The Solitary Reaper Class 9 PPT

 Page 1


By: William Wordsworth
Page 2


By: William Wordsworth
? The poem was written on Nov 5, 1805 and 
published in 1807 in Poems in Two Volumes.
? it is written in four stanzas of eight lines each.
? most of it is in iambic tetrameter – four 
unstressed and four stressed syllables in a line.
? the rhyme scheme is sometimes abcbddee or 
ababccdd.
Page 3


By: William Wordsworth
? The poem was written on Nov 5, 1805 and 
published in 1807 in Poems in Two Volumes.
? it is written in four stanzas of eight lines each.
? most of it is in iambic tetrameter – four 
unstressed and four stressed syllables in a line.
? the rhyme scheme is sometimes abcbddee or 
ababccdd.
? The poem is based on someone else’s experience
? Wordsworth was inspired by a passage written by 
Thomas Wilkinson, a traveler, during his tours in the 
book ‘Tours to the British Mountains’
? The passage that inspired Wordsworth is as follows: 
‘Passed a female who was reaping alone: she sung in 
Erse (the Gealic language of Scotland) as she bended 
over her sickle; the sweetest human voice I ever heard: 
her strains were tenderly melancholy, and felt 
delicious, long after they were heard no more’ (as 
quoted in The Norton Anthology English Literature). 
Page 4


By: William Wordsworth
? The poem was written on Nov 5, 1805 and 
published in 1807 in Poems in Two Volumes.
? it is written in four stanzas of eight lines each.
? most of it is in iambic tetrameter – four 
unstressed and four stressed syllables in a line.
? the rhyme scheme is sometimes abcbddee or 
ababccdd.
? The poem is based on someone else’s experience
? Wordsworth was inspired by a passage written by 
Thomas Wilkinson, a traveler, during his tours in the 
book ‘Tours to the British Mountains’
? The passage that inspired Wordsworth is as follows: 
‘Passed a female who was reaping alone: she sung in 
Erse (the Gealic language of Scotland) as she bended 
over her sickle; the sweetest human voice I ever heard: 
her strains were tenderly melancholy, and felt 
delicious, long after they were heard no more’ (as 
quoted in The Norton Anthology English Literature). 
? The poem is written in the first person
? It can be classified as pastoral, describing a scene from 
the country life.
? Poem is dominated by one central figure, a highland 
girl working alone in the fields harvesting grain, and 
singing melancholic song. The poet cannot 
understand her but is mesmerized by the beauty of it 
all. He moves away from the scene but the impact and 
memory of the scene stay with him.
? The central ideas is how deep melancholy projects 
feelings of joy and happiness.
Page 5


By: William Wordsworth
? The poem was written on Nov 5, 1805 and 
published in 1807 in Poems in Two Volumes.
? it is written in four stanzas of eight lines each.
? most of it is in iambic tetrameter – four 
unstressed and four stressed syllables in a line.
? the rhyme scheme is sometimes abcbddee or 
ababccdd.
? The poem is based on someone else’s experience
? Wordsworth was inspired by a passage written by 
Thomas Wilkinson, a traveler, during his tours in the 
book ‘Tours to the British Mountains’
? The passage that inspired Wordsworth is as follows: 
‘Passed a female who was reaping alone: she sung in 
Erse (the Gealic language of Scotland) as she bended 
over her sickle; the sweetest human voice I ever heard: 
her strains were tenderly melancholy, and felt 
delicious, long after they were heard no more’ (as 
quoted in The Norton Anthology English Literature). 
? The poem is written in the first person
? It can be classified as pastoral, describing a scene from 
the country life.
? Poem is dominated by one central figure, a highland 
girl working alone in the fields harvesting grain, and 
singing melancholic song. The poet cannot 
understand her but is mesmerized by the beauty of it 
all. He moves away from the scene but the impact and 
memory of the scene stay with him.
? The central ideas is how deep melancholy projects 
feelings of joy and happiness.
Behold her, single in the field, 
Yon solitary Highland Lass! 
The beautiful girl is working alone in the cotton 
fields of Scotland (the Highland)
‘Lass’ is a maiden, a young girl
‘yon’ is from yonder, or that one