24.09.2010

Consuelo Canciani                                               VB

The Solitary Reaper

Analysis of the text

The solitary reaper is a poem written by William Wordsworth.

Just reading the title the reader can expect  the poem to describe   a country in an autumn day. In fact the sett is in a country because there is a girl that works in a field. The poet uses the adjective "solitary" to suggest to the reader a melancholic atmosphere.

The structure of the poem is composed of four stanzas, in each one there are eight verses.

The poet starts to write the poem with the word "behold": is an imperative that makes the situation more intense. Then, in the first verse the poet uses soft sound through open vocal for give a sense of open space. The verbs "reaping" and "singing" give to the reader a sense of work's movement.

In the second stanza the poet describes a girl that works in a field and she is singing; he thinks that her singing is most beautiful than singing of cuckoo-bird and nightingale. Also in this part the poet uses soft sound to lengthen the sound and to make an idea of melody (like girl's voice).

In the next stanza the poet asks himself what is the theme of the song that the girl is singing: she thinks of various possibility: family context, natural sorrow, battles long ago or old, unhappy, far-off things.

In the last stanza the poet stops to think to the song of the girl and he fixes his interest on the movements of girl. He listens silent and motionless the sweet music that the girl is creating. The description of poet gives to the reader a sense of quiet and melancholic.

Finally you discover that this image is only a memory of the poet. In fact the poet wants to focus the attention of the reader to the girl and to the rural landscape.