“The Solitary Reaper” by William Wordsworth, 2/23/12

“The Solitary Reaper” by William Wordsworth 

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.

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.

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?

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.

REACTION
This poem was obviously written by someone from Scotland. The word choice is such that it conveys the dialect of the local region. This in turn allows the reader to have a general idea of where the poem takes place. Wordsworth also makes good use of exclamation marks and phrases to show the narrator’s strong emotions throughout the poem. The poem also makes great use of figurative language and imagery to give the reader the best understanding of just how amazing the girl in the poem’s song is and just how in tune with nature she is.

PARAPHRASE

Behold the Scottish girl alone in the field. She is all alone reaping the grain and singing to herself. Listen! For the entire area is overflowing with the sounds of her singing. Nothing in nature ever sang such a beautiful song. Will no one tell me what she is singing? Perhaps she is singing of bad things that happened in the past, or, maybe, she is singing of something more recent? Maybe it’s something bad that has happened and might again? Whatever the theme, she sang as though there was no end, and I listened without moving. As I left the music stuck with me in my heart.

SWIFTT:

Syntax-The four eight-line stanzas of this poem are written in a tight iambic tetrameter. Each follows a rhyme scheme of ABABCCDD, though in the first and last stanzas the “A” rhyme is off (field/self and sang/work).

Word Choice- Wordsworth uses words such as “Highland Lass” and “to-day” so that the reader, hopefully familiar with the dialect, realizes that the setting of this poem is in Scotland. He also replaces the v’s  in words with an apostrophe.

Imagery- Imagery is used throughout this poem to help give readers a better understanding of what is actually going on. The poet creates a comparison between "No Nightingale did ever chaunt More welcome notes to weary bands Of travellers in some shady haunt, Among Arabian sands." and "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." You cannot hear a nightingale in the Arabian Sands, and you cannot hear a Cuckoo-bird in the Hebrides. This comparison is used by the poet to explain to the readers, how beautiful the singing is.

Figurative Language- There is no use of simile in this poem as far as I can tell. There does happen to be irony, however. The irony stems from the title itself which presents the reader with the idea that the poem is about some lonely being, but as the reader we find the girl is not lonely at all, she is totally content in her reaping. Wordsworth also uses the metaphor of the girl sounding like a nightingale.

Tone- The tone of this poem is very calm, emotional, and peaceful. Wordsworth creates a very peaceful and calm scene of a girl reaping some sort of grain while singing a melancholy song. The narrator then becomes emotional and begins to exclaim things such as “O listen” and “Will no one tell me what she sings?”

Theme- One main theme is nature. Wordsworth used solitary characters to show how to be one with nature. The girl is compared to nightingales and cuckoo birds in a positive light, as though she is one of them, which shows her natural side. The "vale profound/ Is overflowing with the sound", and this also shows that she and nature are sympathetic to each other. Other themes touched on are those of loss shown when Wordsworth says, "some natural sorrow, loss or pain". Imagination is another theme, the song takes Wordsworth to the corners of the world, from "Arabian sands" to the "farthest Hebrides".

CONCLUSION

My initial reaction was not very far off. This poem was written by someone from Scotland. The word choice is such that it conveys the dialect of the local region. This in turn allows the reader to have a general idea of where the poem takes place. This allows for Wordsworth to create his great imagery in the poem. He also makes good use of exclamation marks and phrases to show the narrator’s strong emotions throughout the poem. The poem also makes great use of figurative language and word choice to give the reader the best understanding of just how amazing the girl in the poem’s song is and just how in tune with nature she is.