The poem is a picture of rustic life and its poignant beauty. Fall or autumn signifies the end of summer and beginning of winter. It’s a season of harvesting, but it’s also a season of endings. Just as it brings joy in the form of harvest yet it also marks the beginning of the end of the year. Metaphorically, it’s the last stage before death. Death as a reaper with a sickle is a popular trope in literature and mythology. In this case, the poem is representative of the inevitability of death.
The poem is attuned to the realm of sounds, be it the ‘melancholy strain’ of the young reaper or the sounds of various birds. In this sense, it is intensely rooted in the sensual world. The ears become a strong channel to the heart and mind, and together they create impressions that become unforgettable for the poet.
Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.
No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
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.