A poem titled “The Solitary Reaper” gives a reflection of the power of imagination and the manner in which imagination can transform events surrounding us in our day to day lives (Mahoney, Page 5-19). The poem gives a representation of various realities that surround our day to day life. It further brings out the poet as a romantic individual and that to him imagination is not just to be used as a synonym when writing poems by creating some fantasy. The writer saw an opportunity to relate the imagination closely with various intuitions, as well as emotions in his piece of work. This trait gave the poet an opportunity to see further through many things that are familiar to him in a manner that is rather radical and different from other poets. This paper discusses further a personal reaction to the poem titled “The Solitary Reaper” giving a personal analysis of the poem and its various aspects.
In his piece of artwork within the poem the speaker within the poem clearly illustrates that efforts considered to be grandest in nature do occur when imaginations are used in a manner that produces forms that are distinct from others and that shows how strong the mind is working (Mahoney, Page 10-20). This trait does result in what the poet tries to express in terms of the information being passed to the readers. In our case, in the poem “The Solitary Reaper”, the poet tries to express how powerful imagination can be especially when it is used to substitute feelings that do sublime and that are unimaginable through various images created within the poem. The poet further uses ideas that are abstract within the poem by using images of nature that are abstract by drawing them from nature itself.
The poem starts with the speaker asking various questions requesting the readers to behold the subject within the poem which is a young lady (Knott, Page 12-21). The speaker alludes to the fact that the subject, who is in the field all alone while harvesting, is singing songs considered to be sad songs. The speaker further asserts that any individual who passes by the field where the lady in the poem is singing should stop and listen to the song she is singing. What the speaker does not tell us is the reason as to why the subject in the poem is singing nor does he tell us the reason as to why the passersby should stop to listen to the song that the subject, who is the lady in the field reaping, is singing. The speaker leaves readers with the daunting task of figuring out what the song is all about by trying to deduce its meaning from the scene and the message sent within the song itself.
As the second stanza starts, the speaker is introduced while comparing the subject’s singing to that of the nightingale, as well as that of a cuckoo bird (Morton, Page 2-17). The speaker further alludes to the fact that the song being sang by the subject is more welcome as opposed to the songs that could be sang by any of the nightingale especially those sang to the travelers within the deserts. The third stanza begins by the speaker’s imagination of what the subject’s songs could be all about. The song has a sad tune of which makes the speaker speculate that it could be about some life experiences the subject might have gone through in life or going through currently. The poem, therefore, gives a clear view of what the power of imagination has on readers of various pieces of art. In the case of the poem, the speaker pegs his allusions and assertions on various imaginations he has on the subject.
Work Cited
Mahoney, John L. William Wordsworth: The Poetic Life. Bronx, New York: Fordham University Press, 1997. Print.
Knott, Sarah. Sensibility And The American Revolution. Chapel Hill: Published For The Omohundro Institute Of Early American History And Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, By The University Of North Carolina Press, 2009. Print.
Morton, Joseph C. The American Revolution. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2003. Print.
