Skip to main content

An Analysis of P. B. Shelley's "To a Skylark"

P. B. Shelley, the supreme lyricist in the romantic period always longs for something ethereal, something that is far beyond the ‘sphere of sorrow’. His ‘To a Skylark’ is, as Wordsworth puts in “the expression of the highest to which the poet’s genius has attained”. It is one of the “most marvelous of English lyrics” ever written. It is the expression of a genius who sings “In profuse strains of unpremeditated art”.

To Shelley, the bird is not a creature of flesh and blood. It is a ‘blithe spirit’ a symbol of eternal joy. It is ‘scorner of the ground’ and it is a better philosopher with an intuitive sense of mystery of life and death. It is ‘an unbodied joy’ who at the very down starts floating and singing and “singing still dost soar and soaring ever singest”. It is a perfect stranger to the feelings of ennui and satiety that wait upon human efforts. The imaginative idealism of the poet makes the bird to appear as the archetype of the beauty and joy that have been two eternal principles of the universe. The upward flight of the bird is the symbol of the poet’s unbounded aspiration. The bird gives a momentary feeling of emphatic rising and soaring above the littleness of earthly things. Champion comments, “the lark could not be allowed to be a mere bird, with blood and feather and an appetite for caterpillars. Oh no! that was not poetical enough, it was too coarse, it had to be a disembodied spirit”.

Once Prof. Courthope has observed,” If greatness in poetry consisted of succession of dazzling images and a rapid flow of splendid verse, Shelley would be entitled to almost the first place in English literature.” The song of the bird is as piercing as the rays of moonlight; the skylark has been likened to the moon shining in the sky from behind a solitary patch of cloud. The bird is like a poet who is hidden ‘in the light of thought’. It is like ‘a highborn maiden’ shut up in the tower and singing a song for “soothing her love laden soul in secret hour”. It is like hidden in grasses and flowers. It is like a rose scatters its fragrance far and near but the flower is not seen. “The bird, song is brought home to us in this series of images conceived with an intensity of power, conjure with a vividness of colouring and on apt suggestiveness hardly equaled anywhere else. In these images in which beauty and mastery and perfectly blended the symbolical import of the bird has been captured and conveyed with a wonderful sense of parallelism”.

Shelley speaks of the skylark as an ideal loving. The song of the skylark is a perfect miracle, no languor or shadow of annoyance can come near it. Human songs have always an undertone of sadness – they have something lacking in them. Moreover, human beings “look before and after and pined for what is not”. The sweetest songs of man are those that tell of saddest thoughts. But the skylark is eternally joyous and its song is the expression of ideal joy. The poet conceives the skylark as an abstract beauty possessing the vision denied to earthbound men. The poet keeps inspiration from his vision to reveal the ideal truth to mankind. So that the people of the world would listen spell bound to his divine songs. This is the cry that well out of troubled tossed heart of the poet and gives such sweetness to the lyric.


Comments

  1. DEAR MR. DE! I AM THANKFUL TO YOU FOR YOUR CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE POEM. BUT I WOULD BE GLAD IF YOU WOULD COVER THE WHOLE POEM INSTEAD OF CERTAIN SECTIONS. YOU ARE WITH THE 'WHATS' OF THE POEM. I WOULD LIKE YOU TO DISCUSS THE 'WHYS' OF IT TOO. DO NOT BE FACTUAL PLEASE. BE CRITICAL AND ANALYTICAL. THANKING YOU

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear unknown,
    you are right. the essay is not well written. i will have to dress it up once again.

    thanks for your comment.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Drop any query, suggestion or comment here.

Other Fat Writing

Popular posts from this blog

Dr. West’s New Method of Teaching English :Its Merits and Demerits

                 D r. Michael Philip West (1888–1973) conducted an extensive research and experiments on the problems of teaching English as a foreign language in India at the time of British rule . Read More Teaching English The new method is the outcome of his research. It stood as a reaction against the Direct Method. Going into more details, when Dr. West came to visit rural Bengal students (1913- 19) en route teaching job at Teachers’ Training College  at Dhaka, West's conclusions about English learning issues in Bengal, India were as follows: 👉Students spent about 10 hours a week on English study with extremely poor results. 👉Only a minority reached the Matriculation class due to health or financial reasons. Read More  Teaching English 👉Even in the Matriculation class, students lacked real reading ability, speaking fluency, and writing proficiency in English. 👉A 1919 Calcutta University...

Dr. Samuel Johnson's "Preface to Shakespeare": Points to Remember

E ighteenth-century writer Samuel Johnson ((1709-1784) is one of the most significant figures in English literature. His fame is due in part to a widely read biography of him, written by his friend James Boswell and published in 1791. Although probably best known for compiling his celebrated dictionary, Johnson was an extremely prolific writer who worked in a variety of fields and forms. Chief Critical Approaches of Dr. Johnson are: Johnson tried teaching and later organized a school in Lichfield. His educational ventures were not successful, however, although one of his students, David Garrick, later famous as an actor, became a lifelong friend.

Kinds of Poetry: Narrative, Lyric, and Dramatic

Introduction: Poetry is a form of literary expression that has captivated readers and listeners for centuries. It allows poets to convey their thoughts, emotions, and experiences in a condensed and artistic manner. While there are countless poetic forms and styles, poetry can be broadly categorized into three main kinds: Narrative, Lyric, and Dramatic. Each of these kinds has distinct characteristics, purposes, and examples that showcase the rich diversity within the world of poetry. Kinds of poetry :  There are three great kinds of poetic writing: Narrative, Lyric, and Dramatic. Narrative poetry: Narrative poetry tells a story with a plot, characters, and a setting. It  is one of the oldest and most straightforward forms of poetry. It tells a story, often in a chronological sequence, using poetic devices to create a vivid and engaging narrative. Some key points about narrative poetry include: Storytelling: Narrative poetry focuses on storytelling, using poetic language to c...