Understanding a poem meticulously by its proper essence is essential. The Solitary Reaper is a nature poem by Wordsworth and has been written beautifully edifying the readers. Let us read to find out in CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SOLITARY REAPER -BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
About the Poet:
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William Words worth – known as a nature poet.
William Words worth – known as a nature poet.
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Born – April 7, 1770, Cockermouth, England.
Born – April 7, 1770, Cockermouth, England.
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Death – April, 23,1850, Cumberland, England (died by re-aggravating, a case of pleurisy)
Death – April, 23,1850, Cumberland, England (died by re-aggravating, a case of pleurisy)
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He was one of the patrons of Romanticism.
He was one of the patrons of Romanticism.
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Notable works – Lyrical Ballads, poems in two volumes, The Excursion etc.
Notable works – Lyrical Ballads, poems in two volumes, The Excursion etc.
Source of THE SOLITARY REAPER
The poem has its background in the Scottish Highlands. This poem was composed in 1805 and was published in “two volumes” (1807).
Construction of THE SOLITARY REAPER
1) Four stanzas of eight lines (Each).
*Note- The book of class ix shows 4 line stanzas which should be of 8 lines.
2) The whole poem is in iambic tetrameter.
3) Rhyme scheme of the poem in
abcbddee,
ababccdd,
ababccdd,
ababccdd,
abcbddee.
(The first and last stanzas ‘a’ is rhymed off).
Background of THE SOLITARY REAPER
Wordsworth, his sister Dorothy, and his friend and fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge had visited the Scottish Highlands in 1803. According to Dorothy Wordsworth, solitary reapers were not an uncommon sight. And in a note to 1807 edition, Wordsworth acknowledged his indebtedness
to his friend Thomas Wilkinson’s manuscript from a tour of Scotland.
to his friend Thomas Wilkinson’s manuscript from a tour of Scotland.
The passage that inspired words worth –
“Passed a female who was reaping alone; she sang in Erse (the Gaelic language of Scotland) as the bent over her sickle; the sweetest human voice I ever heard: her strains was tenderly melancholy and felt delicious, long after that were heard no more.”
Figures of speeches used in THE SOLITARY REAPER
1. “Stop here, or gently pass!”-Antithesis.
2. “Alone she cuts and binds the grain,”
And sings a melancholy strain; Inversion
3. “O listen! for the Vale profound”-Apostrophe
4. “O listen! for the Vale profound Is overflowing with the sound.” Enjambment
5. “No Nightingale did ever chant”-Alliteration
6. “More welcome notes to weary bands Of travellers in some shady haunt,”-Enjambment.
7. “ shady haunt”- Alliteration
8.”Among Arabian” –Alliteration
9. “A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard” –Inversion
10.-“A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,”-Inversion
11-“Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.”Inversion and Hyperbole
12. “the theme”-Alliteration
13. “And o’er the sickle bending;—“
Inversion
14.“I listened, motionless and still;”-Tautology.
15. “The music in my heart I bore,”
Inversion.
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