Transcript the solitary reaperx

The Solitary Reaper
By: William Wordsworth
Romanticism
• Reaction to French Revolution and its failure
to achieve high ideals
• Reaction to Industrialization and Urbanization
• Reaction to Enlightenment and 18th C
aristocratic values
• Reaction to materialism of the age
• Shift from power of reasoning to power of
emotions
romanticim
• Shift from urban life to the country life as
main theme in literary works
• Rustic and natural scene preferred to the
glamour of the city life
• Simple diction is preferred over flowery and
stylized language
• Individual and his feelings more important
than the society
romanticism
• Imagination, recollection, nature &
supernaturalism, Hellenism - become
important themes
• Struggle between the outer and the inner
worlds, imaginary and the real is highlighted
• Loneliness, melancholy, rebelliousness,
isolation are expressed through poetic works
About the poem
• The poem was written on Nov 5, 1805 and
published in 1807 in Poems in Two Volumes.
• it is written in four stanzas of eight lines each.
• most of it is in iambic tetrameter – four
unstressed and four stressed syllables in a line.
• the rhyme scheme is sometimes abcbddee or
ababccdd.
• the poem is based on someone else’s experience
• Wordsworth was inspired by a passage written by
Thomas Wilkinson, a traveler, during his tours in the book
‘Tours to the British Mountains’
• The passage that inspired Wordsworth is as follows:
‘Passed a female who was reaping alone: she sung in Erse
(the Gealic language of Scotland) 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’ (as quoted in The Norton
Anthology English Literature).
Summary of the poem
• The poem is written in the first person
• It can be classified as pastoral, describing a scene from
the country life.
• Poem is dominated by one central figure, a highland
girl working alone in the fields harvesting grain, and
singing melancholic song. The poet cannot understand
her but is mesmerized by the beauty of it all. He moves
away from the scene but the impact and memory of
the scene stay with him.
• The central ideas is how deep melancholy projects
feelings of joy and happiness.
• The poem begins from an outsider perspective
(Wordsworth) and moves to the insider perspective
(the girl) and back to Wordsworth again
• Relationships are established in the poem between
a. the poet and the reader
b. the poet and the girl
c. the reader and the girl
• The poem is an effort to recreate the whole scene
in which the maiden is the centre of the Natural
world
• It is a description of the blissful mood that the song
of the maiden creates in Wordsworth
• At the heart of the poem is Wordsworth’s definition
of poetry as the ‘spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings’ and ‘emotions recollected in tranquility’.
• He emphasizes his poetic values through the poem
by creating this beautiful scene in the rustic, natural
setting and by choosing a simple, rustic girl.
• The language of the poem is natural and simple
Detailed analysis of the poem
Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
The beautiful girl is working alone in the cotton fields
of Scotland (the Highland)
‘Lass’ is a maiden, a young girl
‘yon’ is from yonder, or that one
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
‘Reaping’ is to cut grain for harvest with scythe, sickle or reaper
Poet describes her movements and actions: she is reaping and singing at the same
time
But she sings for no one in particular
Her movements are fluid like and gentle – she is oblivious of her surroundings and
only engrossed in her own work.
Her loneliness is emphasized, through repetition of words, also in the title.
Poet urges not to disturb her in her work and singing. He suggests that one should
either watch her or gently pass from the scene.
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
‘Grain’ is the fruit of cereal grass
‘melancholy’ means sad
‘Strain’ is the tone or the tune
For the fourth time the sense of loneliness is attached to
the whole scene; it gives the impression that the girl is
removed from our world
In these lines her next chores are mentioned: she has cut
the grain and is now binding the grain
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.
‘Valle profound’ is the deep valley
‘overflowing’ means reverberating or resounding
Wordsworth now changes his stance: first she was only
singing to herself but now the whole valley listens to
her and is filled by her sweet song.
There is a sense of joy and respect for the girl and her
song in Wordsworth’s remark, ‘O listen!’
Second Stanza
No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
‘chaunt’ is a simple melody, a song sung repeatedly
‘notes’ musical notes, song
‘weary bands’ are tired travelers
‘shady haunt’ is like an oasis in the desert, a paradise for
travelers of deserts with date trees, water and birds.
Second Stanza
Wordsworth compares the girl’s song and its
musical quality with that of Nightingale’s song
He feels that the maiden’s song even surpasses the
song of the Nightingale as it is heard in the
Arabian deserts by the tired traveler.
Nightingale bird is so called because it sings at night
as well as during the day; it means ‘night
songstress.’
The bird is famous for its song; its song is loud and
louder when in urban environments, inorder to
overcome the background noise.
Second Stanza
The Nightingale bird has been an important
symbol for poets for ages:
Homer evokes the Nightingale in the Odyssey
and refers to the classical myth of Philomela
who is turned into Nightingale after avenging
her rapist (her sister’s husband) .
several Middle English period poets including
Chaucer and Gower have used the bird’s song
to depict a sorrowful lament.
Second Stanza
During Romantic era, the bird acted as the Muse
inspiring poets in their acts of creation, “master of a
superior art that could inspire the human poet.”
For Wordsworth, the bird is a the voice of nature
For Keats & Shelley, the bird is an idealized poet
Shelley wrote in his “Defense of Poetry:”
“A poet is a nightingale who sits in darkness and
sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds;”
Second Stanza
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.
‘thrilling’ means causing intense excitement & pleasure
‘Cuckoo-bird’ is a solitary bird that seldom occurs in
pairs; generally known as shy bird, more often heard
than seen.
Second Stanza
Cuckoo’s call in Europe is regarded as the first harbinger
of spring.
‘hebrides’ are the farthest islands off the mainland
Scotland
In these lines, Wordsworth is comparing the song of
the Scottish maiden to the song of Cuckoo bird
breaking the silence of the sea in the Hebrides
The song of the cuckoo bird is associated with the
return of life, vitality and spring after the harsh
winters.
Third stanza
Will no one tell me what she sings?
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
‘Plaintive numbers’ refer to the sad music of the song
Wordsworth here wants to know the content of the
song she is singing.
He makes guesses as he can’t understand the
language
She may be singing about ‘old’, ‘unhappy’, ‘faroff things’ or old ‘battles’
Her song is not about the is not a happy, love
song – the music gives Wordsworth the ideas
Third Stanza
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?
‘humble lay’ sad song
Wordsworth wonders again what the song may be about,
and connects the past, present and the future.
Emphasis is again on pain and loss.
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;-‘sickel’ is an instrument to cut grass, a curved blade
Wordsworth emphasizes the beauty of the song and its
power to lure – the song appears not to have an
ending.
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.
Wordsworth describes two effects of the song on him:
1. He stood ‘motionless and still’ – entranced by the
beauty of it
2. He moved away but carried it in his heart
The scene is described both in the present moment and
in the form of memory
Both have pleasant effect on the poet
Important Themes
• Recollection and role of memory in creation of art
• Close association with nature – nature as source of
serenity and peace
• Simplicity and purity of rustic life – not burdened
with miseries of urban industrialized life
General Analysis
• The language of the poem is simple and close
to language of ‘common people’
• The setting of the poem is rustic and emphasis
is on the girl’s isolation from the world