William Wordsworth (1770-1850) belonged to the First generation of the Romantic Age. He is the major contribution in the field of Romantic movement in English Literature. He is mostly known for his famous work on “Lyrical Ballads”(1789) in collaboration with ST Coleridge. He has also written a famous literary piece of criticism which shapes the colour and essence of the Romantic school of poetry in his essay “Preface to Lyrical Ballads”(1800). “The Solitary Reaper” (1807) is a poetical experience of a trip to Scotland with his sister Dorothy in 1803.
Wordsworth believed that the poetry is the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings and emotions recollected in tranquility”. The poem attempts his idea of poetry where the poet tries to recollect the music she was singing after “it was heard no more”. The poet gave us a beautiful scenery of rural “Highland Lass” of Scottish field who is singing a song unknown to the poet and others but when the poet bore the music in his heart, he attempts to recollect the music she was singing whether it was a sad or melancholic song that soothes the “travellers” in “Arabian Sands” or soothes the “farthest Herbrides”.
The poem evokes subjective experiences and emotions of a poet. The subjectivity ensures the poet’s own visit to Scotland and his experiences there. He was moved by the singing of a maiden alone in the field who “cuts and binds the grain” where the music seems to be unknown to them. The images in the poem are intense and shows the poet’s powerful imagination of his poetical experiences while visiting Scotland.
However, the Romantic individualism is exhibited in the poem.The rhetorical questions added more weight to Romantic idea of individualism where a poet is trying to connect with the landscape and scenery to comprehend the music of a maiden. He states that he is unable to comprehend the music she was singing and whether she was singing a melancholic song to the “battles long ago” to soothe the decease soldiers or to soothe the everyday incidents of common people including “natural sorrow, loss, or pain”.
In addition to this, the poem evokes the Romantic setting of “Humble and rustic elements” in their poetry. The poem shrouds the rusticity and pastoral setting of a common life. The imagery of a maiden singing in the field while singing a song is a common incident and Romantics capture such scenario in the poem to communicate with the common man. The setting of the poem is highly rustic and rural where there are mentions of “hills , field , grain” which are commendable to Romantic poetry.
Lastly, the Romantics delineates the idea of organic oneness. It is the idea of becoming one with the nature. In the poem, the poet is not one with the nature but the mysterious song which the poet is trying to understand is being carried along inside “my heart I bore”. It reflects the organic oneness of the maiden’s music living inside the heart of the poet which he is carrying “Long after it was heard no more”.
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