The solitary reaper

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THE SOLITARY REAPER


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BY WILLIAM

WORDSWORTH

Born on 7th April 1770&

Died on 23rd April 1850


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Bhiksu University of Sri LankaDepartment of Languages

External English Courses – Diploma Course

English Literature – Poetry


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Presented by

Rev. Nivitigala Sumitta Thero

(B.A. (Hons.) – English (Delhi University); M.A. – English (Delhi); M.A. – Buddhist Studies (Delhi); M.A. –

Linguistics (Kelaniya); Senior Lecturer in English, Bhiksu University of Sri Lanka)


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Stanza One

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 strain; O listen! for the Vale profound Is overflowing with the sound.

………………………………………………………………………………………………… the sound of music being played or sungbroad, deep valley between two high ranges.


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Yon solitary Highland lass


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REAPING & SINGING BY HERSELF


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Stop here or gently pass…!!!


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Alone she cuts and binds the grain


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Stanza Two

No Nightingale did ever chauntMore welcome notes to weary bandsOf travelers in some shady haunt,Among Arabian sands:A voice so thrilling ne'er was heardIn spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,Breaking the silence of the seasAmong the farthest Hebrides


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Hebrides islands

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hebridesmap.png


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Stanza Three

Will no one tell me what she sings? Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow For old, unhappy, far-off things, And battles long ago: 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?


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Will no one tell me what she sings?


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Some natural sorrow loss or pain?


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STANZA FOUR

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;-- I listen'd, motionless and still; And, as I mounted up the hill, The music in my heart I bore, Long after it was heard no more.


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Whatever the theme the maiden sang


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I saw her singing at her work


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Over the sickle bending


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Long after it was heard no more


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Coleridge, Wordsworth, and his sister had visited the Scottish Highlands in

1803.


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DOROTHY'S RECOLLECTIONS FOR SEPTEMBER 13 THAT YEAR

NOTES:

"It was harvest time, and the fields were quietly -- might I be

allowed to say pensively? -- enlivened by small companies of reapers. It is not uncommon in

the more lonely parts of the Highlands to see a single person

so employed."


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IN A NOTE TO THE 1807 EDITION, WORDSWORTH TRACED THE POEM'S

SOURCE:

"This Poem was suggested by a beautiful sentence in a MS Tour in Scotland written

by a Friend, the last line being taken from it

verbatim."


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Thomas Wilkinson's manuscript, Tours to the British Mountains (London, 1824), states:

"Passed a Female who was reaping alone: she sung in Erse 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"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hebridesmap.png


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ASSIGNMENT

• Come prepared for a speech on“Wordsworth as a nature lover”

(3 minutes)• Write an appreciation on the poem

“The Solitary Reaper”By William Wordsworth


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THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY…

May the Triple Gem Bless

to all of you…!!!

Education

The solitary reaper