“The Solitary Reaper” Introduction

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“The Solitary Reaper” Summary

“The Solitary Reaper” Themes

• 

  Art and Communication

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• 

  The Limits of Poetry

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• 

  Nature and the Poet

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Solitary Reaper”

• Lines 1-4

  Behold her, single in the field, 
  Yon solitary Highland Lass! 
  Reaping and singing by herself; 
  Stop here, or gently pass! 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Alone she cuts and binds the grain, 
  And sings a melancholy strain; 
  O listen! for the Vale profound 
  Is overflowing with the sound. 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  No Nightingale did ever chaunt 
  More welcome notes to weary bands 
  Of travellers in some shady haunt, 
  Among Arabian sands: 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  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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• Lines 17-20

  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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• Lines 21-24

  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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• Lines 25-32

  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 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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“The Solitary Reaper” Symbols

• 

  Nightingale

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• 

  Cuckoo-bird

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• 

  Arabia and the Hebrides

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“The Solitary Reaper” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Polyptoton

  

  

  

  

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“The Solitary Reaper” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Highland
• Lass
• Reaping
• Strain
• Vale
• Profound
• Nightingale
• Bands
• Haunt
• Arabian
• Hebrides
• Plaintive
• Numbers
• Lay
• Sickle

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Solitary Reaper”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Solitary Reaper” Speaker

“The Solitary Reaper” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Solitary Reaper”

More “The Solitary Reaper” Resources

• External Resources

  • Manuscript of "The Solitary Reaper — A digital reproduction of the original manuscript for "The Solitary Reaper," currently in the holdings of the British Library.

  • Biography of William Wordsworth — A brief biography of Wordsworth from the British Library, with extensive links to other articles on aspects of Wordsworth's life and thought.    

  • Reading of "The Solitary Reaper" — A reading of "The Solitary Reaper" from Pearls of Wisdom    

  • The Romantics — An article on the history of British Romanticism from the British Library.    

  • Preface to Lyrical Ballads — Wordsworth's preface to the 1800 edition of Lyrical Ballads, in which he lays out his theory of poetry and his relationship with Romanticism.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by William Wordsworth

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  • Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

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  • Extract from The Prelude (Boat Stealing)

  • It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free

  • I Travelled Among Unknown Men

  • I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

  • Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey

  • Lines Written in Early Spring

  • London, 1802

  • Mutability

  • My Heart Leaps Up

  • Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Room

  • Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

  • She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways

  • She was a Phantom of Delight

  • The Tables Turned

  • The World Is Too Much With Us

  • Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower

  • To a Snowdrop

  • We Are Seven