Transcript The Solitary Reaper - Parma City School District

“The Solitary
Reaper”
William Wordsworth
“The Solitary Reaper”
• Ballad
• Focus on common place
• abcb ddee
• Abab ccdd
• Iambic tetrameter
• Adds musicality to poem
• Parallels her song
Stanza I
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 stain;
listen! For the vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.
Stanza I
• Sees beautiful girl singing as she is reaping
• “single in the field,/ Yon solitary Highland lass!...by
herself”
• Diction and tone
• Solitary person to exemplify that we are sole
companions with nature.
• Imagery conveys image as seen through speaker’s
eye.
• Pure, quiet, beautiful
• Overpowers the speaker
Stanza I
• “Stop here, or gently pass!”
• Command not to interrupt
• Beauty and majesty he sees
• Focus on the sound of her song
• Setting and tone
• “sings a melancholy strain;/ O listen! For the vale
profound/ Is overflowing with the sound.”
• Valley filled with her song
• Voice haunting through the distance of the speaker
Stanza II
No nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travelers in some shady haunt
Among Arabian sands.
A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard
In springtime from the cuck00-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.
Stanza II
• “No nightingale did ever chaunt”
• Common yet elusive bird
• Metaphor
• Emphasizes the power and purity of her voice
• “More welcome notes to weary bands/ Of
travelers in some shady haunt/ Among Arabian
sands.”
• Soothing and welcoming
• Hyperbole to exemplify the beauty and purity of her
voice
Stanza II
• “A voice to thrilling ne’er was heard/ In
springtime from the cuckoo-bird,/ Breaking the
silence of the seas/ Among the farthest
Hebrides.”
• Metaphor and hyperbole
• Aspects that cannot match the beauty and
purity of her voice.
• Hebrides- Northwest coast of Scotland
Stanza III
• Consonance
•
•
•
•
•
“voice”
“silence”
“seas”
“farthest”
Hebrides”
• Repetitive s sound adds musicality
Stanza III
Will no one tell me what she sings?
Perhaps the plainitve numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far off things,
And battle long ago.
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of today?
Some natural sorrow, loss. Or pain,
That has been, and may ne again?
Stanza III
• “Will no one tell me what she sings?”
• Doesn’t understand the song but retains its beauty
• Only the tone and sound of her voice
• “Perhaps the plainitive numbers flow/ For old,
unhappy, far-off things,/ And battles long ago.”
• Hears emotion in her voice
•
•
•
•
A quest?
Nostalgic?
Grief for unsung heroes?
A domestic issue?
Stanza IV
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 bendingI 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.
Stanza IV
• “Whate’er the theme, the maiden sang/ As if
her song could have no ending;”
• Music seems to never end
• Continued “s” sound
• Music continues to haunt speaker
Stanza IV
• Beauty and power of nature and the music of
humanity.
• The expression of the human spirit even in not
understood.