For much of human history, the activity was
done by hand, using a sharp tool like a sickle or a scythe. It usually occurs in the autumn, when
the grain has fully matured. It marks a major occurrence on the calendar of agricultural
communities and the end of reaping was often the occasion for major festivals and celebrations.
The word often took on a metaphorical significance as well, with the reaping of grain serving as
a symbol for the reaping of souls, of human lives. Hence, for instance, Death is often
represented as a reaper. Wordsworth seems uninterested in this metaphorical sense: he focuses
instead on the physical act of reaping—and the singing that accompanies it.
Strain:
A melody or tune. It generally refers to a recognizable passage in a well-known piece of music:
some famous melody that most people know. However, it can also refer to a passage of poetry.
Though the musical sense is clearly the primary one in this passage, the word's capacity to refer
to poetry may strengthen the reader's sense that this poem, through its meditation on the
reaper's song, is also reflecting on poetry itself.
 The Vocabulary of ‘The Solitary Reaper’

Vale:
A valley. The word is typically reserved for wide valleys: that is, valleys that are particularly
suitable for agriculture because they contain a lot of flat land. The word is also used to refer to the
world, the scene of life itself. In this usage, the world is often described as a place of suffering and
sorrow: it is called "the vale of tears." For instance, the poet Percy Shelley, a younger contemporary
of Wordsworth's writes in one poem, "Why dost thou pass away and leave our state, / This dim vast
vale of tears, vacant and desolate?" In describing the reaper's home as a vale, Wordsworth may be
drawing on both senses at once: locating her in a specific geographical place and, at the same time,
placing her in the general context of human suffering and struggle.
Strain:
The Hebrides are a chain of islands off the western coast of Scotland. They are thus geographically
close to the highlands where the reaper lives and works—though, in every other sense, they are
highly remote places, far from the centers of European cultural life. They are a neat opposite to the
"Arabian sands" the speaker invokes earlier in the stanza: frigid, sub-arctic islands as contrasted
with blistering equatorial deserts. Between the two the speaker encompasses much of the earth, in
terms of both geography and climate. Moreover, he balances the exoticism of "Arabian sands"
against a region much better known and closer to his primarily English audience.
 The Vocabulary of ‘The Solitary Reaper’

Plaintive:
The word "plaintive" describes something sorrowful, melancholy, or sad. In this respect, the word is
often used to describe the act of mourning, or grief itself. The speaker suggests throughout the
poem that the reaper's song is mournful and sad. Here he continues to advance that suggestion—and
begins to speculate about what might cause her to sing in such a sorrowful way.
Lay:
A song or a short poem (usually written with the intent to be sung). Though the word is now
obsolete, it is especially widely used in poetry (perhaps for its rhyming properties), often in contexts
similar to that of "The Solitary Reaper": to refer, that is, to humble, unpretentious songs, folk songs
and country ballads, that the poet admires from a distance.
Sickle:
A sickle is a curved, or hook-shaped, tool, used to cut barley, wheat, and other grains. It is held in
one hand; the reaper uses the other hand to hold the grain steady. It is a traditional agricultural tool,
the use of which dates back many millennia—and it has hardly changed in those years. By putting a
sickle in the reaper's hands, the speaker emphasizes her connection to this longstanding agricultural
tradition—and her distance from the industrial forms of agriculture that were then emerging
elsewhere in the British Isles.
 Analysis of The Solitary Reaper
Stanza One

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 the sound.

In the First stanza of “The Solitary Reaper,” Wordsworth describes how the Reaper was singing
all alone. During one of his journeys in the countryside of Scotland, he saw a Highland girl
working in the field all alone. She had no one to help her out in the field. So, she was singing to
herself. She was singing without knowing that someone was listening to her song. The poet
doesn’t want to disturb her solitude so requests the passer by’s go without disturbing her. She
was immersed in her work of cutting and binding while singing a melancholy song. For the poet,
he is so struck by the sad beauty of her song that the whole valley seems to overflow with its
sound.
Stanza Two
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 was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.

In the second stanza of “The Solitary Reaper,” the poet compares the young woman’s song with
‘Nightingale’ and ‘Cuckoo’ – the most celebrated birds by the writers and poets for the
sweetness of voice. But here he complains that neither ‘Nightingale’ nor the ‘Cuckoo’ sang a
song that is as sweet as hers. He says that no nightingale has sung the song so soothing like that
for the weary travelers. For, the song of the girl has stopped him from going about his business.
He is utterly enchanted that he says that her voice is so thrilling and penetrable like that of the
Cuckoo Bird, which sings to break the silence in the ‘Hebrides’ Islands. He symbolically puts
forth that her voice is so melodious and more than that of the two birds, known for their voice.
 Analysis of The Solitary Reaper
Stanza Three
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 to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?

In the third stanza of “The Solitary Reaper,” the poet depicts his plight over not understanding
the theme or language of the poem. The poet couldn’t understand the local Scottish dialect in
which the reaper was singing. So, he tries to imagine what the song might be about. Given that it
is a ‘plaintive number’ and a ‘melancholy strain’ (as given in line 6) he speculates that her song
might be about some past sorrow, pain or loss ‘of old, unhappy things‘ or battles fought long
ago. Or perhaps, he says, it is a humbler, simpler song about some present sorrow, pain, or loss, a
‘matter of to-day.’ He further wonders if that is about something that has happened in the past or
something that has reoccurred now.
 Analysis of The Solitary Reaper
Stanza Four

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.

In the fourth stanza, the poet decides not to probe further into the theme. He comes to the
conclusion that whatever may be the theme of her poem, it is not going to end. Not only her song
but also her suffering sounds like a never-ending one. He stays there motionless and listened to
her song quite sometimes. Even when he left and mounted up the hill, he could still hear her
voice coming amongst the produce, she was cutting and binding. Though the poet left that place,
the song remained in his heart, long after he heard that song.
 Literary/ Poetic Devices Used in The Solitary Reaper

‘The Solitary Reaper’ by William Wordsworth uses a straightforward language and meter as well as natural theme and imagery.
Once again Wordsworth reflected his belief in the importance of the natural world. The poem highlights his definition of poetry
to be ‘a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings’ from the poet and the readers’ part.

Apostrophe
The poem “The Solitary Reaper” begins with an Apostrophe “Behold” where the poet addresses
the unknown passersby. He uses it again in the seventh line “O Listen” telling them how the
valley is filled with the sound of her.

Symbolism/ Metaphor
The poet makes a symbolic comparison of the young woman’s song with Nightingale and
Cuckoo bird for the melodious nature of her song. But it turns out to be hyperbole for he
exaggerates that her song is better than theirs. The poet very much captivated by her song that
the valley is “overflowing with the sound”. Again, he says that the song looked like a never-
ending as her sorrows.
Rhetorical questions
The rhetorical question helps to make the point clear. For example, Wordsworth
used “Will no one tell me what she sings?”, “That has been, and may be again?” and
“Familiar matter of to-day?” it to express his curiosity over the theme and meaning
of the song, the girl sang.

Imagery
The imagery used in a literary work enables the readers to perceive things involving
their five senses. For example, “Reaping and singing by herself”, “I saw her singing
at her work” and “More welcome notes to weary bands” gives a pictorial
description of the young woman at work. He makes the readers visualize what he
has seen and how he felt.
 “The Solitary Reaper”: The Theme

“The Solitary Reaper” is about the power of the imagination to transform common, everyday events
into representations of a larger reality. To the Romantic poets, imagination was not a synonym for
fantasy. Instead, they saw it as closely allied with intuition and emotion. This faculty enabled the poet
to see familiar things in a radically different way....The aim of the Romantics was to express an
abstract idea using concrete images that were usually drawn from nature.
The poem is an example of the commonplace pointing the sensitive observer toward an ideal of unity
or completeness of being. Although the reaper is a flesh-and-blood person, she becomes a spiritual
gateway for the speaker of the poem. The natural environment that surrounds her only heightens her
mystery. Her simple song is an expression of her own heritage and background, yet the speaker
imagines it to be an articulation of the eternal, the boundless, the ultimate reality. This intuitive
impression of the infinite leaves the speaker a different person than when he first encountered the
girl. The wonder of her song permeates his intellect and lingers in his heart long after he hears the
last notes.
In the poem, then, the everyday scene ignites the emotions and intuition of the speaker, leading him
to the transcendent, to a state beyond human understanding. The reaper's song sparks his
imagination leading him to the sublime, an effect created when a writer encounters power or mystery
or awe in nature that is beyond human understanding.