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

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STANZA - 1

Behold her, single in the field,

Yon solitary Highland Lass!

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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!

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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;

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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?

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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;—

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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

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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?