PoemThe Solitary Reaper
Author / PoetWilliam Wordsworth
TagsMemory, Solitude, Song, Sorrow

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.

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?

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.

William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
7 Apr 1770 - 23 Apr 1850
Region: British, Northern Europe
Period: Romantic
Movement: Romanticism

more poems by William Wordsworth

Poem NameTopic
NuttingDestruction, Innocence, Nature
Lines Written In Early SpringHumanity, Nature, Reflection
The World Is Too Much With UsDisconnection, Longing, Materialism
There Was A BoyChildhood, Loss, Memory
We Are SevenChildhood, Death, Family
DaffodilsJoy, Memory, Nature
A Slumber did my Spirit SealLoss, Mortality, Nature
Lucy Gray [or Solitude]Innocence, Loss, Mystery
My Heart Leaps UpChild, Life, Piety
Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802Calm, City, Morning

all poems by William Wordsworth

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