Which form of poetry is the poem, 'The Solitary Reaper'?

Which form of poetry is the poem, 'The Solitary Reaper'? Correct Answer Lyric

The correct answer is lyric.

Key Points

•  First published in the book Poems, in Two Volumes in 1807, The Solitary Reaper is a lyric poem by William Wordsworth. It is one of most well-known poems, and was one of his most popular works in the post-Lyrical Ballads period. 
• The poem was inspired by his stay at the village of Strathyre in the parish of Balquhidder in Scotland in September 1803 with his sister Dorothy.
• The poem succeeds in expressing the "emotions recollected in tranquility" that Wordsworth identified at the heart of poetry.

Important Points

•  A lyric poem is a type of poetry in which the poet expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person narratorial voice. 
• The Solitary Reaper can be classified as a lyric because in this poem Wordsworth manifests the "fluid expressive beauty" of music and that leads to the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings". 
• In the poem, Wordsworth tells us about a girl, a Highland maiden, who is working alone in a field. She sings a mournful tune in a mellifluous voice which enthralls the poet; he tells the listeners to either listen silently or move on without disturbing the song. The lone harvester represents the often ignored beauty of nature. 

Mistake Points

•  The Solitary Reaper is a fairly well-known work, and the student should know that it was NOT written to mourn anyone's death, so it is not an elegy.
• The theme and subject of the poem also makes it clear that it is NOT a ballad, which is usually an upbeat song with a cheerful rhythm about an amusing subject.