Question

Based on this excerpt from the poem "The Solitary Reaper" by William Wordsworth, what can be determined about the speaker and the singing solitary reaper?

"No Nightingale did ever chaunt1
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 Hebrides2.

Will no one tell me what she sings?--
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?"

1 sing
2 a large archipelago off the west coast of Scotland, composed of the oldest rocks in the British Isles

Answer 1

In this excerpt the speaker expresses his frustration with the fact that even though he doesn't understand the language in which the tune is being sung, he still wishes to comprehend the message. He wants to understand what the singing solitary reaper is singing about.

The conflict here is that they don't speak the same language.

We can see it more clearly in this verse: "Will no one tell me what she sings?" (he doesn't speak the language); and in the rest of the stanza, he keeps on wondering what the song may mean.

Hope this helps!