THE SOLITARY REAPER (CLASS - X)

THE SOLITARY REAPER

 

1.      The poet, William Wordsworth, conveyed the sense of solitude, in the first stanza, through the “Highland” girl.  In the first stanza of the poem, "The Solitary Reaper," a young Highland girl is reaping alone and singing to herself while she is cutting and binding the grain. The poet asks the passers-by to listen carefully, because the whole valley is filled to overflowing with the sound of her singing. The people around are invited to either stop and listen to her sad song or to gently pass by, so as not to disturb her.

2.      The poet is addressing to the passers-by when he says – “Stop here or gently pass.‟

3.      The nightingale‟s song is a welcoming song to the bands of tired wanderers in an  Arabian  desert  and  the  Cuckoo‟s  song  is  „thrilling‟  as  it  is  sung  in springtime that breaks the quiet isolation of Scotland's westernmost islands known as „Hebrides‟. Both the nightingale and the cuckoo are famous song birds and are known for their melodious voice.

4.      No, the poet did not understand what the reaper was singing about. This is  quite evident from the first line of the third stanza – “Will no one tell me what she sings?” The poet begs someone to tell him what the girl is singing about. Receiving no answer, he muses that, perhaps, she is singing about old sorrows, or battles of long ago, or more mundane concerns, or even some suffering which she has endured and may endure again.

5.      The words showing that the reaper‟s song is not a joyous one is “plaintive numbers”. Though the poet does not understand the meaning of the song that the reaper is singing, he eventually resigns and begs someone to tell him what the girl is singing about. Receiving no answer, he muses that, perhaps, she is singing about old sorrows, or battles of long ago, or more mundane concerns, or even some suffering which she has endured and may endure again.

6.      In the beginning of the poem, „The Solitary Reaper‟, the poet hears the highland girl singing alone as she was cutting and binding grain. He stands there and asks the passers-by to listen carefully, because the whole valley is filled to overflowing with the sound of her singing. The people around are invited to either stop and listen to her sad song or to gently pass by, so as not to disturb her. The speaker says that he stood and listened to the song of the  reaper as she continued to work in the valley. The melody of the reaper‟s song has created such impression in the mind of the poet that he has become mesmerized. He even compares the famous song birds like the nightingale and the cuckoo and says that the melody of the two birds combined cannot produce such mesmerizing effect as alone the melody of the reaper can. As he moved  on and began climbing the hills surrounding the valley, he carried the memory of her song with him, long after he could actually hear it.

 

 

Reference to the Context

 

1.      (a) The poet, at this point, is addressing to the solitary reaper or the Highland girl who is reaping alone and singing to herself while she is cutting and binding the grain.

 

(b)    ‘She’ refers to the solitary reaper or the highland girl. She is working in the field and singing a song as she is cutting and binding the grain.

(c)    Refer to Ans. No. 6

(d)    ‘Melancholy Strain’ means a sad song.

2.       (a) The reaper’s song is first compared to the nightingale, which is a famous song bird.

 

(b)       The   Cuckoo’s   song   is   very   „thrilling‟   and   can   be   heard   during springtime in Scotland's westernmost islands known as Hebrides‟.

 

(c)      The cuckoo bird‟s song is very “thrilling” and it breaks the quiet isolation of Scotland's westernmost islands known as  Hebrides.