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ABOUT THE POEM
“This poem is unique because while
most of Wordsworth's work is based
closely on his own experiences, 'The
Solitary Reaper' is based on the
experience of someone else”
- Author and friend Thomas Wilkinson
__________________________
STANZA - 1
Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
_________________________________
The speaker opens this poem by directing our attention to a woman,
"single in the field."
“She" is a "Highland Lass." the word "lass" is a Scottish word for "girl.”
Scotland can be divided into two parts: the lowlands and the highlands.
Solitary(adj) – Alone, lonely / solitude(noun) - the state or situation of
being alone
STANZA - 1
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
_____________________________________________
The highland lass is "reaping" (gathering crops) and "singing" all alone.
Reap – Receive, harvest, obtain, get
The speaker is absolutely fascinated by this scene, and is worried lest
somebody disturb it.
STANZA - 1
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
________________________________________
By reaping the speaker means she is cutting some kind of grain (probably
because it is growing in huge stalks in a field) and tying it all together
("binds").
The song she's singing isn't a very happy one either. It is a "melancholy
strain.”
Melancholy - sadness, pensiveness, woe, sorrow (उदासी)
STANZA - 1
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.
________________________________________
Vale - A valley (used in place names or as a poetic term)
Profound - (of a state, quality, or emotion) very great or intense
STANZA - 2No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands
_____________________________________
The speaker begins the second stanza by elaborating on how great the highland lass's
song is
"Chaunt" is just an old British spelling of "chant," and here it means "sing" or "chirp.”
STANZA - 2
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.
___________________________________________
This time it's the "cuckoo-bird," and the speaker makes the same kind of comparison
as before.
The highland lass's voice is way more thrilling than the cuckoo's spring-time song.
And that cuckoo-song, according to our speaker, was one of the only sounds that
broke the calm silence of the seas near the Hebrides.
HEBRIDES
BREAK THE SILENCE
Meaning - to end a period of silence by talking or making
a noise_________________________________________________________________
STANZA - 3
Will no one tell me what she sings?—
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago
_______________________________________
The speaker has no idea what the woman is singing about
People in Northern Scotland speak a language known as Scots Gaelic, or Erse, which
sounds absolutely nothing like English.
Plaintive - mournful, sad
He says "numbers," a word that is often used to describe lines written in meter
(because they have a predetermined "number" of syllables).
STANZA - 3
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?
___________________________________________
The expression ‘humble lay’ means an ordinary song
He's really only sure about one thing: this woman's song is a sad one.
STANZA - 4
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;—
______________________________________________________
We've reached the poem's final stanza, and the speaker appears to not even care about understanding
the woman's song anymore.
She was singing, even while she was bending over ("o'er") her sickle (a special farming tool used to cut
crops).
Maiden - an unmarried girl or young woman
STANZA - 4
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
_____________________________________________
Mount (verb) - climb up (stairs, a hill, or other rising surface).
QUESTIONSRead the following and answer the questions:-
Alone she cuts, and binds the grain
And sings a melancholy strain
O listen! for the vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.
a. Who is 'she'?
b. What is meant by 'melancholy strain'?
c. What does the 'vale profound' refer to?