The Solitary Reaper [Poem] Summary and Analysis

Summary & Analysis of The Solitary Reaper

The Solitary Reaper was written on 5th November 1805 and published in 1807 in the collection Poems. As his works were based on experiences, “Solitary Reaper” too was based on his experiences of observing someone else. He was a great poet and Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death from Pleurisy on 23 April 1850.

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Introduction

'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 feelings or emotions 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.

Main Summary of The Solitary Reaper

The Solitary Reaper is a poem about a girl, a Highland lass who is working in the field alone.  She is harvesting her crops and gathering them and singing a sad tune that echoes around the deep valley.  The poet wants all of us to listen to hear the tune which gently passes. He compares her sweet voice to a nightingale.  He says no nightingale could sing in the deserts more beautiful than the girl.  

He even says that a cuckoo bird cannot hum a tune sweeter than the girl.  Her songs and her beautiful sweet voice break the silence in the Hebrides, a group of Islands off the coast of Scotland. In fact, the poet has no idea about the theme of the song.  But he guesses that it may be about a war long, something mundane or even painful suffering.

Who is the writer of The Solitary Reaper?

William Wordsworth is the founder of the Romantic Movement of English literature and writer of the Poem The Solitary Reaper.  He is one of the most remarkable English Poets.   He is known as the Lakeland Poet because he lived in that area.  This place is full of beautiful landscapes, green pastures and numerous lakes.  He is called a nature poet.  For he focuses on the relationship between nature and humans.  He became the Poet Laureate of England in 1843.

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Detail Analysis of the Poem

Stanza - 1

In the first stanza, the poet describes a girl who is working in the field.  She is a highland girl reaping the crop and singing while she works.  The poet requested the passersby to stop for a while to listen to her song without making any noise.  The poet now describes the actions of the girl. She is cutting and binding the crop alone and continues to sing the song. The poet likes her song and he feels that the song echoes all over the valley.

Stanza - 2

In the second stanza, he compares her voice to the nightingale.  The nightingale is a bird famous for its melodious voice which sings to the travellers in the Arabian Desert when the travellers take a rest at an Oasis.  But the poet even says that the nightingale could not sing better than the girl.  Her voice is so thrilling and the Cuckoo bird sings in the Hebrides during the spring season.  Even the cuckoo bird cannot sing more sweetly than this girl.

Stanza - 3

The third stanza says about the language of the girl who is singing alone in the field.  The poet could not understand her language or its theme.  He wants someone to say the meaning of the song.  From the way it is sung, the poet comes to a conclusion that the song conveys about an unhappy incident or about battlefield suffering.  It could be a natural sorrow, loss or pain that give agony to the girl.

Stanza - 4

The fourth and last stanza is about a simple conclusion from the poet.  Now he is not ready to waste the time thinking about the language or its theme.  The poet wants to enjoy the song with his whole heart.  There is no end to her song.  She keeps on singing in the same melodious tone. The poet could see the girl who is at work with a sickle in her hand but singing the same song with more emotion.  He says he listens without making any noise or movement.  When he goes uphill he still remembers the music of the song.  It lingers in his heart forever.  He didn’t hear it anymore after that.  But he always remembers her songs. 

Literary Devices in Poem

The poet has used Rhetorical Questions to make the point clear.  Example: “Will no one tells me what she sings?”, “That has been, and maybe again?”

Assonance is a repetition of the vowel sound in the same line.  I sound in “Single in the field” and O sound and A sound in “Yon solitary Highland Lass!”

Imagery is used to make the readers see things with their five senses.  For example “Reaping and singing by herself”, and “I saw her singing at her work”

Symbolism is used to bring out ideas and literal meaning.  “Cuckoo” and “Nightingale” are used as symbols to the sweet voice of the girl.

Enjambment is a continuation of the emotional thought in the verse.

For example “Breading the silence of the seas

Among the Farthest Hebrides.”

Alliteration is used to show the repetition of words or letters in the same line.

P in “Perhaps the plaintive number flow” and N sound in “No Nightingale did ever chant”

Hyperbole is used to exaggerate the simple idea. For example

 “No Nightingale did ever chant

More welcome notes to weary bands

Of travellers in some shady haunt,

Among Arabian sands: 

Conclusion

Thus the simple poem becomes a significant one for the readers to enjoy.  The poem which expresses the song of the simple country girl who works in the field captivates the heart and mind of the poet.  The poet enjoys and listens to the song with unspeakable emotions.  He requests the natures to be quiet and also he wants all to listen to the song. 

He could not think of anything else except the song which, according to him, conveys some kind of pain or suffering.  He paints this accidental experience with deep and strong feelings.  He could not forget this particular song forever.  He could not erase it from his mind, for it expresses some sort of pain and suffering. The poet wants the readers to be there to listen, enjoy and absorb the same experience.