1.

Introduction
In this unit you are going to study the poem “The Solitary Reaper”
written by Wordsworth. ‘The Solitary Reaper’ poem was written between
1803 and 1805 and first published in 1807. In 1815-1820 it was included
among the “Poems of Imagination.”
In August of 1803, William Wordsworth, his sister Dorothy, and
fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge embarked on a walking tour of the
Scottish Highlands. Now if you think a nice backpacking tour through
Scotland sounds like a blast, consider this: the journey lasted about 6
weeks, and covered about 660 miles (that's 110 miles a week, or around
15 miles a day). Now maybe 15 miles a day for three days is okay, but for
6 straight weeks? It wasn't easy, to say the least, despite the fact that
Wordsworth and Coleridge were used to walking. Toss in the fact that the
part of Scotland they were passing through was relatively rural. Roads
were bad, even dangerous on occasion, and lodging wasn't always easy to
find (especially when it was cold and rainy).
Nevertheless, the trip was definitely inspiring. Upon returning to
England, Dorothy wrote a book about the trip that was published (much
later) in 1874. While Dorothy's charming little travel narrative was
making the rounds, her bro was writing a bunch of poems that he would
later describe as "written during a tour in Scotland." One of these poems
was "The Solitary Reaper," which was first published in 1807 along
with all those others supposedly written during the tour. The book in
which they all appeared was called Poems, In Two Volumes.
Now we say "supposedly" because, well, we know Wordsworth
actually wrote "The Solitary Reaper" in 1805, nearly 2 years after said
tour was completed. Okay, so he wanted his readers to believe he wrote
the poem while on location, we get that. What about the issue of the
reaper herself? Did Wordsworth actually see a woman singing and
reaping all along in some highland field? The short answer is… well, no.
Wordsworth actually wrote a note to the poem where he talks about
where he got the whole idea from: "This poem was suggested by a
beautiful sentence in a MS. Tour in Scotland written by a friend, the last
line being taken from it verbatim."
That manuscript (MS) was an early version of a book later
published in 1824 as Tours to the British Mountains, by Wordsworth's
friend Thomas Wilkinson. The relevant passage in Wilkinson, just in case

1
you're wondering, is on page 12: "Passed a female who was reaping
alone: she sung in Erse as she bended over her sickle; the sweetest human
voice I ever heard: her strains were tenderly melancholy, and felt
delicious, long after they were heard no more."
So, Wordsworth was inspired by his trip to Scotland and all the
cool things he saw there and by his buddy's travel book. The poem, just
like Wilkinson's Tour, is all about stumbling upon something that, well, is
extraordinarily moving. Even though the speaker has no clue what the
woman is singing about, he is totally floored by her song, so floored that
he carries the song in his heart with him long after he has moved on.
More than just a reflection on a strangely beautiful moment, however, the
poem is a subtle statement about the multi-ethnic makeup of the British
Isles. The woman is singing in Erse (Scottish Gaelic) and is culturally and
linguistically different from the speaker, who is an Englishman. "The
Solitary Reaper," then, is about diversity and about how strange it is to be
a part of the same empire with such vastly different people, but also about
celebrating that diversity.
The Poem: The Solitary Reaper
First stanza
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.
Second stanza
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.
Third stanza

2
 Will no one tell me what she sings? –
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long:
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?
Fourth stanza
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; –
And, as I mounted up the hill
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.

2. Poetic Glossary
1. Behold (Verb): To look at or see somebody/ something.
2. Solitary (Adjective): Alone, with no other person or thing around.
3. Highland (Adjective): Connected with an area of land that has hills or
mountains.
4. Lass (Noun): A girl, a sweet heart.
5. Reap (Verb): To cut and collect a crop.
6. Bind (Verb): To tie somebody / something with a rope or string.
7. Melancholy (Adjective): Very sad or making you feel sadness.
8. Strain (Noun): The sound of music being played or sung.
9. Vale (Noun): Valley.
10. Profound (Adjective): Very deep.
11. Chaunt (Verb): To sing.
12. Note (Noun): A single sound of a particular length made by the voice
or a musical instrument.
13. Weary (Adjective): Very tired.
14. Band (Noun): A group of people.
15. Haunt (Noun): A place that somebody visits often or where they
spend a lot of time.

3
16. Hebrides: A cluster of islands to the north-west of Scotland, known as
the Northern limits of the world.
17. Plaintive (Adjective): Sounding sad, especially in a weak complaining
way.
18. Number (Noun): A song.
19. Lay (Noun): A short narrative poem; a song.
20. Maiden (Noun): A young girl or woman who is not married.
21. Sickle (Noun): A tool with a curved blade and a short handle.
22. Mount (Verb): To go up something.
23. Bore (bear: Verb): To carry or support.

3. Stanza-wise Analyses
1. Behold her. ....................... with the sound.
The poet sees a Highland girl in the field. This girl is reaping the
crop and singing to herself. The poet likes this scene. He says to the
passers-by either to stop there quietly or to pass from there without
making the least noise. The girl is cutting and binding the crop alone and
also singing a song. This song is of sad nature. But the poet likes it very
much and wants everybody to listen to it. The song is also echoing in the
valley.
2. No Nightingale ....................... farthest Hebrides.
The poet thinks that even the nightingale famous for its singing to
the tired travelers in the Arabian desert when they take rest at an Oasis,
cannot sing better than this girl. The singing of the girl is also better and
more thrilling than the Cuckoo-bird which sings in the spring season and
then breaks the silence of the seas among the faraway Hebrides.
3. Will no one tell ................................. may be again?
The poet is unable to understand the language in which the girl is
singing. He does not know the theme of the song and wants somebody to
tell him the theme. He thinks that the song is about old, unhappy
incidents or of some battles in the past. The song can also be about some
familiar matter related to the life of the girl. The song may also be about
some natural sorrow, pain or loss which has happened to her.
4. Whate’er the theme ..................... heard no more.
The poet does not think too much about the theme of the song. He
is enjoying the song heartily. The poet thinks that there is no end to the
girl’s singing as if she will never stop singing. He watches her singing

4
and using the sickle to do her work at the same time in the field. The poet
says that he listened to her song without making any kind of movement
and noise. When the poet went up the hill, he says that, he still
remembered the music of the song which that highland girl sang. The
poet also says that he will always remember her singing.

4. Summary
The poet is wandering aimlessly on his way when suddenly sees a
highland girl alone in the field. The girl is reaping the crop and singing a
song to herself. The poet likes her singing very much. He tells the people
passing from there not to disturb her in her singing. He wants the people
to stop where they are or to pass from there very quietly. There is nobody
with the girl and she is cutting and binding the grain all alone. The poet
observes that the song which she is singing is full of sorrow and
melancholy. The girl is standing in the valley and her song is resounding
through the deep valley.
The poet feels that the girl’s song is very sweet. He finds her song
sweeter than the song of the nightingale. The poet says that the
nightingale’s song gives relief and happiness to the travelers in the
Arabian deserts when they stayed on Oasis. The poet feels the girl’s song
is thrilling also. He says that he has never listened to a more thrilling song
than this. He even finds the girl’s song more thrilling than the song of the
cuckoo bird. The cuckoo bird sings her songs in spring time over the
silent seas of the faraway Hebrides.
The problem with the poet is that he is unable to understand the
girl’s song. He does not know the language in which she is singing. He
wants somebody to tell him the meaning of the song. But there is nobody
around to tell him. Therefore, the poet himself begun to guess the
meaning or theme of the song. According to him, the song may be about
some old, unhappy incidents or of battles of the past. It may also be about
a matter familiar to the girl. It can also be about some natural sorrow, loss
or pain which has happened to her in the past.
The poet is unable to know the theme of the girl’s song. But he is
not worried about it. He is still enjoying the song. It seems to the poet that
the girl will not stop singing. Her song will never end. She will continue
to sing forever. The poet watches the girl singing and doing her work. He
stands there without making any kind of movement. He also listens to her

5
song without making any kind of noise. He does not want to disturb the
girl. When the poet went up the hill, he could not hear the girl’s song. But
the poet says that he can still hear the sweetness and melody of the song
in his memory. He is sure that he will never forget it.

5. Critical appreciation
In this poem Wordsworth has beautifully described the life in a
countryside, a girl cutting the crop while singing. He has used the
language of the common man to describe the country life. The poet sees a
highland girl working alone in the field, reaping the crop and singing a
melancholy song to herself. The poet immediately feels attracted towards
this beautiful song. Although he is unable to understand the language of
the song but even then he is enjoying the music of the song. The poet
loves the girl’s singing so much that he compares it with that of a
nightingale and a cuckoo bird. Both these birds are well known for their
singing abilities but the poet thinks that the girl was singing sweeter and
better than these two birds. He does not want to disturb the girl in her
singing. He says to the passers - by either to stop there or to pass away
from there without making any kind of disturbance. He himself is
listening to the song silently while standing still. As the poet is not sure of
the theme of the song, he imagines that the song could be about some old,
unhappy incidents or about the battles of the past. The song could also be
about some familiar matter related to the girl’s life, or it could also be
related to some natural sorrow, loss or pain which must have happened to
the girl before. This shows the love of past which is a characteristic
feature of the romantic poetry. For the poet to enjoy the music of the song
is more important than knowing the theme of the song. He is not
concerned about the theme. It seems to him that there is no end of the
girl’s singing and she will continue to sing forever. At the end of the
poem, the poet says that he knows he will not get a chance to listen to this
song again. But even then he will remember her singing. It is impossible
for him to forget that singing. He will always remember it.

6. Themes
Art and Culture
We're in Scotland for this poem, and there's a highland lass (a
woman from the northern part of Scotland) out in the fields. That covers

6
the culture part. She also happens to be singing a song, and, well, that
takes care of the art part. But "The Solitary Reaper" isn't really a poem
about the art and culture of Scotland per se. It's more a general reflection
on poetry itself (usually, whenever poets talk about singing, they're also
talking about poetry). The Romantic Poets loved to talked about solitary
peasant artists (like the woman) and how moved they were by them. (The
speaker carries the woman's song with him for the rest of his life,
presumably.)

Foreignness and "The Other"

The speaker of "The Solitary Reaper" is an Englishman, and he
just so happens to encounter a highland lass singing a song in a language
he can't understand. Now even though the speaker and this woman are
part of the same empire (the British Empire), she's still a foreigner to him,
more or less. He watches her with the same curiosity and intrigue with
which we might look at Amish people these days. Now even though this
woman is definitely an "other," the speaker doesn't exactly look at her as
some foreign presence that needs to be expelled. Rather, she's an
interesting representation of a dying culture, something that should be
appreciated and cherished.

Man and the Natural World

Nightingales and cuckoos, fields and farm labor—the natural
world is alive and well in "The Solitary Reaper" (heck it's alive and well
in pretty much all of Wordsworth's poems). The solitary reaper is the
definition of a "natural" woman. She works out in the fields, and seems to
be very close to nature. Sometimes, it almost seems like she's more a part
of nature than humanity. In contrast, the speaker seems just a bit out of
place, almost like an intruder in the harmonious, natural equilibrium of
the woman, the vale, and the fields.

7. Form and meter

"The Solitary Reaper" is a classic example of iambic tetrameter.
In our case of iambic tetrameter, we get four ("tetra-" means four) iambs
per line instead of five in iambic pentameter. And an iamb is just an
unstressed syllable, followed by a stressed syllable (it makes a daDUM
sound, like in "allow"). In all, then, we have 28 lines of iambic tetrameter

7
and 4 (4, 12, 20, 28) lines of iambic trimeter. Those 32 total lines are
arranged into 4 stanzas that have 8 lines each (that's called an "octet" in
the poetry biz). Anyway, each of those 4 stanzas has the following rhyme
scheme: ABABCCDD, where the letters represent each line's end rhyme.
The first four lines alternate (ABAB), and the last four are rhymed
couplets. The exceptions to this neat little pattern are lines 1 and 3
(according to the pattern, "field" and "herself" are supposed to rhyme but,
yeah, they don't), and lines 25 and 27 ("sang" and "work"). The speaker is
observing a scene that, we assume, was pretty standard fare in rural
Scotland (fields, grass, birds, the works). The kicker is that solitary
reaper. The highland girl is totally unique, so the speaker is momentarily
stopped in his tracks (and even encourages others to stop also), just like
you would be if you saw a tiger riding a unicycle down your block. So,
just as the solitary reaper makes the speaker stop and observe, those
hiccups in both the meter (the lines of iambic trimeter instead of
tetrameter) and rhyme make us readers stop too. They seem out of place,
unique—hey, just like the solitary reaper.
In terms of the poem’s form, it is modelled on a Tuscan verse
form which has been called the Italian equivalent of the English ballad. In
other words, this is vernacular poetry, matching the singing of the
ordinary everywoman, the solitary reaper who is the poem’s subject.

8. Literary devices
Literary devices are tools used by writers to convey their
emotions, ideas, and themes to make texts more appealing to the reader.
William Wordsworth has also used some literary devices in this poem to
make it appealing. The analysis of some of the literary devices used in
this poem has been listed below.
1. Rhetorical Question: Rhetorical Question is a sentence that is
posed to make the point clear. For example, “Will no one tell me
what she sings?”, “That has been, and may be again?” and
“Familiar matter of to-day?”
2. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the
same line such as the sound of /i/ in “Behold her, single in the
field” and the sound of /o/ and /a/ in “Yon solitary Highland Lass!”
3. Imagery: Imagery is used to make the readers perceive things
involving their five senses. For example, “Reaping and singing by

8
 herself”, “I saw her singing at her work” and “More welcome notes
to weary bands.”
4. Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and
qualities, giving them symbolic meanings different from literal
meanings. “Cuckoo” and “nightingale” are the symbols of sweet
melodies whereas the song of the lady symbolizes her intense pain
and distress.
5. Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in
the same line such as the sound /r/ in “Some natural sorrow, loss,
or pain” and the sound of /m/ in “Or is it some more humble lay”.
6. Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not
come to an end at a line break; instead, it continues to the next line.
For example,
“Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.”
7. Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in
the same line in quick succession such as the sound of /p/ in
“Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow” and the sound of /n/ in “No
Nightingale did ever chaunt”.
8. Hyperbole: Hyperbole is a device used to exaggerate any
statement for the sake of emphasis. For example, the below verses
exaggerate the impact of her song,
“O listen! for the Vale profound\
Is overflowing with the sound.”