The Reaper Poem by William Wordsworth

The Reaper

Rating: 3.3


Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.

No nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
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?
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of today?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again!

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 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.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Mark West 05 February 2018

One of my favorite poems... I had not read it in many years... Thank you, Poem Hunter!

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Kit Shum 26 March 2014

One of my favourite poems from my teenage school days, one of a very few that I can still recite from memory.

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Arianna Collins 07 January 2013

This is my favorite poem ever: D

2 0 Reply
Anbazhagan Subramaniyan 01 January 2013

Supper Thinking By mr William Wordsworth

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William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth

Cumberland / England
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