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' was written on November 5, 1805, and published in 1807 in the collection
Poems, in Two Volumes. This poem is unique because while most of Wordsworth's work is
based closely on his own experiences, 'The Solitary Reaper' is based on the experience of
someone else, author and friend Thomas Wilkinson, as described in his Tours to the British
Mountains. The poem, like most of Wordsworth's poetry, is distinguished by its straightforward
use of language and meter as well as its natural theme and imagery. It reflects Wordsworth's
belief in the importance of the natural world, the power of memory and the human mind, and his
first principle of poetry, that poetry should be written to provide pleasure through a rhythmic and
powerful expression of emotion and leave readers with 'a spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings' long after it is read.

The poem's title and theme are based on the fact that once in the course of his walking tours of
Scotland William Wordsworth, the poet, and his sister came across a solitary reaper, a young
highland lass, who was reaping and binding corn as it was the harvest time. As she was working
peacefully all by herself, she was singing. Her song had a touch of sadness. The memory of this
lone girl and the melancholy notes of her song remained with the poet for all time. Wordsworth’s
poem “The Solitary Reaper” somehow immortalises her.

The Solitary Reaper is a peasant girl whose qualities make her unforgettable. The melodious
voice of the Solitary Reaper is unforgettable. It has tender melancholic strains, the sweetest
human voice ever heard that haunted the poet for all time. He could not understand the dialect,
nor the theme of her song. Her musical notes ran like water and surpassed the beauty of the
songs of the nightingale and the cuckoo. The intensity and the enchanting quality of her song left
an everlasting impression on the poet mind. While walking in the countryside, the poet heard the
Solitary Reaper’s song. He was struck by the fact that the girl was cutting the harvest alone and
on a happy occasion singing a melancholy song. It was so melodious that it once caught the

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poet’s attention. He finds her song sweeter than a nightingale and more thrilling than a cuckoo
bird.

The following is the text of the text, and what its meaning might be.

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:

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 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.

The poem begins with the speaker asking readers to behold a young girl ‘reaping and singing by
herself’ in a field. The song the girl sings is a sad song, and anyone passing by, the speaker says,
should either stop and listen or 'gently pass' so as not to disturb her. He is so struck by the sad
beauty of her song that the whole valley seems to overflow with its sound.

In the second stanza, the speaker compares the girl's singing to that of a nightingale and a cuckoo
bird. He says that the song she sings is more welcome than any nightingale might sing to weary
travelers in the desert, and the sound of the her voice is more thrilling to hear than the cuckoo-
bird in spring. He is utterly enchanted, although as we see in the next stanza, he cannot
understand the language of the song and so cannot say what the song is about. In the third stanza,
the speaker tries to imagine what the song might be about. Given its sad tune, 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 today. The poem ends as the speaker understands that whatever the girl sings
about does not matter. It is the beauty of the song and her singing that touches his heart and

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lingers in his mind, giving him joy as he travels up the hill and carries her song with him long
after he can no longer hear it.

Wordsworth’s poems are noted for their simplicity, humanity and adoration of nature. His poetry
deals with the common folk from ordinary life. “Solitary Reaper” is a good example of such
poetry. In the poem, William writes “Stop here or gently pass!” The poet hears the song sung by
the girl. It is a sad song of course. The poet says to the passing people to either stop and listen the
beautiful song sung by the girl or gently pass so that the girl should not be disturbed. He wants to
enjoy the song as he finds the song very beautiful, though sad.

Another line says, “No Nightingale did ever chaunt”. In this line, the poet has compared the
singing of the girl to that of a Nightingale and a Cuckoo bird. He says that the song she sings is
more welcome than any a nightingale might sing to weary travelers in the desert. It is like a
soothing shade for these tired travellers. The poet describes the solitary reaper's song, filling the
deep valleys, sweeter than the voice of a nightingale. It is more welcome than a nightingale's
chant heard by weary travelers in the shady haunts of the Arabian Desert. It is more thrilling than
a cuckoo bird's song which in spring time can break the silence of the seas. It made the poet
stand motionless and still to listen and carry it with him in his heart as he mounted up the hill
never to forget it evermore. References to the Arabian sands and Scotland’s Hebrides (far-off
Islands) impart an exotic feeling.

William Wordsworth describes and exemplifies a once ‘in a lifetime kind of memory’ that is
meant to be taken out of the storehouse of memory and enjoyed forever. The poet is struck by the
beauty and the melody of the mountain girl, working in harmony with her surroundings. The
maiden’s song enchants the poet and the melancholy strain makes him wonder at the content of
the song. The melody and enchanting quality of her song reminds him of the nightingale and the
cuckoo but the intensity of her song overflows and reverberates throughout the valley. Whether
she was singing about a battle or common sorrows or illness of a loved one, the poet has no idea.
The solitary reaper’s song leaves a lasting impression on the poet’s mind and he believes that the
memory of this song will be with him forever.

William writes, “Breaking the silence of the seas…Among the farthest Hebrides.” In these lines
the poet says that the sweet song of the solitary reaper girl is very sweet. He compares her song
to that of Nightingale and Cuckoo. It is like a welcome note to the tired travelers. Her song

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breaks the silence of the sea which flows among the far away group of islands called Hebrides.
The scenic beauty is captured and displayed by the poet in vale profound, overflowing with the
sound (the solitary reaper's song), "Weary bands of travellers in some shady haunts amo.ng the
Arabian sands". Breaking the silence of the seas among the farthest hebrides

And then he writes, “That has been, and may be again?” This is the concluding line of the third
stanza of the poem. The poet says that the song of the girl might be about some past sorrow, pain
or loss of old, unhappy things or battles fought long ago. Or perhaps, he says, it may be about
some natural sorrow, loss or pain which she had or she may face in the future.

William then pens down the lines “The music in my heart I bore, Long after it was heard no
more. These lines are the concluding lines of the poem. The poet is not able to understand the
song of the girl. But the beauty of the song and her singing touches his heart and remains in his
mind, giving him joy as he travels up the hill. Her song is so beautiful that he carries her song
with him even long after he can no longer hear it. What impresses the poet in the song is not its
content but its emotionally expressive music. This feeling could have no ending and it
communicates wordlessly something universal about human condition. Despite the ‘melancholy
strain’, the poet proceeds on his way, his ‘heart’ carrying her music. For that reason the poem
relates to an ‘ecstatic moment’ in which a passer-by transcends the limitations of mortality. Both
the song and the poet can go on together. It also expresses the thought that the appeal and music
is universal, language is not important.

Conclusively, the Solitary Reaper betrays a sense of loneliness of the poet from the aspects of
wording and phrasing, lonely images, the portrayal of this lonely reaper and the expanding lonely
music. The poet feels this loneliness and writes about it. The loneliness has deep root including
both time factor and personal factor. It also influences Wordsworth’s poetic theory. As a poet
against tradition, Wordsworth abandons the emptiness of classism, and describes simple and
ordinary things, which brings people back to genuine life, and enlightens people with sublime
philosophy. Wordsworth’s loneliness has great practical significant to modern people. In the
modern society, which is filled with noises, depression and fury, seeking for loneliness is
particularly eager and crucial. Listening to Wordsworth’s lonely soul, as well as listening to the
sound of one’s own heart, and facing the world calmly are the essence of Wordsworth’s
philosophy of loneliness.

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Bibliography

Bialostosky, D. H. (1992). Wordsworth, Dialogics and the Practice of Criticism. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

Driver, E. (2001). The Poetry of William Wordsworth and an Imaginary Life by David Malouf. Glebe,
N.S.W.: Pascal Press.

Gill, S. (2003). The Cambridge Companion to Wordsworth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521641160

Manning, P. J. (1990). Reading Romantics: Texts and Contexts. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mason, E. (2010). The Cambridge Introduction to William Wordsworth. New York: Cambridge University
Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511781940

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