Skip to main content

In the poem, which phrases describe the song of the solitary reaper?

William Wordsworth's poem "The Solitary Reaper" describes a girl, alone, off in the distance ("Yon solitary Highland Lass") who is working in a field and singing.


The phrases from the poem that most directly describe the song are "a melancholy strain," "welcome notes," "plaintive numbers," and "humble lay."


Here is a complete list of the phrases that describe her song:


1. "a melancholy strain"


"Melancholy" means "sad and mournful," and a "strain" is a piece of music. So this phrase describes the song as a sad little tune.


2. "the Vale profound / Is overflowing with the sound."


These lines mean that the deep surrounding land is filled (even over-filled) with the sound of the reaper's song.


3. "No Nightingale did ever chaunt / More welcome notes to weary bands / Of travellers in some shady haunt, / Among Arabian sands:"


Above, the speaker describes the song as made up of "welcome notes," or musical notes that are a joy to hear.


4. "A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard / In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,"


This means that the song is being sung with a voice that thrills, or excites and enchants, the listener, even more so than the song of a cuckoo-bird would.


5. "Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow / For old, unhappy, far-off things, /And battles long ago:"


Above, the sections of the song are described as "plaintive numbers," meaning they are sad, mournful songs, specifically songs about sad things from the past.


6. "Or is it some more humble lay, / Familiar matter of to-day?"


One meaning of "lay" is a song that tells a narrative story, so in the line above, the speaker describes the song as perhaps an everyday little song about normal life--nothing overly proud or showy.


7. "Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang / As if her song could have no ending;"


Above, the speaker means that the song seems never-ending. Even though it does end, it continues to echo in the speaker's mind:


8. "The music in my heart I bore, / Long after it was heard no more."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more