Student Question
How does "The Solitary Reaper" capture the beauty of the countryside?
Quick answer:
"The Solitary Reaper" captures the beauty of the countryside by portraying a solitary girl singing in a field, enhancing the natural beauty around her. Wordsworth emphasizes how her song fills the profound vale, merging with the natural world. This rural setting allows her melody to resonate deeply, remaining in the speaker's heart even after he departs, highlighting the harmony between her song and the countryside's beauty.
Wordsworth's love of nature and reverence of natural beauty is quite evident in this poem. If we look at the first stanza, the opening of the poem represents the exposition of the poem, where the girl in the field stands alone. Her solitary place in nature is what enhances the beauty of the song she sings. If she were in a crowded city and around people, the meaning would be entirely lost. Rather, the fact that she stands alone, standing in nature, allows her song to fill the natural world with its melody: "O listen! for the Vale profound/ Is overflowing with the sound." (lines 7 and 8). It is this natural setting that allows the song to be heard in both actuality and within the speaker's heart even after he leaves this setting, only reflective of how the solitary reaper has merged the beauty of her song with the beauty of the natural world.
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