Discussion Topic
"The Solitary Reaper" Themes and Song Analysis
Summary:
In "The Solitary Reaper," Wordsworth compares the reaper's song to the nightingale and cuckoo, emphasizing its unparalleled beauty and emotional depth. Despite not understanding her Gaelic song, the speaker is deeply moved, likening it to the exotic and comforting sounds of these birds, which symbolize melancholy, love, and loss. By elevating the reaper's song above these natural melodies, Wordsworth highlights the extraordinary in the ordinary, reflecting Romantic ideals of nature and the dignity of common people.
How and why is the reaper's song compared in "The Solitary Reaper"?
In "The Solitary Reaper" the speaker can find no comparison that is adequate to the lovely and emotive quality of the voice of the "Highland Lass" who "cuts and binds the grain" alone in a field, because it is even more emotive and lyrical than the music of songbirds.
The song that the maiden sings in Erse, the Gaelic language of Scotland, has a lovely, lyrical sound that recalls the songs of the nightingale and the cuckoo. But for the speaker, it is even more "welcome" and emotionally stirring than the notes of the euphonious voices of these songbirds:
No Nightingale did even chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands...
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard....
Interestingly Wordsworth did not base his beautiful and stirring poem on his own experience. Instead the words of this poem were suggested to him by a passage he had read in Thomas...
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Wilkinson's Tours to the British Mountains (1824) in which Wilkinson once observed a young woman in the Highlands who was reaping alone and singing in Erse as she bent over her sickle. Wilkinson noted that "her strains were tenderly melancholy, and felt delicious, long after they were heard no more."
No Nightingale did ever chaunt More welcome notes to weary bands Of travellers in some shady haunt, Among Arabian sands: A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird, Breaking the silence of the seas Among the farthest Hebrides.Two birds that are normally considered to be symbols of the beauty of music, the nightingale and the cuckoo, are therefore dismissed as being suitable comparisons to the music that the speaker is hearing right now. The comparisons that the poet therefore draws only serve to emphasise the way in which the singing of the reaper represents an unearthly beauty that does not find a parallel in real life.
"The Solitary Reaper" is one of those poems that is hugely moving and memorable but it's difficult, in my view, to say precisely why. It's a simple description of a young woman working in a field, cutting and binding grain. There is no complex symbolism or especially profound or intricate thought in it. But as always, Wordsworth's language is clear and unadorned. This is a prime example of his fulfilling the goal of making poetry "poetic" while it nevertheless simulates the way people actually talk. The allusions to birds are typical of poetry of all times and places. The Romantic poets, specifically, almost obsessively invoked the nightingale for several reasons. The nightingale's song is often interpreted as one of sadness and grief, or one relating to death, perhaps because of the mythic character Philomela, a woman who is transformed into a nightingale after being raped by her sister's husband. The bird is thus connected with the idea of a woman's victimization. Wordsworth says the reaper sings a "melancholy strain," perhaps recalling some "natural sorrow, loss or pain," from the past.
The cuckoo and nightingale are sometimes paired in other literary and musical works. In particular, there is a German folk ballad called "Lob des hohen Verstands" (which roughly translates to "In Praise of High Intellect") in which a cuckoo and a nightingale engage in a singing contest. This lyric was included in a highly influential collection of folk poetry called Des Knaben Wunderhorn ("The Youth's Magic Horn") published from 1805 to 1808 by the German writers Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano. Wordsworth published "The Solitary Reaper" in 1807. In his poem, however, the allusion to both of these birds is incidental, and beyond the above-mentioned mythic history of the nightingale, probably there is no special significance for Wordsworth other than to emphasize the beauty of the Reaper's song by likening it to the beautiful sounds made by the two birds.
Often, as you have probably already guessed, birds are symbolic of other things in literature; similarly, many flowers have their own accompanying forms of symbolism and so do trees! In literature, nightingales can be representative of some connection between love and death, or a mixture of love and loss, sadness and joy. Perhaps Wordsworth compares the maiden's voice to that of a nightingale because the melancholy nature of the melody she sings conjures up images of lost love or even of a lover who has died. This possibility seems even more likely when paired with the fact that the young woman is reaping, an activity often symbolically connected with the passage of time and of our own mortality (think about images of the Grim Reaper—he is, essentially, death).
The cuckoo, on the other hand, is a bird often associated with infidelity and even selfishness because the female cuckoo lays eggs in other birds' nests. Perhaps, then, the speaker might imagine that the song is about a young man or woman who fell in love with someone who was not faithful to them and that ended the relationship (leading to the love and loss associated with the nightingale). Alternatively, maybe the person in the song was unfaithful and now regrets their choices because their lover has left them.
Wordsworth was a nature poet and nature lover, who found God's presence in nature. Also, as described in his long autobiographical poem, The Prelude, and in his introduction to Lyrical Ballads, he believed part of his calling as a poet was to present common laboring people, usually looked down upon and despised at that time as rustics, clowns, or simpletons, in ways that would show their innate dignity and worth. He romanticized them. He had been quite taken as a young man with the ideals of the French Revolution, with its emphasis on the brotherhood and equality of all men, and while in France he was deeply disillusioned by the violent turn it took. Yet he felt profoundly that the common person could be portrayed in a positive light.
By likening the solitary reaper to a nightingale and a cuckoo he is showing her as a beautiful natural object. She is not simply a laboring drudge but through her sad and "plaintive" song as she works becomes a sublime being with the power to move a listener's soul.
I think that part of the reason for the comparison might be to emphasize the uniqueness of the song. The nightingale and the cuckoo birds are rare. They are not birds to be seen in an every day context. They are not abundant in nature. When one sees them, it is a rare experience, one that has to be treasured. In much the same way, the solitary reaper's song is a rarity that compels the speaker of the poem, presumably Wordsworth, to be stopped with a sense of the immediate. Just as witnessing the nightingale and the cuckoo, he knows that he is in the presence of something unique when he hears the nightingale's song.
Another rationale for the comparison might be to accentuate the sound qualities of the song. Wordsworth's challenge in the poem is how to convey the beauty of a song without actually being able to have the reader hear it. In order to overcome this challenge, he employs the comparison with the nightingale and the cuckoo. The reader can envision the sonorous and aesthetic quality to these birds' songs and immediately connect it to the solitary reaper's song. It is in this light where the comparison becomes valid and meaningful.
What does Wordsworth compare the Scottish girl's song to in "The Solitary Reaper"?
The speaker of the poem does not know what the peasant woman reaping in the field is actually singing about. She sings in Scots Gaelic, a language that he does not understand. He wonders to himself what may be the meaning of her song. To that end, he compares it to the song of a cuckoo-bird in the springtime and the exoticism of a nightingale singing in the far-off desert of Arabia. These are pleasant sounds, but as he does not know what the actual theme of her song is, he goes on to wonder if the young woman is singing a sad song reminiscent of an ancient battle or other sad topics. Considering all this, the poet leaves it up to the readers to come up with their own ideas of what the song of the solitary reaper can be compared to.
To what does Wordsworth compare the lass in "The Solitary Reaper"?
Wordsworth compares the highland lass with nightingales and cuckoos, both of which have been regarded, since ages, to be among the most melodious singers of nature.
The highland lass’ song has had an overwhelming effect on the poet's mind. Though he’s not able to make out anything of her song, he listens “motionless and still” and makes sure that nobody interrupts her singing.
The wistful song touches the poet deep within his heart. He is sure that he’s never heard anything like the “melancholy strain,” flowing out of the mouth of the simple country girl.
Across civilizations and countries, nightingales and cuckoos have always been hailed as the most mellifluous singers of nature. So, we see that the poet picks up the best singers of nature to compare the girl with.
The melody of a nightingale’s song is always soothing to ears and mind. However, it would certainly sound much more pleasing to somebody when he's travelling in hot “Arabian sands” than when he's sitting snugly in his bedroom.
The poet doesn't choose a nightingale’s normal song to compare with the maiden’s song. Instead, he chooses that particular song of the nightingale which comforts the “weary bands of travellers” in a hot desert. Still, the girl outdoes the bird in singing, according to the poet.
The poet further says that the “thrilling” voice of a cuckoo, heard in the spring, too, can’t match the girl’s “plaintive numbers.”
So, we see that not only does Wordsworth compare the lass with the greatest singers of nature, but also declares her to be a better singer than each of them.
Why is the nightingale's song compared to the solitary reaper's?
In line 9, the inclusion of the nightingale might be considered to be very significant. In starting the second stanza, the speaker, presumably Wordsworth, has heard the song of the woman in the field. He is enchanted with it and cannot quite make out the meaning of the song because he doesn't understand it, but he knows that its beauty is enchanting. The melody is so entrancing that he is able to project it into meaning different elements, and representing different experiences. The nightingale is the first image he uses to convey the beauty of the song. Traditionally in literature, the nightingale is one of those symbols that has come to meant perfection. It sings a solitary song in the dead of night, punctuating the silence or others sounds present and within its notes lies a sense of musical perfection that captures and expands the individual's moral and artistic imagination. It is this image that Wordsworth uses to compare the reaper's song to what lies in his mind's eye, an attempt to make the subjective an external experience. If we reflect on it, the speaker/ Wordsworth has a daunting task. The personal and subjective experience of art is a challenge to convey to others. We understand and experience art differently than others, subjectively. The question then becomes how can we communicate our personal experience of art to a larger group. How can Wordsworth/ the speaker bring to light the "overflowing" sound of the song? He decides that seeking to bring out images in which others could share would be the best way to do this. Hence, the nightingale image.
What is the reaper's singing compared to in "The Solitary Reaper" by Wordsworth?
While walking past a field, the speaker in "The Solitary Reaper" is mesmerized by the lovely singing of a Scottish lass cutting grain in a field. Arrested by the melancholy sound of her voice, the speaker compares her to two birds in the second stanza:
No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.
He describes her voice in a hyperbolic manner—beyond the beauty of both types of birds—with “No Nightingale did ever” and “A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard … from the Cuckbird.” The songs of these two birds greet and comfort strangers on journeys to faraway, exotic lands (Arabia) and nearby, rugged lands (the Hebrides).
Symbolizing love and death, the nightingale highlights the contrasting ideas of joy and underlying sadness in the reaper’s voice. She is alone in the field, singing and toiling by herself. The speaker suspects that this maiden sings of memories or regrets:
old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago: …
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain.
The nightingale represents both love and death—does the maiden have a lost love in her past? Is she doomed never to love? Nonetheless, her voice is welcoming to tired nomads; it stops the speaker passing by in his tracks. She herself seems tireless as she sings while swinging a sickle to slice grain.
On the other hand, the cuckoo symbolizes the arrival of spring and the act of adultery. The reaper’s energy (belting out song while harvesting) is abundant. Her singing’s melancholy tone, however, is intensified by the idea of infidelity and ensuing sorrow. Her voice’s stirring quality, though, exceeds that of a cuckoo bird’s song.
Like the nightingale and cuckoo, the reaper is a connected to nature. She is physically tied to Scottish farmland, yet her voice takes her to the deserts of Arabia and the rugged Hebrides.
Does the title "The Solitary Reaper" suit Wordsworth's poem?
Yes, Wordsworth's title suits the poem well. Both the reaper and the narrator are alone. He, the narrator, appears to be wandering by himself through the Scottish highlands. He speaks only of himself in his fleeting, one-sided encounter with this woman: "I saw her singing ... I listened, motionless and still ..." The poem thus captures a moment of communion the solitary narrator feels with this solitary figure who is not even aware of his presence as she goes about her work.
The narrator likens the reaper to a bird, comparing her to both a nightingale and a cuckoo, creatures of nature singing their solitary songs. Further, her song has a lonesome strain. It is "plaintive" as it fills the air and seems to speak of "sorrow, loss or pain." The lonely cadences of it suit the solitude of the reaper in the empty highlands, so far from the bustle of city life. The solitude is part of the sweet but haunting mood the poem conveys.
It also offers a contrast to another famous Wordsworth poem, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," in which the poet's loneliness is alleviated by the happy dance of thousands of daffodils waving in the breeze. This time he finds a more melancholy companionship as he recalls, as "music in his heart," the reaper's lonesome song.
Does the poet understand the reaper's song in "The Solitary Reaper"?
The beauty of the poem is precisely that the speaker is not clear as to what the song means. The speaker is entranced with the song. Part of the reason that the song captures his imagination is because he does not know the words or the lyrics being sung. The inability to understand the lyrics allows the speaker to reflect on what the lyrics might mean. This is critical to the artistic message of the poem. Language is seen as a limiting function. To understand language means that an end towards moral and spiritual imagination is evident. If the speaker understands the song's lyrics, then his moral and artistic imagination is limited.
Yet, it is in not understanding the lyrics that the speaker is able to imagine what the lyrics might mean. It is in this light where most of the poem's imagery emerges. Not knowing the lyrics allows the imagination of the speaker to move to "Arabian sands" or to the "Hebrides" or to "the silence of the seas." All of these imaginative elements disappear if the speaker is aware of the lyrics. To this end, it becomes clear that if the speaker does not understand the song's lyrics and the song being sung. Yet, it is in this lack of understanding, a form of negative capability, that the greatest leaps in imagination can be taken.
Is the title "The Solitary Reaper" relevant to the poem?
I think the title helps to bring to light the experience of the speaker. The speaker, presumably Wordsworth, gazes upon the open field to see this maiden working in the field. She is alone, without a soul except for the speaker in sight, and this is what triggers the moral imagination of the speaker as her song is the only thing heard. The idea of "the solitary reaper" holds a great deal of significance because the experience of the speaker could not have been amplified to the degree it was if the maiden in the field was surrounded by others. Her song, which is not entirely understood, is one that helps to allow the speaker to ruminate and reflect inwards. The fact that this is a solitary experience driven by a solitary setting makes the title quite appropriate, in my mind.
What do the reaper's songs reveal in "The Solitary Reaper?"
The poet, rambling about in the Lake District of northern England, hears the song a woman reaping in a field by herself. He tells us it is a "melancholy" song, and that no nightingale ever sang a more welcome tune to a weary traveller. He likens the woman to an object of nature as he also compares her song to that of the cuckoo, saying the cuckoo's singing was never so "thrilling" as the reaper's. So we learn that the reaper sings a sad, beautiful, thrilling tune that stops the weary poet in his tracks.
The poet can't make out the words of the woman's song, so he decides to imagine what the subject might be. He wonders if she sings an "unhappy" ballad about "battles long ago," then wonders if it is a song of "today" about some "natural sorrow, loss or pain?"
The poet watches the woman as she reaps and sings, seeming as if she is at one with nature. To him, her song seems "unending." Finally, he moves onward but holds the memory of the song in his heart.
In summary, the poet tells us that the woman, who seems to him to be a part of nature, sings a sad but beautiful song. He doesn't know what the song is about but he does recognize its beauty, which stays in his soul long after the actual sounds have faded.
In this, Wordsworth shows himself to be a Romantic poet, idealizing both a common person and nature.
What was the burden of the reaper's song in "The Solitary Reaper"?
The answer to this question can be found in the third stanza, where the speaker contemplates what it is the reaper is singing about. Although he cannot discern the words that he hears, it is clear that the music definitely communicates some kind of universal human experience that touches the speaker's soul. The third stanza contains a series of rhetorical questions that ask what it is the reaper is singing:
Will no one tell me what she sings?--
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?
Whatever it is that she does sing about, it is clear that the reaper's words create a burden in the speaker's soul as he finds that her singing captures some kind of universal longing and yearning within him, and indeed within all humanity, that causes him to take with him the sound of her singing long after he ceases to hear it, as the final stanza indicates: "The music in my heart I bore, / Long after I heard it no more." The burden of the music therefore relates to the way in which the speaker finds that it allows him to transcend reality for a brief spell.