Examine The Relationship Between Man And Nature In The Solitary ReaperBy William Wordsworth

Question:- Examine the relationship between man and nature in The Solitary Reaper.

Answer:- The poem by William Wordsworth; "The Solitary Reaper" is such that gives expression to the overwhelming influence that nature exercises on a romantic poet, especially William Wordsworth. The poem is about the attraction and effects the song from a farming lady had on the poet.

According to the question, "the relationship between man and nature" should be interpreted as "the relationship between human being and his or her environment". This can be viewed in two ways, the relationship between "the solitary reaper"(the lady farmer singing) and her environment, the relationship between the listener(William Wordsworth) and his environment.

Both the singer and Wordsworth(the listener) got united to nature(their present natural environment) with the beauty of music or musical melody. The solitary reaper used her singing to suppress all worries that were assumed by the poet in the context of the poem while the poet, on the other hand, show

ed the effects of the song on other entities like "the weary bands of travellers", "Vale profound/ is overflowing with the sound", "Breaking the silence of the seas".

Even though the poet confessed he didn't understand what the song was saying and tagged it to be "plaintive numbers", the last four lines of the poem, showed the poet was still able to hear the lady's song in his own heart, when the distance he had covered had prevented him from hearing the lady's voice:
"I listened, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more"

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

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