THE SOLITARY REAPER

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.

What kind of song is the girl singing ?

melancholic

The poem "The Solitary Reaper" describes the girl as singing a "melancholy strain."

"Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain".