In 1982, Rob Thomson and William Palmer set out to convert the Oxford Book of English Verse into “non-emotive, non-sexist, modern language.” They began with the opening lines of Wordsworth’s “The Solitary Reaper”:
Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Look at solo Ms McPherson,
In her field, a single person,
Cutting corn with vocal tune,
Stop, or leave her all alone.
There’s no sign they got any further.