Thursday, March 04, 2010

Because I've Been Feeling Very Scottish Lately . . .

I created this version of a Highland Dancer with HeroMachine v. 3.0.


Here also is a poem about a Scottish lass by William Wordsworth. (Not a bad poem, even if he was a stuffy English git).

The Solitary Reaper

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 to-day?
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 listen'd, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.

Hat tip for the text of "The Solitary Reaper" to Bartleby.com

2 comments:

PaperSmyth said...

"Will no one tell me what she sings?—"

Perhaps there was a language barrier.

Thank you for sharing, Niall. Have a "beauteous" day!

Niall Mor said...

"Will no one tell me what she sings?—"

Perhaps there was a language barrier.


Yes, I think he was trying to say that she was singing in Gaelic, and it had a powerful emotional impact on him even when he didn't understand the words. Gaelic singing has that effect on me.