The Solitary Reaper

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Recommended: Poem analysis

A ballad written by William Wordsworth in iambic tetrameter, “The Solitary Reaper” contains four eight-line stanzas. Having a rhyme scheme of ababccdd, the poem describes first hand how the singing of a Scottish Highlands girl in the field witnessed by the English Romantic poet dazzles and emotionally moves him. Having visited the Scottish highlands, mountainous regions, with his sister Dorothy and fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1803 (Lancashire), Wordsworth recollects in his poem the common sight of working solitary reapers in Scotland. Conveying the essence of his ardent feelings through “The Solitary Reaper”, William Wordsworth praises the beauty of music as well as music’s ability to be a universal instrument of expression and language in which people of all cultures connect.

The poem begins with Wordsworth instructing the reader through the use of apostrophe to look upon the “solitary Highland Lass” (2) who is “Reaping and singing by herself” (3). Calling the solitary reaper a “lass”, Wordsworth brings into focus the image of a girl who is young, yet experienced and mature due to the hardships of the rural countryside. As the solitary girl “cuts and binds the grain” (5) by herself, ostensibly unaware of her surroundings, Wordsworth commands people who encounter her to “Stop here, or gently pass” (4). Demanding others to “Stop here” (4), Wordsworth reveals his belief that the lass’s melody is alluring and worthy enough to be heard and acknowledged by all bystanders. Yet Wordsworth does not force people to listen to the reaper’s song as he also gives those passing by the option to “gently pass” (4). Not wanting anything to disturb the highland lass from both her labors and her singing, Wordsworth seemingly beseeches s...

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...which Wordsworth praises music and how through its beauty, manages to connect person-to-person, place-to-place. Written as a lyric, “The Solitary Reaper” illustrates the harmonious song the girl sings as the poem itself flows with numerous euphonious words. With short lines and rhymes, the poem has a quick pace, creating a musical rhythm, further asserting the underlying theme of music. Permitting readers to feel Wordsworth’s experience and awe, the lyric poem exists as evidence that the lingering effects of music endure through time, passing history down from one generation to the next.

Works Cited

Bergman, David, and Daniel Mark Epstein. The Heath Guide to Poetry. Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company, 1983. Print.

Lancashire, Ian. "William Wordsworth: The Solitary Reaper." Representative Poetry Online. University of Toronto Libraries, 2009. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.

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