Summary

“The Solitary Reaper” begins with the speaker describing the image of the reaper alluded to in the poem’s title, who they refer to as a “solitary Highland Lass” (2). Out in the field, the reaper sings by herself “a melancholy strain” as she goes about her work, filling the vale with the sound of her voice (6). In the second stanza, the speaker compares the reaper’s song to that of the nightingale and the cuckoo-bird, claiming that neither bird possesses a song or voice as welcome or thrilling as the girl in the field.

In the third stanza, the speaker pleads with their audience, asking “Will no one tell me what she sings?” (17). In lieu of a satisfying answer, they wonder themselves what her song could be about, postulating “perhaps the plaintive numbers flow/for old, unhappy far-off things,/and battles long...