Question

Describe the Solitary Reaper as the poet describes her in the poem

Answer 1

In "The Solitary Reaper," a young Highland girl is reaping alone and singing to herself while she works. The poet asks us to listen carefully, because the whole valley is filled to overflowing with the sound of her singing. We are invited to either stop and listen to her sad song or to gently pass by, so as not to disturb her.

He goes on to say that no nightingale ever sang a more welcoming song to bands of tired wanderers in an Arabian desert. The poet asserts that the beauty of the girl's singing exceeds that of the cuckoo bird's in the spring-time. Her singing is also the only thing which breaks the silence of the seas among the Hebride islands. The Hebrides are a group of islands (consisting of the Inner and Outer Hebrides) off the north-west coast of Scotland.

The poet begs someone to tell him what the girl is singing about. Receiving no answer, he muses that, perhaps, she is singing about old sorrows, or battles of long ago, or more mundane concerns, or even some suffering which she has endured and may endure again.

He eventually resigns himself to the fact that he may never find out the theme of her never-ending song. Nevertheless, he asserts that her singing has so captured his imagination that he will bear it in his heart long after it is heard no more.

Answer 2

Describe the Solitary Reaper as the poet describes her in the poem.

The Solitary Reaper that the poet describes her in the poem is a young girl. She belongs to the mountainous region of Scotland. She is working all alone in the field. She is reaping and singing by herself. Her agricultural activities like cutting and binding of the grains and her singing goes together. She sings a song that fills the whole valley with her song. Her song is said but it still keeps the poet spell bound and he is forced to stop and listen to the song with attention.