The Solitary Reaper

The Solitary Reaper by William Wordsworth

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 ls 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? What'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 listen 'd, motionless and still，
And as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart l bore,
Long after it was heard no more.
看，一个孤独的高原姑娘，
在远远的田野间收割，
一边割一边独自歌唱，
请你站住．或者俏悄走过！
她独自把麦子割了又捆，
唱出无限悲凉的歌声，
屏息听吧！深广的谷地
已被歌声涨满而漫溢！

还从未有过夜莺百啭，
唱出过如此迷人的歌，
在沙漠中的绿荫间
抚慰过疲惫的旅客；
还从未有过杜鹃迎春，
声声啼得如此震动灵魂，
在遥远的赫布利底群岛
打破过大海的寂寥。

她唱什么，谁能告诉我？
忧伤的音符不断流涌，
是把遥远的不聿诉说？
是把古代的战争吟咏？
也许她的歌比较卑谦，
只是唱今日平凡的悲欢，
只是唱自然的哀伤苦痛——
昨天经受过，明天又将重逢？

姑娘唱什么，我猜不着，
她的歌如流水永无尽头；
只见她一边唱一边干活，
弯腰挥镰，操劳不休……
我凝神不动，听她歌唱，
然后，当我登上了山岗，
尽管歌声早已不能听到，
它却仍在我心头缭绕。

Appreciation of the The Solitary Reaper

1. Brief Introduction to William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) is the outstanding representative of the English Romantic Poetry and the Lake Poets. To Wordsworth, poetry is primarily a mirror to reflect nature, and an imitation of human life. He sticks to his principle of spontaneity and simplicity in the literary work, and The Solitary Reaper is the typically pure and natural one of this Romantic kind.

2. Appreciation of The Solitary Reaper
This lyric is centered on a Highland girl who is reaping and singing by herself in the field. Totally attracted by the girl's beautiful and melancholy voice, the poet spontaneously pours out his true emotions for humble people and passionate love for nature. The Solitary Reaper is a poem written in simple language, but are endowed with deep meaning. The Solitary Reaper is a piece of lyrical ballad and iambic patterns which is naturally of the rhythmical quality.

2.1 Rhymes
For rhymes(尾韵), the poem contains four stanzas of eight verses each, and roughly four kinds of rhymes in each stanza. In the first four verses of each stanza, odd verses have a rhyme while even verses have another rhyme, that is, a b a b pattern (only with exception in verses 1 and 3, 25 and 27), and in the rest four verses, a different kind of rhyme c c d d is used. Generally speaking, this poem follows the rhyme scheme a b a b c c d d. Though verses 1 and 3, 25 and 27 do not rigidly obey the rhyme scheme, "field' and "herself" share the same sound /l/, while /η/ and /k/ sounds both belong to the Velar type. So the regular rhyme style makes certain phonetic elements occur repeatedly in certain positions, resulting in the coherence and harmoniousness of this poem.

2.2 Rhythm
For rhythm（节奏，韵律）, the poet employs different kinds of it in this poem. Iambus tetrameter (- +/- +/- +/- +) occupies the main part. However, four verses "Reaping and singing by herself" (verse 3), " Stop here, or gently pass" (verse 4), "Breaking the silence of the seas" (verse 15), "Long after it was heard no more" (verse32) are started with trochee (+ -), and in the fourth line in the first stanza (Stop here, or gently pass), we can only find three feet + -/ - +/ - + with two syllables each.

3.3 Syllables and Lexis
In the first stanza, with two imperatives "Behold her" and "O Listen", the poem attracts the reader's audio -visual attention on the target, a girl, "single in the field". Then the poet uses another imperative "Stop here, or gently pass", and a series of dynamic verbs in the present tense which indicating actions and movements, such as "reaping", "singing", "cuts", "binds" to present a vivid picture about the girl's hard work. The consonant [s] throughout to imitate sounds of girl’s walking and working in the field. Then, the vowel [aʊ] in “For the vale profound/ is overflowing with the sound.” have a resonating function to bring us to a natural concert. Here the girl is holding her sole that echoes on the mountains and in the valleys.

In the second stanza, nasals account for 54% of the whole consonants. In this way, the author in order to emphasize the great pains and sufferings in the girl’s heart as well as the nasals of crying while she is singing. Piercing vowels of [æ] (band, shady, Arabian sands) appear repeatedly in second, third and forth verses. Those vowels stimulate readers’ ear and soul. The pain in the girl’s heart is so big that she raises voice to release all the agony and pains. In the following four verses, long and short vowels [i] appear seven times and take up 21% of the whole vowels. In this stanza, unpleasant vowels replace pleasant vowels like [a:], [a] and [e:] to convey the deep meaning——the song is not the recreation in leisure time but complaints of the miseries in life.

In stanza 3, a question "Will no one tell me what she sings" is put forward, though the content of song is a mystery and there is no exact answer, the readers are stirred to imagine and certainly know something from the poet's three speculations. No matter it is "For old , unhappy, far-off things/ And battles long ago/ Or is it some more humble lay/ Familiar matter of to-day", one thing is certain from the words "unhappy", "battle", "humble", "sorrow", "loss" and "pain": it reveals the poet's deep love and sympathy for the humble people. Apart from this, some adverbs as "long ago", "today", and "may be again" are chosen to indicate the past, present and future. Vowel [au] (23%) resounds in this stanza to set the tone for a solemn meditation. The last four verses ends with [ei] to show author’s calm soul after the meditation.

In the last stanza, the poet "mounted up the hill" and the music would never be forgotten even "Long after it was heard no more". Here, the past tense is adapted to show the real happening of the poet's encounter with the girl. There will always be a memory of the girl's reaping and singing, and the music will "have no ending" and be impressed in everybody’s mind forever. It is not just the description of a reaping girl and a piece of gloomy song, but the poet's compassion for suffering, love for life and praise for hope.

3. Conclusion
These variations depart from the traditional norms, and the whole uniqueness and creativity thus make The Solitary Reaper immortal.