The Solitary Reaper

"The Solitary Reaper" is a ballad by English Romantic poet William Wordsworth, and one of his best-known works in English literature.

Here is the poem.

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 shrilling 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 listen'd, 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 Solitary Reaper" is one of Wordsworth's most famous post-Lyrical Ballads lyrics. The words of the reaper's song are incomprehensible to the speaker, so his attention is free to focus on the tone, expressive beauty, and the blissful mood it creates in him. The poem functions to 'praise the beauty of music and its fluid expressive beauty, the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" that Wordsworth identified at the heart of poetry.'

Themes

The poem mainly discusses the theme of poetry. Songs are poetry too, and that is clear to Wordsworth. We can see that he sees the girl as a poet because of the preface to Lyrical Ballads (1798). In it, Wordsworth maintained that poetry should not rely on artificial diction for its effort. Rather, it should be written in more ordinary language and simpler form so that all classes might appreciate it. "The Solitary Reaper" exemplifies this belief.

However it is one of Wordsworth's most famous "solitaries". Wordsworth used solitary characters to show how to be one with nature (See 'Old Man Travelling', 'There Was A Boy' and 'Nutting'), and this solitary is no different. 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- "some natural sorrow, loss or pain"- and imagination - the song takes Wordsworth to the corners of the world, from "Arabian sands" to the "farthest Hebrides". The lack of understanding means that he is able to ponder the meaning, also an example of imagination.