Wordsworth’s ‘The Solitary Reaper’: explained line by line/ Thorough and in-depth analysis of ‘The Solitary Reaper’, a poem by William Wordsworth / Explanation of Wordsworth’s ‘The Solitary Reaper’ in details
William Wordsworth’s The Solitary Reaper is said to be a
ballad that tells us of the enigma of the reaper’s song, which the Romantic Nature poet endeavours to figure out. She and her sweet melody are considered to be a
part and parcel of Nature altogether. In this connection, we must note that ‘reaping’
connotes ‘the cutting and collecting of the grains’.
In the first stanza of the poem, we
come to know that the speaker of the poem tells the readers to watch the lonely
reaper girl in the field. He draws our attention to the “solitary Highland Lass”.
The very word ‘Highland’ indicates that it was a mountainous region that has
been used as the backdrop of the poem. ‘Yon’ means ‘yonder’ or ‘over there’ or
‘at a distance within vision’. The reaper girl, while gathering the grains, keeps
“singing by herself”. She is nonchalant to the world of riches and complexity. She
is pure, she is simple, and she is contented. Her mesmerising melody soothes
the heart of the speaker. Although her songs are ‘melancholy’ or sad, she pours
her heart into her natural song. In this regard, it is needed to be noted that the
deep valleys or the ‘Vale profound’ overflows with the sweetness of her vocal
music.
The second stanza of the poem lets
us know that the sweetness, the purity, the simplicity and the sincerity of the
reaper’s song makes her outdo every other singer of nature like the
Nightingale, like the music of the travellers in some kind of an oasis in the
Arabs, and like the music of the cuckoo, the harbinger of spring. How
enchanting! The mellifluous melody of the reaper transcends the natural singers
as well. Broadly speaking, the ripples of the marine water are no more silent. Everything
as if comes to life.
In the third stanza of the poem, we
come to discern how the speaker desperately tries to figure out what the theme
of the melancholy song is. He, therefore, keeps on guessing it incessantly. However,
this much can be evident that he came to realise that the notes of her song
used to be sorrowful. They are the ‘plaintive numbers’ that flow spontaneously.
Are they speaking about the old battles or their losses? Or is the theme of her
song is too humble for anyone to consider? Do they refer to the complexity of
human life nowadays? Is it sung in reference to some kind of natural calamity? Well,
there is no, no answer at all to any one of us. The more we try to identify the
theme of the melody of the reaper, the more and more enigmatic we find it to
be.
Finally, in the concluding stanza
of the ballad, the speaker wondrously admits that although the theme of her
song is not perceptible and plausible at all, the reaper kept on singing.
Moreover, her songs knew no ending, no conclusion at all. With a sickle or a
scythe in her hand, she was working in the field continuously. Moreover, her
mellifluous music was even more continuous. The speaker became still and reticent,
he became wonder-struck as he had been hypnotised at that very moment. At last, it
must be mentioned that the poem ends on a note of sadness. That is to say, the
sorrowful notes of the reaper girl were not heard anymore. However, the memory of
her music can never be blotted out.
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