William Wordsworth’s

The Solitary ReaperWILLIAM

WORDSWORTH

1770-1850

The Solitary Reaper

Behold her, single in the

field,

The Solitary Reaper

Yon solitary

Highland lass!

The Solitary Reaper

Reaping and

singing by

herself;

The Solitary Reaper

Stop here, or gently pass!

The Solitary Reaper

Alone she cuts,

and binds the

grain,

The Solitary Reaper

And sings a melancholy strain :

The Solitary Reaper

O listen! For the vale profound

The Solitary Reaper

Is overflowing with the sound.

The Solitary Reaper

No nightingale did ever

chant

The Solitary Reaper

More welcome notes to weary bands

Of Travellers….

The Solitary Reaper

…in some shady haunt,

Among Arabian sands.

The Solitary Reaper

Hebrides

The Solitary Reaper

A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard

In the Spring time from the cuckoo bird.

The Solitary Reaper

Breaking the silence of the seas

Among the farthest Hebrides.

The Solitary Reaper

Will no one tell me what

she sings?

The Solitary Reaper

Perhaps the

plaintive numbers

flow

The Solitary Reaper

For old, unhappy,

far-off things ,

And battles

long ago.

The Solitary Reaper

Or is it some more humble lay,

Familiar matter of today?

The Solitary Reaper

Some natura

l sorrow…

The Solitary Reaper

…Loss or pain,

That has

been and

may be again.

The Solitary Reaper

Whate’er the theme , the maiden sangAs if her song could have no

ending;

The Solitary Reaper

I saw her singing at her work,

And o’er the

sickle bending;

The Solitary Reaper

I listen’d motionless and

still

The Solitary Reaper

And, as I mounted up the hill,

The Solitary Reaper

The music in my heart I bore,

Long after it was heard no more.