1 Ode to skylark

A. Answer these questions.

1. In the first stanza, what does the speaker compare the skylark to, and why?

First Stanza “To a Skylark” begins with the speaker, Percy Bysshe Shelley (as was detailed in
the introduction), pointing out a skylark in the sky. He calls out to the bird, not in greeting, but in
reverence, “Hail to thee.” ... He refers to the bird as “blithe Spirit,” meaning happiness or joyful.

2. Where is the glow-worm and what is special about it?

Glow worms live in dark, wet environments, preferably in glowworm caves if they can find
them, although on the Gold Coast of Queensland they don't have any caves to live in, so the local
species, Arachnocampa flava are usually found beside waterfalls.

3. What happens to the Earth and the moon when the skylark sings?

The earth and air ring with the skylark's voice, just as Heaven overflows with moonbeams when
the moon shines out from behind “a lonely cloud.” The speaker says that no one knows what the
skylark is, for it is unique: even “rainbow clouds” do not rain as brightly as the shower of
melody that pours from the skylark.

4. How are our songs different from those of the bird?

The speaker opens the poem by calling the skylark a "blithe Spirit," and spends a great deal of
the poem describing the pure happiness that the bird's songs express. And they sings without
preparation.

5. Does the speaker's mood change as the poem continues? If so, where?

The first six stanzas are a celebration of the beauty of the skylark's song and the freedom of its
flight. The skylark sings only when flying, and the bird is flying so high that the speaker can no
longer see it. Given that the skylark is invisible (but still heard) and so close to "heaven," there is
an immaterial, spiritual quality to the skylark's song. So, it is not just the beauty of the song that
affects the speaker; he is also struck by the spiritual symbolism of the experience. Note that in
the first line, though, he calls the skylark "blithe." This means happy but indifferent to (or
unaware of) the suffering of others. These first six stanzas are a celebration, but there is that
initial tone of envy as well. The speaker envies the skylark's ability to feel so happy and free,
whereas he is burdened...

Answer these questions with reference to the context.

1. Bird thou never wert.

a. What does the speaker mean by this line?
2 Ode to skylark

(a) The speaker means by this line To a Skylark” begins with the speaker, Percy Bysshe
Shelley (as was detailed in the introduction), pointing out a skylark in the sky.
b. What other names does the speaker call the bird by?
(b) He calls out to the bird, not in greeting, but in reverence, “Hail to thee.
2. Match ‘d with thine would be all
But an empty vaunt,
1. What do these lines mean?
Even our celebratory songs like the wedding hymns seems to lack something essential
when matched with a skylark’s song.
2. What are the feelings and emotions that come through in these lines?
The speaker seems to realize that we can never achieve , let alone live in, the joys
state that skylark lives in. even our happiest songs lack something essential.
3. The world should listen then, as I am listening now.
a. what is the speaker referring to ?
the speaker asks skylark to teach him the secret of his happiness so that his songs are filled with
joy.
b.why does the speaker want the world to listen to bird?
The speaker says that if only he could learn the gladness and the harmonious maddens the bird
know, he too would sing with fearlessness and unconscious joy ass the bird sings. The world
would then listen to his song with same rapt attention as he is listening to the sky lark’s songs.
c. Think and answer
1. The Speaker calls the birds a 'spirit'. Does it have some supernatural power? Give
reasons.
The poet refers to the bird as “blithe Spirit,” meaning happiness or joyful. He sees
this bird as the epitome of joy. It is less a bird, and more an essence, a “Spirit.”
Thus, we can conclude that the bird represents a cheerful spirit. Shelley calls the
bird a 'Spirit' because it is rarely visible and only its melodious song is heard by
the people. The sweet song of the skylark reveals to Shelley that unlike ordinary
mortals it is absolutely carefree. The skylark symbolizes the free soul.
2. The skylark's song is devoid of any melancholy. Give examples to prove
In that sense, the skylark is almost an exact twin of the bird in Keats’s “Ode to a
Nightingale”; both represent pure expression through their songs, and like the
skylark, the nightingale “wast not born for death.” But while the nightingale is a
bird of darkness, invisible in the shadowy forest glades, the skylark is a bird of
daylight, invisible in the deep bright blue of the sky. The nightingale inspires
Keats to feel “a drowsy numbness” of happiness that is also like pain, and that
makes him think of death; the skylark inspires Shelley to feel a frantic, rapturous
joy that has no part of pain. To Keats, human joy and sadness are inextricably
3 Ode to skylark

linked, as he explains at length in the final stanza of the “Ode on Melancholy.”

But the skylark sings free of all human error and complexity, and while listening
to his song, the poet feels free of those things, too.

3. To Which objects does Shelley compare the Skylark and its Song?

Ans. Shelley is known as a perfect master of imagery user in the corpus of

English poetry. His “To a Skylark” is replete with 90 many similes and metaphors
which are undoubtedly unique. Shelley has compared the skylark to a cloud of
fire, ‘unbodied joy’, star of heaven, a poet, with a highborn maiden glow worm, a
rose etc. As a result of using these imageries Shelley’s Skylark gets a different
dimension. Its song is compared to vernal showers and moon beams and love etc.
Truly speaking, except Shelley, perhaps none has used so many images to indicate
a bird and its song

4. Why is Skylark compared to a star of heaven?

Ans. This comparison is fully justified. A star of heaven is glorious in the nightly
sky. Through all the night, is attracts the heart of all of us. But when the day approaches, those
stars in spite of their existence in the sky, gradually become invisible to us. So also the Skylark
comes down on earth at night. Throughout the night, its song overflows the earth. But before
dawn, it starts its upward journey and it is not Visible on earth. As both the skylark and a star of
heaven are perceptible at night only and during daytime both of them disappear, this comparison
is apt.

5. How is skylark compared to a poet?

Ans. Generally a poet. keeps himself free from common affairs and remaining absorbed in the
depth of thought, goes on writing poetry. Nothing of this earth can divert his mentality:
Primarily, he is not appreciated by the universe. But at last a situation comes when he is
respected by all. Likewise the skylark also with its flight in the sky goes on producing sweet
melody for the common men to enjoy. Shelley thinks that a skylark is probably a poet because
without deep thought like a poet how can a skylark sing continuously Moreover, the songs are
produced like a poet’s poetry: irrespective of the matter that whether anyone pays heed for it or
not.

6. How is the Skylark compared to a highborn maiden?

Ans. A highborn maiden who has suffered the pangs of love keeps herself closed within a
chamber in a palace tower. Then at the dead hours of night, she produces some sweet music to
soothe her love-laden heart. But the result is that the surrounding atmosphere is overflowed with
that music. A skylark also throughout the all night produces charming music while flying in the
sky. This music is too sweet to win anybody’s heart. The nightly earth gets overflowed with that
song of the skylark. So this comparison is undeniably true.
4 Ode to skylark

7. Why does Shelley hesitate to call the skylark a spirit or as a bird?

Ans. Though it is skylark yet it is not skylark in the imaginative sense. To Shelley, a
skylark which is born on earth cannot be free from mundane qualities and must be forced
to undergo physical decay. Yet he sees that a skylark is singing a loving, romantic song
free from the touch of earth. It also seems to him that this bird could change his self and
could bring a new millennium for the old society where we live. So, how he will interpret
the skylark whether as a spirit or as a bird. But it is clear to us that he regards it more and
more as a spirit than a bird.
1. What is the theme/ central idea of the poem “To a Skylark” by Percy Bysshe Shelley?
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s celebrated poem “To a Skylark” is abut a skylark, a miniscule bird that is
famous for its song. In the poem, Shelley idealizes the bird and presents it as a unique creature.
To Shelley, the skylark is an immortal being symbolizing illimitable beauty. Its music is perfect
embodiment of beauty and joy and hence an endless source of inspiration for the poet. It is
Shelley’s natural metaphor for pure poetic expression, the “harmonious madness” of pure
inspiration. Thematically, the poem is about the power of nature to transform men’s lives,
specifically through the medium of poetry.

In the broad daylight, the skylark, as it soars higher and higher, remains unseen, yet its song can
still be heard, a song “unbodied joy” and “shrill delight”. Its song is “a flood of rapture so
divine” that the poet cannot fully capture its essence. The joy expressed by the sky lark is beyond
that which can be grasped by man, and the author speaks directly to the skylark in the latter
stanzas, asking it to reveal to him the secret of its ethereal bliss so that he might then be able to
share it with others through his words, and thus transform their lives.