The Solitary Reaper

The poem opens with a command as the speaker calls attention to the eponymous figure of “The Solitary Reaper”—an ordinary country maiden out gathering the harvest—by urging: “Behold her, single in the field” (Line 1). While “solitary,” this “Highland Lass” (Line 2) is not idle, as she is “Reaping and singing” (Line 3) at the same time. The speaker finds himself captivated by the “melancholy strain” (Line 6) of her song, describing how “the Vale profound / Is overflowing with the sound” (Lines 7-8) of the maiden’s song. In this stanza, the maiden’s solitude serves a dual function: First, it allows her to become an easy focal point for the poem, elevating her importance and enabling her to personify the timeless beauty of both art and human expression (in the form of her song) and the traditional, agrarian lifestyle out in the Scottish Highlands (in the form of her harvesting work). In this sense, the maiden is not just an individual character in the poem, but a symbol of the rural world and the power of song/art more generally.

Second, her solitude creates an unspoken link between her and the poem’s speaker, who is likewise solitary as he wanders through the Highland landscape.