THE SOLITARY REAPER – 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, for-off things,

And battles long ago:

Or is it some more humble lay,

Familiar matter of today?

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.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770 – 1850), born at Cockermouth, was educated at Hawkshead and Cambridge. As a young man he undertook a walking tour of France and Italy and was deeply influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution. Later, Wordsworth published Lyrical Ballads in collaboration with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, with which began the Romantic Revival in English poetry. Wordsworth is not only initiator but also a leading poet of the movement. He was known as a poet of nature and of man.

THE SOLITARY REAPER is a thoughtful poem on man (human being) and nature. The poet wandering in the hills and valleys of the Scottish Highlands once saw a lovely peasant girl reaping and singing in the field. The sight was pleasing and the sad song appeared enchanting and more moving than the songs of nightingales and cuckoos. The poet tried to get at the meaning of the song which he did not understand: it might be about things long past like battles or some unhappy events; it might be about some matter of common sorrow that had happened and might happen again. The sight and the song have made a deep impression on his mind and will stay in his memory for long.  

behold:                        look

yon:                 (yonder), there at farthest distance

highland:         the Scottish highlands

lass:                 girl

strain:              a sad note of song

weary:              very tired

shady haunt:    cool shelter / Oasis

vale:                 valley

Hebrides:         a group of islands off the west coast of Scotland. The islands are popular with tourists in the summer

plaintive:          sounding sad, esp. in a weak complaining way

Summary of the poem

In the year 1803 William Wordsworth toured Scotland with Dorothy Wordsworth and his close friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge as his companions. The sight of reapers in the harvest fields reminded Wordsworth of a sentence in a book by one of his friends: ‘passed a female, who was reaping alone: she sang in Erse as she bent over sickle: the sweetest human voices I ever heard; her strains were tenderly melancholy, and felt delicious long after they were heard mo more’. The poem was thus inspired partly by his own experience and partly by that of his friend. The subject of the poem is familiar scene from rustic life. In order to relate an incident from common life the poet has made use of a language which is used by common people in their everyday life. By doing this, Wordsworth has fulfilled the promise made in the preface to the Lyrical Ballads which is the manifesto of the Romantic Movement.

Once, Wordsworth saw a young girl reaping and singing all alone in a field. The echo of her sweet song was about a battle fought long ago. The song of the solitary reaper was no doubt as sweet as the song of a nightingale which sang from an Oasis in the Arabian Desert. It was certainly more thrilling than the song sung by a cuckoo in the Hebrides. The poet wondered at the subject of her song. Perhaps the subject of the song was a battle fought long ago. Or perhaps she was singing about a humble subject like the sufferings of ordinary people. Whatever might be the subject; the song was spontaneous and seemed to have no end. It impressed the poet so much that he felt thrilled for quite some time. In other words it was an unforgettable experience.