THE SOLITARY REAPER WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

ABOUT THE POET Era – April 1770 -1850 Born in Cockermouth, Cumberland in the scenic region of Lake District, the landscapes of which affected his poetry Remained close to sister Dorothy, who was a major influence in his literary works, apart from fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Milton and Shakespeare Was poet laureate of England Major themes in his poetry – nature, memory, the power of the mind

LAKE DISTRICT

ROMANTIC AGE LYRICAL BALLADS (1798) – A literary work by Wordsworth and Coleridge ushered the Romantic Era in England. In the preface to Lyrical Ballads, he talks about a new kind of poetry based on the “real language of men” Writers and artists of the age focused on nature versus civilisation, imagination versus reason, feeling and emotion versus logic, individual versus society, rural versus urban settings. Melancholy and impulsiveness were favoured states of mind. Awe, doubt, horror and fear – main feelings the poems tried to evoke. Impact on poetic form – structured rhythmic verses gave way to blank verse – as if the poet were trying to converse with the reader.

WHAT IS POETRY? According to Wordsworth, poetry is: "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity” Though nature seems to be the main subject of his poems, "the mind of man" is the "main haunt and region of [his] song."

WHAT DID NATURE, MIND MEMORY MEAN TO WORDSWORTH Wordsworth described nature in great physical detail The mind was both the creator as well as receiver of sensory experience Memory (especially childhood memory) is the crucial link that maintains the connection between the individual and nature (EG: DAFFODILS)

THE SOLITARY REAPER Written in 1805 Not based on Wordsworth’s own experiences, unlike his other poetry Inspired by the manuscript of Thomas Wilkinson’s “Tours to the British Mountains” (1824), and Dorothy Wordsworth’s “Recollections” (1803)

WILKINSON INSPIRATION "Passed a female who was reaping alone: she sung in Erse, as she bended over her sickle; the sweetest human voice I ever heard: her strains were tenderly melancholy, and felt delicious, long after they were heard no more."

DOROTHY INSPIRATION "As we descended, the scene became more fertile, our way being pleasantly varied—through coppices or open fields, and passing farm-houses, though always with an intermixture of cultivated ground. It was harvest-time, and the fields were quietly—might I be allowed to say pensively?—enlivened by small companies of reapers. It is not uncommon in the more lonely parts of the Highlands to see a single person so employed. The following poem was suggested to William by a beautiful sentence in Thomas Wilkinson's Tour in Scotland."

ANALYSIS Plain, undemanding verse The song springs from nature – impulsive The girl is ‘solitary’, alone, cut off from the rest, much like the budding new age in poetry. The poet repeats the simplest of ideas – single, solitary, by herself – reap, cut and bind – motionless and still Uses common verbs like behold, reap, sing, stop, pass, cut, bind, chant. The poet is chatty – ‘Will no one tell me’

ANALYSIS CONTD… The poet does not understand the song, he comprehends only the ‘sound’, ‘voice’ and ‘music’ through his heart. There is a universality of human emotions – our shared humanity makes us instinctively feel each other’s sorrow, pain, suffering or even joy. Memory and imagination will help the poet remember this moment forever.