Saturday, August 31, 2013

Why do you think Wordsworth compared the solitary reaper's song to that of the nightingale and cuckoo bird?

In the poem of the same name, Wordsworth is wandering in the Scottish highlands when he comes across a woman, the solitary reaper, singing and reaping grain all alone. Her beautiful song fills the air and the poet is transfixed. He likens her music to that of the nightingale and cuckoo because both birds have distinctive voices. The nightingale in particular is often noted for its song. Further, Wordworth and other Romantic poets placed a very high value on nature and also tried to show the worth of common people. By comparing the song of this ordinary, laboring woman to the sound of natural creatures, the narrator pays her a high compliment: she sings as well as a bird. This elevates the common worker. Often in poems, the laborer was depicted as a clown or a clod, someone rough and uncouth. By describing this woman as a sublime element of nature, the poet elevates her status.

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