The Solitary Reaper: a Response
The Solitary Reaper: A Response
William Wordsworth is considered by many to be one of the most efficient, and studied poets of English Literature. With his many talents, and aid by his sister, Dorothy Wordsworth, he had produced many stories and songs during his period. Wordsworth has been compared to the finest author in English Literature, William Shakespeare. Wordsworth’s talent is viewed in his many poems, including “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality” and “The Solitary Reaper”. In the year 1803, Wordsworth, his sister, and his dear friend and fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge had taken a trip to visit the Scottish highlands. While there, they all witnessed solitary reapers, which were not a very uncommon sight. The poem “The Solitary Reaper” is based on one such girl who Wordsworth heard chanting an incomprehensible melody. He describes how he is astonished by this girl’s expressive beauty, and the peaceful mood it creates for him. In this poem, the most prominent lexical characteristics are repetition of words that express more or less of the same meaning. For example, solitude, which in Latin is Solus—an adjective meaning 'only, single, alone '. Solitude is the theme throughout the poem, and Wordsworth chose various words to create a serene environment where readers can ponder about the meaning of the poem. This is evident in stanza one, where single, solitary, by herself, and alone are all words presented to express the solidity that the poem is focused around. There is another recurrence of words that is focused around the theme of sound. There are: singing, sings, listen and sound in stanza one, Nightingale …chaunt, notes, voice, heard, cuckoo-bird in stanza two, tell, sings, flow in Stanza three, and sang, song, singing, listened, music, heard in stanza four. The Scottish girl’s sweet singing, and the peaceful stage implicates melodiousness, and this is the reason why solitude and music is emphasized an exceptional
William Wordsworth is considered by many to be one of the most efficient, and studied poets of English Literature. With his many talents, and aid by his sister, Dorothy Wordsworth, he had produced many stories and songs during his period. Wordsworth has been compared to the finest author in English Literature, William Shakespeare. Wordsworth’s talent is viewed in his many poems, including “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality” and “The Solitary Reaper”. In the year 1803, Wordsworth, his sister, and his dear friend and fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge had taken a trip to visit the Scottish highlands. While there, they all witnessed solitary reapers, which were not a very uncommon sight. The poem “The Solitary Reaper” is based on one such girl who Wordsworth heard chanting an incomprehensible melody. He describes how he is astonished by this girl’s expressive beauty, and the peaceful mood it creates for him. In this poem, the most prominent lexical characteristics are repetition of words that express more or less of the same meaning. For example, solitude, which in Latin is Solus—an adjective meaning 'only, single, alone '. Solitude is the theme throughout the poem, and Wordsworth chose various words to create a serene environment where readers can ponder about the meaning of the poem. This is evident in stanza one, where single, solitary, by herself, and alone are all words presented to express the solidity that the poem is focused around. There is another recurrence of words that is focused around the theme of sound. There are: singing, sings, listen and sound in stanza one, Nightingale …chaunt, notes, voice, heard, cuckoo-bird in stanza two, tell, sings, flow in Stanza three, and sang, song, singing, listened, music, heard in stanza four. The Scottish girl’s sweet singing, and the peaceful stage implicates melodiousness, and this is the reason why solitude and music is emphasized an exceptional
Cited: Wordsworth, William. "The Solitary Reaper." The Norton Anthology English Literature. Ed. Julia Reidhead. 8thed. Vol. D. New York City: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006. 314. Print.