Class 9 THE SOLITARY REAPER

 “The Solitary Reaper” is a poem by the English poet William Wordsworth. The poem was inspired by the poet’s trip to Scotland in 1803 with his sister Dorothy Wordsworth. It was first published in 1807. In the poem, the speaker tries—and fails—to describe the song he heard a young woman singing as she cuts grain in a Scottish field. The speaker does not understand the song, and he cannot tell what it was about. Nor can he find the language to describe its beauty.

"The Solitary Reaper" is a poem about music: the song a Scottish girl sings as she cuts hay with a sickle. Though the poem’s narrator cannot understand what the girl is actually singing about, the girl’s song sticks with him, its melancholy beauty echoing in his head “long after” its sound has faded. In this way, the poem suggests the ability of art to transcend cultural boundaries and even language itself. Art, in the poem, can communicate feeling or emotion even in the absence of concrete understanding. And yet, at the same time, the poem also communicates a bit of uncertainty about whether poetry itself can offer this connection in the way that music can.

The speaker focuses on the transfixing power of the reaper’s mysterious song. He describes her song in elegant and slightly HYPERBOLIC terms: it fills the valley with sound, and she sings “as if her song could have no ending.” He also invites readers to share in his wonder and pleasure, asking them to “Stop here” and “listen.” Yet he can’t actually understand the reaper’s song, and even cries out, “Will no one tell me what she sings?” He is either too far away to make out the words or, more likely, the reaper is singing in Scots (the national language of Scotland, which is closely related to but different from English). He wonders whether she’s singing about some ancient, epic battles or simply the “humble” and “familiar” sorrows of everyday life. In either case, the speaker draws pleasure from the girl’s song despite not knowing its specifics. For the speaker, the power of the reaper’s song transcends cultural and linguistic divisions, allowing the speaker to feel connected to this solitary “Highland lass.”

Since poets often refer to their own art as song, the reader may also take the speaker's reflection on the power of the reaper’s song as a reflection on the power of poetry itself. The speaker suggests that poetry’s power lies less in its content and more in its rhythm, its music: the sheer pleasure of musical language is a means of connection. 

LITERARY DEVICES

1. Apostrophe is a figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses someone (or something) that is not present or cannot respond in reality. The entity being addressed can be an absent, dead, or imaginary person, but it can also be an inanimate object (like stars or the ocean), an abstract idea (like love or fate), or a being (such as a Muse or god). 

e.g., "Behold her," "Stop here, or gently pass!" "O listen!" .  The speaker directly addresses the reader and issues a set of instructions for the reader.

2. Enjambment - A line in a stanza continues to the next without a punctuation. 

e.g., Breaking the silence of the seas

Among the farthest Hebrides.

3. 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”.

4. Symbolism - Using of 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. Imagery - is used to make the readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “Reaping and singing by herself”, “I saw her singing at her work” and “More welcome notes to weary bands.”

6. Assonance - it is the repetition of  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!”

7. 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?”

8. Hyperbole - it is device used to exaggerate any statement for the sake of emphasis. 

e.g., "O listen! for the Vale profound

Is overflowing with her sound."

RHYME SCHEME - ababccdd

Q1. Why do you think Wordsworth has chosen the song of the nightingale and the cuckoo for comparison with the solitary reaper’s song?

Ans. The nightingale and the cuckoo are the two birds which are famous for their sweet and melodious songs. So, it is quite natural that Wordsworth compares the sweet song of the solitary reaper to these birds.

Q2. As you read the second stanza, what pictures come to your mind?

·       The first picture that comes to my mind is the desert of Arabia. The scorching sun is burning everything. Poor travellers are tired and thirsty. They are making their camels run for some shady haunts. At last, they find a shady place with water. They lie down to have some rest. Suddenly, a melodious voice captures their hearts. The nightingale’s song refreshes the tired travellers. They are up again for their onward journey.

·       The Hebrides are wrapped in silence. A ship anchors there. A sweet voice breaks the silence of the seas. It is the melodious voice of the cuckoo. The song thrills all the seamen. The whole mountain region resounds with the song. 

Q 3. How could the poet hear the song of the Solitary Reaper, when it could be heard no more?
Ans. One day, while climbing up a hill, the poet hears solitary reaper’s song. The song reminds him of a nightingle and a cuckoo. He finds the song so enchanting that it leaves an indelible mark on the poet’s mind and he believes that the memory of the song will remain with him forever. This also shows that music has a universal appeal.

Q4. ‘Solitary Reaper’ is a poem that depicts a simple peasant girl gifted with an extraordinary voice. What qualities make the girl unforgettable?
Ans. 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.

5. Discuss the effect of the Solitary Reaper’s song on the listeners. Why is it compared to the nightingale and the cuckoo?
Ans. 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 travellers 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 Scotlands Hebrides (far-off Islands) bring out an exotic feeling.