Wordsworth Worth Every Word (Try saying that five times fast)

           

           

          

            “The Solitary Reaper” by William Wordsworth is about a moment of musical contemplative awe.  It is the Awe in looking in on some one else’s life, wondering about their past, their feelings. It is about wanting to connect to others to relieve pain, reach out to help them, and just connect. In this poem this is what Wordsworth longs to do.

            I remembered Wordsworth’s poem from my 292 British Lit. Class.  I think it is a great representation of a natural wonder that humans have about each other.  A longing to understand someone’s song leads to a sense of awe of the song they sing and the life of the person who sings it. Wordsworth talks about the song of the reaper in the poem…

“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?”

             He has a natural desire to connect to the reaper through her music. He says, “Will no one tell me what she sings?” as if to suggest that it would be better if an interpreter could translate the song into his own language and then he would be able to understand it better. He questions and is confused about the meaning of the song and what the song could be about. He actually realizes in the middle poem he can at least get the essence of the song if he stops to listen. He stops and listens, “motionless and still,” as he takes in the beautiful music. Listening is the first thing that helps Wordsworth and the reader connect to each other

            The way the poem sounds is another way Wordsworth alludes to the power of music. There is a fixed iambic tetrameter throughout the poem that gives it a sing-songy feel. Connecting the form of the poem to the topic, I think this also helps instill a sense of awe in the reader as you are hearing a sort of musical poetry as you learn about the power music can have in connecting two people. I think this poem could help anyone of us understand the connective nature of awe but I think it would help Kenna the most, possibly with the music aspect of her project.

            Just to close, the ending of the poem is great. At the end of the poem he experiences a lasting sense of awe of the reaper. It stuns him and stays with him in memory.  I think this aspect of awe, remembering how we feel in fleeting moments of awe, or in my case performances of awe is very difficult to understand. Wordsworth suggests that if we can’t record moments of awe in our heads maybe we can record it in our hearts.

“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 listen’d motionless and still;

And, as I mounted up the hill,

The music in my heart I bore,

Long after it was heard no more.”