Learning Path » 5B Interacting
The Solitary Reaper
by - (2010-09-24)
Up to 5B- Reading Poetry- Lines Written in Early Spring and The Solitary Reaper
“The solitary reaper” by William Wordsworth Just reading the title the reader may expect the poem to be set in the country, because a reaper generally works in the fields. One interesting element that may draw the attention of the reader is the use of the adjective solitary. The choice may anticipate a melancholic atmosphere or a sad one.The speaking voice invites the passer-by to look at a girl who is working alone in the fields in the Highland of Scotland while she’s reaping, she’s also singing and the speaking voice seems to invite the silence, her song is melancholic and seems to fill all the valley also creating an echo-effect;The poet compare the girl’s voice to a nightingale and to a cuckoo-bird, her voice break the silence and go to the sea.Nobody knows what this girl sing the speaking voice wanders whether the girl is sad for an old thing or a familiar problem. It doesn’t matter the theme of the song, the poet brings it in his heart also when he can’t listen to her.The poem is divided in four stanzas arranged in octaves, in the first one is described the setting and the theme of the poem, in the second there’s the comparison of the song, in the third the poet makes hypothesis about the theme of the song and in the last stanza there’s the answer to his question and the conclusion.The sound in the poem is mostly soft, this is to express the sweetness of the girl’song.The use of imperative in strong position makes understand the relation between the speaking voice and the reader.In the first part of the poem there are frequents exclamation marks, the speaking voice is attracted by the lonely girl and her voice , in the second part the question marks help the poet to express the doubts about the feeling of the girl.At the end the speaking voice doesn’t care about the theme of the song but he focuses his attention about the mood that the unknown song provokes him.