THE SOLITARY REAPER

Analysis:

Just reading the title the reader may expect the poem to be set in a country because a reaper generally works in a fields. One interesting element that may draw the attention of the reader is the use of the adjective “solitary”. That choice may anticipate a melancholic atmosphere or a sad one.

The speaking voice invites the passer-by to look at the girl that is working alone in the field, while she’s reaping she is singing and the poet seems inviting the passer-by not to disturb her song. Her song is melancholy and seems to fill all the valley also creating an echo effect. The speaking voice is also catch by the melody of this song that “I bore\ long after it was heard no more”.

The poem is organized into four octane in which the speaking I, in order, introduces the theme of the poem, compares the  girl song to a nightingale or cuckoo-bird song saying that her song is better, makes hypothesis about the possible content of the song and, at the end, expresses what was the emotions that the poet fells.

The poem is characterizes by the presence of a lot of open and long vocals (“behold her single in the field”) that convey a sense of slowly, melancholy and lonely. This aspect, added to the rhymes, characterizes the rhythm of the poem: a slowly melody made to permit the reader to imagine the scene of the solitary reaper singing. All the poet choice in phonological level are used to reach this last target as the words choice. Indeed the are a lot of words that belong to the semantic field of unhappiness (“melancholy strain”, “vale profound”, “old, unhappy, far-off things”) to underline the emotions that the poet feels in this particular moment. There are no many figure of speech, the writer doesn’t want create poetical artifices to embellish his work but he wants maintain the simplicity of the reaper song, the simplicity of her work.. he is not fascinate by the highlands landscape but he is catch by the unfussiness of a young woman.

Whit this text William Wordsworth, maybe, wants to put in evidence the simplicity of a wonderful moment, he is not fascinate by a complex situation but only by “the solitary reaper”. He may say us that in our life not all the times we are fascinate by complex situation but we can also by capture by a simple countrywoman action.