In “The Solitary Reaper” by William Wordsworth a lone woman reaping a field sings filling, in excess, the surrounding Vale. This communication is intercepted by Wordsworth who is moved to inspiration. The main scene of communication is a human communicating to nature, received by another human. Wordsworth then evaluates the song in relation to nature communicating with itself and humans, respectively. These communications are the natural Nightingale to human travelers and natural Cuckoo-Bird to the natural land and sea of Hebrides. Wordsworth then outlines outstanding characteristics of the Highland Lass’ communication, most notably characteristics which can only be perceived by another human. Wordsworth finally leaves the scene, but not before realizing that though he can no longer hear Highland Lass’ communication, it remains within him. Thematically the poem deals with the ways nature and humans can communicate with themselves and each other. The goal of the poem is to evaluate these communications and create a hierarchy, a system of correspondence, and an evaluation of this system. The system creates an intentional misfit, or imbalance, created from the human interception of a communication from human to nature. Wordsworth uses this misfit, along with the existence of the poem itself, to critique human encroachment on nature through a perpetually overfilling system, as well as to account for his participation in the very same system.

            In the first scene of communication a human, the Highland Lass, communicates with nature, the Vale, however this communication is also, unknowingly, received by another human, Wordsworth. The language of the poem supports this when the Highland Lass is described to be, “Reaping and singing by herself” (Line 3) and “Alone she cuts and binds the grain” (Line 5) displaying an isolation from other humans. An important distinction in the language is the Highland Lass sings “by herself” (Line 3) and not to herself. The distinction that she is communicating with Nature, rather than herself, is made when Wordsworth notes of the Highland Lass’s singing, “O listen! For the Vale profound // Is overflowing with the sound” (Lines 7-8). The use of the word “overflowing” notes that the Highland Lass is filling the Vale with her song, turning the Vale into a receptacle, or receiver. Wordsworth later recounts his encounter with the Highland Lass, “I saw her singing at her work, //And o’er the sickle bending” (Lines 27-28) then goes on to explicitly state his interception of this communication in the 1807 text with, “I listened, motionless and still” (Line 29) and in the 1815 text, “I listen’d till I had my fill” (Line 29). The 1807 notes the interception, then displays him making good on his command to, after having seen the Highland Lass singing, “Stop here, or gently pass!” (Line 4), emphasizing the importance of not interrupting the communication. The 1815 text instead highlights the interception, Wordsworth “fills” (Line 29) himself, like the Vale is being filled in its “overflowing” (Line 8). This filling will emphasize his ending lines of now containing in himself the Highland Lass’s song, “The music in my heart I bore, //Long after it was heard no more” (Line 32).  

            The second and third scenes of communication are from nature to itself and humans, respectively. The second scene of communication is between nature and humans when the Nightingale communicates to a bands of travelers. Both the 1807 and 1815 poem begin this communication, “No Nightingale did ever chaunt” (Line 9), then deviating “More welcome notes to weary bands” (Line 10) and “So sweetly to reposing bands” (Line 10) in the 1807 and 1815 poems, respectively. The communication between nature and human is made direct because of Wordsworth’s usage of the word “to” (Line 10), and he deems Nature’s communication to humans as inferior to the Highland Lass’ intercepted communication. The third scene of communication is between nature and nature. The judgement of the communication is delivered before the scene is described in the 1807 poem “A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard” (Line 13) and in the 1815 poem “No sweeter voice was ever heard” (Line 13). Both expressing the inability for nature’s communication to nature to match up to the Highland Lass’ intercepted communication. The scene of communication is then described, “In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird, // Breaking the silence of the seas // Among the farthest Hebrides” (Line 14-16). From these two comparisons the human Highland Lass’ intercepted communication is deemed more welcome and sweet than the natural Nightingale to human travelers and more thrilling and sweet than the natural Cuckoo-bird to the natural land and sea of Hebrides.

            After the establishment of hierarchy, Wordsworth forms a system of communications from both nature and humans, to display a misfit, or imbalance, caused by human recontextualization of received communication. The system, generally, is: The natural Cuckoo-bird’s voice breaks the natural silence of the Hebrides and the natural Nightingale’s voice is received by the human travelers. In the same way, the human Highland Lass’ voice overflows the natural Vale and the human Highland Lass’ voice is received, through interception, by the human Wordsworth. First, this system displays that when nature receives communication, it is filled to varying degrees. In contrast, when humans receive communication, it is contextualized. After this symmetry is formed, the intentional imbalances, or misfit, can be evaluated.

            The exact way these scenes of communication works is, first, aligning corresponding systems with similar qualities, then filtering the initial interaction through Wordsworth’s human lens, to finally grant the communications either superiority or inferiority. The 1807 poem and the 1815 poem use different means to express superiority perceived by Wordsworth in the Highland Lass’ song. The 1807 poem creates comparisons first between the dichotomy of the Nightingale’s “welcome” (Line 10) song juxtaposed with weary travelers of the Arabian Sands, then between the Cuckoo-bird’s “thrilling” (Line 13) voice juxtaposed with it “breaking the silence of the seas” (Line 15). The Highland Lass’ song is then given the same corresponding qualities of welcoming and thrilling. The 1807 poem uses dichotomies to express Wordsworth’s momentary appreciation, feeling welcomed and thrilled, to display the superiority Wordsworth perceives in Highland Lass’ song. Because the Highland Lass is not directly communicating with Wordsworth, she is not literally attempting to evoke welcoming qualities or meaning to thrill. From this it can be understood that Wordsworth is establishing the similar qualities, then using his lens as a human to decide which communication is the superior. Further evidence for this can be found in the changes made to the 1815 edition of the poem when these conditions are simplified to instead draw attention to the systems of communication, to express the purpose of their formation.

            In the 1815 poem the Highland Lass’ voice is changed to be simply “sweeter” (Lines 10,13) than nature’s communication with either itself or humans. This maintains the same perceived superiority by Wordsworth, without complicating the system by using words which could suggest Wordsworth is the intended receiver. Both poems express the same superiority through Wordsworth and can form the same system and, more importantly, the same imbalances, or misfits. In the 1815 poem natural The Cuckoo-bird communicates a sweet voice “breaking the silence” (Line 15) of the natural land and sea of Hebrides, as the human Highland Lass communicates a sweeter voice “overflowing” (Line 8) the natural Vale. The first imbalance is the human Highland Lass’ voice is both sweeter and fills, in excess, nature compared to nature filling itself, establishing an imbalance of information communicated. In the 1815 poem the natural Nightingale communicates a less sweet “chaunt” (Line 9) to the human travelers “in some shady haunt// Among Arabian Sands” (Line 11-12) as the human Highland Lass communicates sweeter song to the natural land of the Vale, which is then intercepted by Wordsworth. Though the Nightingale could be communicating to itself or to the land around it, Wordsworth’s use of the word “to” (Line 10) forces the human travelers into the role of receivers. Similarly, whether the Highland Lass means to communicate with either herself or the overfilled nature becomes of little consequence once, Wordsworth’s frames himself as the receiver, aligning himself with the travelers. Together, when communication is received by humans, it is the human voice that is sweeter than nature’s voice. Later, Wordsworth will draw out the many ways the human communication to nature, intercepted by a human, overfills the intercepting human, creating another imbalance, not only of information communicated, but also of information received.

            Before the examples of overfilling, it is necessary to flesh out the ways humans contextualize the received communications. Wordsworth previously introduced this concept with the traveler’s contextualization of the Nightingale. When the Travelers receive the Nightingale’s chaunt, they contextualize it based on being in a “shady haunt Among Arabian Sands” (Lines 11-12), a calm place among hostile territory, or as the 1807 text describes a place where one is “welcome” (Line 10). The Nightingale’s song even when forced to be “to” (Line 10) the Travelers does not literally “welcome” (Line 10), but its song is contextualized in the mind of the Travelers. The travelers create more of their received communication than what was intended, creating an imbalance of information received.

            Similarly, the Highland Lass’ song, intercepted by Wordsworth, is contextualized through his human lens. It is Wordsworth who grants the Highland Lass’ song the position of superiority, however for a uniquely human reason, through no fault of his own. Wordsworth does this by displaying the ways he is affected by the song. This is first displayed when Wordsworth does not understand the language of the Highland Lass’s communication, “Will no one tell me what she sings?” (Line 17). It is this quality that allows him to speculate on the content of the communication, allowing him to give the communication a hypothetically unbound temporality. He is able to account for a distinctly human communication reflecting the past, “Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow //For old, unhappy, far-off things, // And battles long ago” (Lines 18-20), the present, “Or is it some more humble lay, //Familiar matter of today?” (Lines 21-22), and the future, “Some natural sorrow, loss or pain,// That has been, and may be again? (Lines 23-24). This temporality is one quality that nature is both unable to express or receive, which makes the “melancholy strain” (Line 6) sweeter, from a human perspective, than anything nature could communicate. Finally, the effects of the interception become apparent when Wordsworth, through his position of having intercepted a communication from human to nature, receives a communication that threatens to replay endlessly within his mind, “The music in my heart I bore, Long after it was heard no more” (Lines 31-32). Both this hypothetically unbound temporality and this internal memory of the song, are two of three ways that Wordsworth has been overfilled.

            If the Highland Lass’ communication had been simply received by Nature it would temporarily overflow the Vale, but cease as soon as the song ended. Nature would have been filled, even overfilled, but communication would have no lasting effect. Wordsworth receives this communication from a human meant for nature, however Wordsworth, being human, is incapable of simply being filled. Because he is human, he contextualizes the communication and is overfilled, allowing the song to live within him after he leaves. This inability to simply be filled, displays a human problem. The woman’s song overfills nature, filling into Wordsworth. In the same way Wordsworth is overfilled, turning a melancholy song, into an infinite number of songs first hypothetically through unbound temporality, then internally through bearing the communication in his heart. Finally, through the existence of this poem, Wordsworth displays that he himself cannot contain this communication and must physically turn the song into an infinitely repeatable number of songs by capturing it in poetic form to be read by others.

            Wordsworth intentionally creates the misfit in the system to show the process by which he has been overfilled by intercepting the communication not meant for him, to drive the point that the existence of the poem is an expression of human’s self-perpetuating encroachment on nature. This is displayed through the Highland Lass overfilling nature, which is then received by Wordsworth, who is overfilled and similarly delivers the song to the reader, who if Wordsworth has succeeded, will be overfilled by idea of the song. This critique of human encroachment is complicated because this poetic expression is both condemning a form of human encroachment, while at the same time continuing it through the poem’s existence.

            Wordsworth displays his confliction by arguing the human nature is to internalize and overfill the external world, as the Highland Lass does with her song, while at the same time, acknowledging that the creation of his poetry is a similar phenomenon. Small resolution can be found in the quality of the Highland Lass’ song he is initially drawn to, a “melancholy strain” (Line 6). His poem, like the Highland Lass’ song, is a sad poem, which identifies and participates in a human encroachment upon nature. The great tragedy is that unlike the Highland Lass, Wordsworth is incapable of being “The Solitary Reaper” singing to the Vale. Wordsworth creates poetry and if that poetry must be read, he must, at the very least, account for this vicious cycle of overfilling. Wordsworth cannot stop himself from being overfilled by the Highland Lass and cannot stop himself from the need to externalize that overfilling through poetry. To reconcile with this, he leaves behind a system of communications which displays the inescapable cycle of human encroachment. While he cannot stop himself from his poetic expression, Wordsworth does his best to account for and explain this overfilling, a vicious facet of human nature.