Question

How does the song of the Solitary Reaper affect the poet and with what effect?

Answer 1

The poet found the quality of the reaper’s song quite divine and sublime. He was so much attracted by her song that he stood transfixed. The words or expressions in the poem which highlight the quality of her song are given below:

               'No nightingale did ever chant

               More welcome notes to weary bands

              Of Travellers in some shady haunt.

               Among Arabian Sands'

He also compared the reaper's song to the melodious warbling of a cuckoo bird:

                '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.'