William Wordsworth was born, in Cookermouth, 
Cumberland, England, the second child of an
attorney. Unlike the other major English romantic
poets, he enjoyed a happy childhood under the loving
care of his mother and was very close to his sister
Dorothy. As a child he wandered happily through the
lovely natural scenery of Cumberland. In grammar
school, Wordsworth showed a keen interest in poetry.
 His enthusiasm for the French Revolution took him to
France again in 1791, where he had an affair with
Annette Vallon, who bore him an illegitimate
daughter, Caroline, in 1792. Having run out of money,
Wordsworth returned to England the following year,
and the Anglo-French war, following the Reign of
Terror, prevented his return for nine years.

epic poet John Milton ,\He was fascinated by the
The spirit of the French Revolution had strongly
influenced Wordsworth, and he returned to England
imbued with the principles of Rousseau and
republicanism.


His works ;

Lyrical Ballads (1789)- a joint work of William Wordsworth 
and Samuel Taylor
Coleridge. It contains “ the incidents and agents were to be,
in part at least, supernatural in the other subjects were
to be chosen from ordinary life.” 
1- “Tintern Abbey” 
Contains clearly his love of nature. 
The poet returns to a scene of his 
boyhood, sits under a tree. 
2- “Westminster Bridge” 
His best sonnet 
An emotional view of London asleep 

Solitary Reaper means that being 
alone,that word attracted the reader that
he sitting alon and this is one of the
characteristic of romantic age,frome tha
title we know that she is living in another
country side ,it is another characteristice
of romantic age.
The poem is set in the mountainous regions
of Scotland. The poet is taking a walk
through these Highlands when he sees
something which makes him stop

The structure of the poem is in such a manner that it
has four stanzas, each with four lines, totaling to
thirty two lines for the entire poem. There is also an
element of rhyme in the poem. For instance, in the
stanzas except the first one, the first and the third
lines have a similar ending. Secondly, the second and
the fourth lines end in a given voice.
The same applies for the fifth and the sixth lines with
a similar ending but different from the others. The
last two lines fall under the same category, ending
with a given syllable that is different from the
others. This pattern is repeated throughout the
poem, creating a pattern that is both interesting to
read and appeals to the ears. This pattern gives the
poem a characteristic aspect of the works of poetry,
which create a synchrony in words


The rhyme scheme is:
a-b-a-b-c-c-d-d
The Form is :
Lyrical Ballad
The tone and atmosphere of this poem:
is very calm,
emotional and peaceful.
Language :
Simple and direct.
Behold her, single in the field, 
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.
No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.
The first two stanza: 
Once when the poet was in Scotland, he was 
walking past the highlands. He came across
highland lass who was reaping the harvest
and binding the grains all by herself. Along
with her work she was singing a song. The
poet was highly impressed by her singing and
stopped to hear her song. Her voice was so
enchanting that it seemed to the poet that
she was more melodious than the nightingale
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?
Stanza three 
The poet, even so, does not recognize the
phrases of the reaper's song. He commences to
speculate on the subject matter of the song. He
thinks that possibly it is about an historical
incident which occurred in a distant land or a
battle which might have used spot decades ago.
He even more wonders, whether the tune has
some thing to do with the day to day daily life of
the solitary reaper. He thinks that she might be
singing about grief and sadness which has
occurred and may well return.
Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang 
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;-I listened, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.
Stanza four 
To the poet, it seemed that the song of the
solitary reaper would not stop. She sang as
she worked, bending about her sickle. For a
long time the poet listened to the song,
enchanted and transfixed. As he relocated up
the hill, he ongoing to have the songs in his
heart even following he could no extended
hear it.
The poem is in the present tense (“Reaping
and singing by herself….Alone she cuts and
binds the grain”), but from the fourth and
last stanza, it becomes clear that
Wordsworth is talking about an incident
which had taken place before its telling
(“Whate’er the theme the Maiden sang…..I
listened, motionless and still”). There is,
however, a smooth transition from the
present to the past.

Wordsworth, without trying to give moral 
lessons and without being too suggestive, has
given us a poem which is pithy and at the
same time passionate. The poem evokes
deep thoughts in our mind and we find
ourselves carried away by the emotion which
it gives rise to in our hearts. The song
remains in Wordsworth’s as well as in our
hearts “long after it was heard no more”.
is the power of human imagination to see the
transcendent in the everyday.
