The Solitary Reaper

Textual analysis

Just considering the title the reader may expect the poem to speak about a reaper and it is probably set in the country, because the reaper generally works in the fields. The reader's attention is captured by the use of the adjective "Solitary", the choice made anticipated the melancholic atmosphere or a sad one.
In the poem the lyrical I invites the passer-by to stop and look at the girl, who is cutting grain by herself. The reaper is singing a "melancholy strain" which captured the speaking voice.
"The Solitary Reaper" is arranged into four octaves, where in the first the poet introduces the girl and her song that seems to feel the entire valley.
In the second and in the third stanza the speaking voice reflects on the girl's song, that she is singing with sweet voice better than a Nightingale or a Cuckoo-bird and he thinks about the possible content of the song.
In the last octave the poet says whatever the theme of the song was he saw the girl at her work and he heard her song and bore it up the hill "long after it was heard no more".
In the first stanza the poet uses open vowels and this conveys the idea of open space like the poem's setting, there is also a preponderance of the sound "s", the repetition of this soft sound arouses in the reader the impressions to hear the song's notes. At line three the use of the verbs "reaping and singing" creates the idea of movement of the reaper's work. Through these sound devices the reader could visualize the scene which is described in "The Solitary Reaper".
At the beginning of the poem the poet uses the present tense (some verbs are in the present continuous "reaping and singing" "overflowing"), but he uses the past tense in the fourth stanza. The use of the present in the first octave conveys to give a vivid image to the reader as if the scene is developed before his eyes, it is underlined also by the use of the imperative form in the first word at line one and by the use of the exclamation mark at line two and four: the poet wants the reader to pay attention to the scene and visualize it.
In the last part of the poem the verb tense shift to the past because the vision has ended, this suggests that the scene was a poet's memory and the poet has reflected on it.
In the second octave the girl's voice is compared to the singing of a nightingale and the singing of a cuckoo-bird. Both the bird's singing and the reaper's voice are sweet and they are welcomed by the travellers, but the emotions and the reflections that the song arouses to the poet are more important than the song itself. In facts he bore the music with him, "Whate'er the theme", even if he heard it no more.
The tone of the poem is quiet, the poet listened "motionless and still" that strain singed by a solitary reaper in the Highland of Scotland, a song that led his thoughts while he mounted up the hill.

Vinicio Elisa