William Wordsworth composed The Solitary Reaper” on this day in 1805. Inspired by a walking tour of the Scottish Highlands in harvest time, the poem reflects Wordsworth’s view that the essential passions of the heart find a better soil” in such moments of “low and rustic life” (Preface to Lyrical Ballads). The opening lines describe an isolated valley and a solitary Highland Lass who cuts and binds the grain / And sings a melancholy strain: 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! Whateer the theme, the maiden sang As if her song could have no ending; I saw her singing at her work, And oer the sickle bending; I listend, till I had my fill; And, as I mounted up the hill, The music in my heart I bore Long after it was heard no more. William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850) was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads (1798). Portrait of William Wordsworth by Benjamin Robert Haydon.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 11:13:45 +0000
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