Question- Critically examine Shelley's "To a Skylark”.

Answer -

This poem was written in 1820. Mrs. Shelley (the poet's wife) says: "It was on a beautiful summer evening, while wandering among the lanes, that we heard the carolling (singing of the skylark, which inspired one of the most beautiful of this poems." 

Skylark is a small bird that sings as it flies upwards. It is a real bird of flesh and blood. But Shelley is in the habit of making concrete things look abstract. So he speaks of skylark not as bird, a spirit: -

He compares a skylark to a poet singing his poems, or a girl singing love songs, or a glow worm spreading its light all round, or a rose scattering its perfume (sweet smell) or rain in spring season. These are the six comparisons made to show what the skylark is like. Thus the poem is full of similes. (By simile we say that a thing is like something else, e.g. Her teeth are like pearls. All the six comparisons given above are examples of similes).

The poem is a beautiful lyric (ghazal). Shelley was the greatest lyricist (writer of lyrics) in English literature. The subjects of lyris are Love, Beauty, Life, Death and Nature, To a Skylark is lyric of Nature.

The poem is full of music. Sweet sounds soothe the ear. The poem is a beautiful song. It is written in stanzas of five lines each; the first four lines are short and the last line is very long. The rhyme-scheme is a ba bb.

The stanza of five lines produces the music of the bird. The first four lines show the crescendo (louder and louder sound) of to bird's song and the last line, which is long, is the refrain of music of the bird.

The contrast is between the bird that is a spirit of happiness and man whose life is full of miseries. The following lines have become rightly famous :

Shelley's poetry is spontaneous (natural; not forced). He sings naturally like a skylark. Lyrics straight from his heart.

important Explanations

1. Hail.........art.    - (Stanza I)

Reference: These lines are taken from Shelley's best lyrical utterance, "To A Skylark". It is a sad comment on the irony of life as we do not get what we want.

Context: The Skylark is Shelley's own spirit soaring up and up in quest of the eternal perfection. The poet is not sure whether skylark is a bird or a spirit. He is not in a position to identify the skylark.

Explanation: He says that the bird skylark is highly welcomed due to its happy eternal spirit. This skylark is not like other skylarks of the world. It is a high spirit whose house is some where in heaven or near about it and the bird sings form there. In his song the skylark gives an art unthinkable to human being. This art is very deep and charming to all.

N.B. -

(i) Movement of the veres remarkable.
(ii) Depth of Imagination superb.
(iii) Beauty of expression unique.
(iv) Melody of the highest lyrical utterance.
(v) Witchery of music.

2. Higher still..............singest.    - (Stanza II)

Reference: As above.

Context: The poet greets the skylark. It is a happy spirit. It is different from the ordinary bird. Its abode is either in heaven or near about it.

Explanation: He says that the skylark flies up high in the sky from the earth like a cloud of smoke. As the cloud of smoke rises from the fire and flies up and upward in the sky in the same way the skylark shoots up from the earth. The skylark while flying sings and while singing soars upwards and upwards.

N.B. -

(i) Felicity of expression.
(ii) Spontaneity and ease.
(iii) Rich in melodious charm.
(iv) Mystical imagination.
(v) Ardour of beauty matchless.

3. In the golden...........begun.     - (Stanza III)

Reference: As above.

Context: The skylark rises from the earth to the sky just like a cloud of smoke. It flies higher and higher and sings.

Explanation: Early in the morning the crimson rays of the sun appear like flashes of lightning to the poet, and the clouds on the horizon become brighter and brighter. Now the skylark flies without flapping the wing. In such a state the bird appears like a spirit of delight. It looks like a soul full of joy and just liberated from the prison of body. It is a joy whose spiritual career has just started.

N.B. -

(i) Compact expression.
(ii) Clarity of thought.
(iii) Spontaneity and ease.
(iv) Witchery of music.
(v) Rich in melodious charm.

4. Keen..............there.     - (Stanza V)

Reference: As above.

Context: As the star is not visible in the broad daylight, in the same way the skylark is not visible in the darkness of the night.

Explanation: Here the poet is describing the shrill notes of the bird. The shrill notes of the skylark are as sharp as the moon beams till they fade away after sunrise. Then the moon can hardly be seen in the sky, yet we know that it is in the sky. Like wise the bird while roaring high, becomes invisible, yet we still hear its music.

N.B. -

(i) Compact expression.
(ii) Remarkable movement of the verse.
(iii) Clarity of thought.
(iv) Spontaneity and ease.
(v) Feelingful and to...........lines.    

5. What than...............melody.      - (Stanza VII)

Reference: As above.

Context: The sweet voice of the skylark is coming on earth like the beams of the moon in the clear sky.

Explanation: In these lines the poet Shelley describes the sweet music of the song of the skylark. He says that the identity of the skylark is unknown to him. He can not establish his identity. He can not say whether it is spirit or an ordinary bird. But this much is certain to him that the song of the bird is sweeter than the drops of the rainbow cloud which have also a sweet melody in their notes.

N.B.  -

(i) Remarkable movement of the verse.
(ii) Witchery of music.
(iii) Spontaneity and ease.
(iv) Compact expression.
(v) Feelingful and touching lines.  

6. Like a high.........bower.   - (Stanza IX)

Reference: As above.

Context: The bird is supposed to be a spiritual being so it does not consider about wordly material cares.

Explanation: Here the bird is compared to a love-lorn maiden of the noble descent who, in order to console herself, sings in the solitude of her inner chamber a sweet song which overflows her bower. An unmarried girl of noble descent often sings her love song in her secluded but lofty chamber in order to sooth her in love-sick heart. While singing, she is unnoticed by others but her sweet music fills her chamber. Just like her, the skylark singing from a very lofty place in the air, is invisible yet its music fills the whole atmosphere. The points of comparison are as follows.

The skylark sings from a lofty position in the sky, while the maiden sings from her high tower in the place. Both of them are hidden from view. The bird sings spontaneously out of joy, while the maiden sings of love, her feelings breaking forth in music. The lark's song fills the whole atmosphere, while the maiden's song overflows her chamber.

N.B. -

(i) Felicity of expression.
(ii) Spontaneity and ease.
(iii) Rich in melodious charm.
(iv) Clarity of thought
(v) Feelingful and touching lines.

7. Like a rose..................thieves.     - (Stanza XI)

Reference: As above.

Context: The glow-worm remains hidden in the flowers and leaves but its light comes out. Similarly the skylark remains invisible but we hear its song.

Explanation: Here the song of the skylark in likened to the smell of the rose. The smell of the rose is concealed in the green leaves and is deprived of its sweetness and fragrance by wanton summer winds. The warm wind resembles a passionate lover, and the flower is like a beloved, the wind is conceived as kissing or ravising the virgin rose. The winds thus become loaded with fragrance and languid like the thieves burdened with a booty.

N.B. -

(i) Clarity of ideas.
(ii) Witchery of music.
(iii) Depth of imagination.
(iv) Beauty of expression.
(v) Remarkable movement of the verse.

8. Teach us ......divine.    - (Stanza XIII)

Reference: As above.

Context: The flowers are awakened by the gentle showers. But the sweet song of the skylark gives sweeter tune than the showers of the music.

Explanation: In these lines the poet Shelley gives a vivid description of the skylark through his imagination. He gives various descriptions of his skylark but he fails to recognise the identity of the bird. He asks the bird about the secret of his splendid song as his song is sweeter than the song sung in praise of wine or love.

N.B. -

(i) Highly musical lines.
(ii) Spontaneity and ease.
(iii) Felicity of expression.
(iv) Touching and feelingful lines.
(v) Witchery of music.

9. What object.......... pain.    - (Stanza XV)

Reference: As above.

Context: The songs sung at the time of marriage and the songs of the triumph cannot be compared with the songs of the skylark.

Explanation: In these lines the poet requests the skylark to disclose the secret of his heavenly joy and happiness. He says that he does not know the secret of the source of his songs happiness. He requests him to disclose it. He even does not know the living place of the bird whether it is a field, waves, mountains or plains. He asks the bird about his special conception of love which is free from the worries of the world.

N.B. -

(i) Spontaneity and ease.
(ii) Felicity of expression.
(iii) Clarity of ideas.
(iv) Witchery of music.
(v) Dignified lines.

10. Waking........stream.    - (Stanza XVII)

Reference : As above.

Context: The skylark is free from sorrow and worldly cares. Its love is endless unlike human love.

Explanation: Here Shelley describes the reason why the bird's music is so joyful. There is a contrast between the bird's song and human music. The lark seems to have a correct knowledge of the mystery of death, while we can scarcely possess such knowledge. Death is a source of terror to us. That is why our music cannot have to pure, unmixed joy of the bird's. According to the poet, the bird is never afraid of death on the other hand, the bird knows that death is nothing but a gate way to a happier life and hence its song is free and clear, its joy is therefore, uncommon.

N.B. -

(i) Movement of the verse remarkable.
(ii) Depth of imagination.
(iii) Beauty of expression.
(iv) Witchery of music.
(v) Clarity of ideas.

11. Yet if ..............near.     - (Stanza XIX)

Reference: As above.

Context: People take care about their past and future. They are grieved for their unsatisfied desires.

Explanation: In these lines the poet discloses the secret of heavenly joy of the skylark. He says his happiness is free from the feelings of malice, doubt, fear, pride and hatred. He hates such feelings. It a man can leave such feelings he can also enjoy such heavenly joy and happiness as skylark can enjoy.

N.B. -

(i) Compact expression.
(ii) Felicity and ease.
(iii) Lyrical intensity.
(iv) Clarity of ideas.
(v) Witchery of music.

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