Rhetorical questions are used only in one of Wordsworth’s poems on the Leaving Certificate course, ‘The Solitary Reaper’. They reveal how deeply the poet is pondering the subject of the young woman’s melancholy song. The questions draw us in, and make us wonder what she is singing.
„„‘Will no one tell me what she sings? –/ Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow/ For old, unhappy, far-off things,/ And battles long ago’ (‘The Solitary Reaper’) The poet wonders if the young woman is singing a song about sad events that happened long ago or about ancient battles and wars, and this makes us wonder about it too.
„„‘Or is it some more humble lay,/ Familiar matter of to-day?’ (‘The Solitary Reaper’) Wordsworth wonders if the subject of her song is a more humble, everyday subject, such as poverty or sickness.
„„‘Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,/ That has been, and may be again?’ (‘The Solitary Reaper’)
The poet may not understand the words, but he can intuit the sorrowful nature of the song, and wonders if she is singing about a bereavement or a broken heart – things that happen all the time, but are no less devastating for that. Again, this causes the reader to think of songs they know about such things, drawing us into the poem.
