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Theme of Solitary Reaper

The poem describes a solitary girl harvesting crops alone in a field in Scotland and singing a sad tune that echoes through the deep valley. Her singing is the most beautiful sound heard, compared to nightingales and cuckoos. The poet does not understand the theme of her song but guesses it could be about an old war, daily life, or suffering.

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Usman Khan
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2K views1 page

Theme of Solitary Reaper

The poem describes a solitary girl harvesting crops alone in a field in Scotland and singing a sad tune that echoes through the deep valley. Her singing is the most beautiful sound heard, compared to nightingales and cuckoos. The poet does not understand the theme of her song but guesses it could be about an old war, daily life, or suffering.

Uploaded by

Usman Khan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Theme

Major Themes in “The Solitary Reaper”: Everlasting beauty and sorrow are the major themes of this
poem. The poem presents two things; the labor of that girl and her expression of sorrow. She is working
and singing at the same time without being bothered about her surroundings.

The Solitary Reaper" is a lyric poem by English Romantic poet William Wordsworth, and one of his best-
known works.[1] The poem was inspired by him and his sister Dorothy’s stay at the villages in Scotland in
September 1803.[2]

Summary

In this poem, the poet (William Wordsworth) tells us about a girl, a Highland lass, who is in a field alone:
“single in the field”. As she is harvesting her crops, she is singing a sad tune which echoes in the deep
valley. The speaker asks us to stop and listen to her tune or “gently pass”.

He tells us that no nightingale has sung a welcoming song to wanderers in the deserts more beautiful
than the girl’s strain. He goes on to say that a cuckoo bird, at its best, during springtime cannot hum a
tune better. Her singing is the only sound breaking the silence in the Hebrides, a groups of islands off the
coast of Scotland.

The poet has not a clue that, what this song is about or if it has a theme. Having no answer, he guesses
it’s about a war long ago, something mundane, or even some suffering.

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