Here is the entire text of Percy Bysshe Shelley's "To a Skylark":
To a Skylark
By Percy Bysshe Shelley
Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!
Bird thou never wert,
That from Heaven, or near it,
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
Higher still and higher
From the earth thou springest,
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
In the golden lightning
Of the sunken sun,
O’er which clouds are brightening,
Thou dost float and run,
Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun.
The pale purple even
Melts around thy flight;
Like a star of Heaven
In the broad daylight
Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight:
Keen as are the arrows
Of that silver sphere,
Whose intense lamp narrows
In the white dawn clear,
Until we hardly see, we feel that it is there.
All the earth and air
With thy voice is loud,
As, when night is bare,
From one lonely cloud
The moon rains out her beams, and heaven is overflowed.
What thou art we know not;
What is most like thee?
From rainbow clouds there flow not
Drops so bright to see,
As from thy presence showers a rain of melody:
Like a poet hidden
In the light of thought,
Singing hymns unbidden,
Till the world is wrought
To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not:
Like a high-born maiden
In a palace tower,
Soothing her love-laden
Soul in secret hour
With music sweet as love, which overflows her bower:
Like a glow-worm golden
In a dell of dew,
Scattering unbeholden
Its aerial hue
Among the flowers and grass, which screen it from the view:
Like a rose embowered
In its own green leaves,
By warm winds deflowered,
Till the scent it gives
Makes faint with too much sweet these heavy-winged thieves:
Sound of vernal showers
On the twinkling grass,
Rain-awakened flowers,
All that ever was
Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass.
Teach us, Sprite or Bird,
What sweet thoughts are thine:
I have never heard
Praise of love or wine
That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.
Chorus hymeneal,
Or triumphal chant,
Matched with thine, would be all
But an empty vaunt,
A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want.
What objects are the fountains
Of thy happy strain?
What fields, or waves, or mountains?
What shapes of sky or plain?
What love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain?
With thy clear keen joyance
Languor cannot be:
Shadow of annoyance
Never came near thee:
Thou lovest; but ne’er knew love’s sad satiety.
Waking or asleep,
Thou of death must deem
Things more true and deep
Than we mortals dream,
Or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream?
We look before and after,
And pine for what is not:
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.
Yet if we could scorn
Hate, and pride, and fear;
If we were things born
Not to shed a tear,
I know not how thy joy we ever should come near.
Better than all measures
Of delightful sound,
Better than all treasures
That in books are found,
Thy skill to poet were, thou Scorner of the ground!
Teach me half the gladness
That thy brain must know,
Such harmonious madness
From my lips would flow,
The world should listen then, as I am listening now.
Here’s a detailed line-by-line explanation of "To a Skylark" by Percy Bysshe Shelley:
Stanza 1
Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!
Shelley begins by greeting the skylark as a cheerful and carefree spirit, highlighting its joyful and
ethereal nature.
Bird thou never wert, / That from Heaven, or near it, / Pourest thy full heart / In profuse
strains of unpremeditated art.
He suggests that the skylark is not just an ordinary bird but a divine being or spirit. Its song,
flowing effortlessly and abundantly, feels like it comes directly from heaven, embodying pure,
spontaneous creativity.
Stanza 2
Higher still and higher / From the earth thou springest, / Like a cloud of fire;
The skylark soars upward, ascending into the heavens. Its motion is likened to a fiery cloud,
radiant and alive.
The blue deep thou wingest, / And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
The skylark flies through the vast blue sky, singing continuously. Its ascent and its song are
simultaneous and seemingly eternal, symbolizing an unbroken cycle of joy and inspiration.
Stanza 3
In the golden lightning / Of the sunken sun, / O’er which clouds are brightening,
As the sun sets, its golden light illuminates the clouds. The scene is serene and picturesque,
providing a backdrop to the skylark’s flight.
Thou dost float and run, / Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun.
The skylark seems to glide and move effortlessly, like pure joy incarnate. This joy is infinite, as if
it has only just started its journey.
Stanza 4
The pale purple even / Melts around thy flight;
The soft purple hues of twilight blend into the skylark’s flight, creating an almost surreal,
dreamlike image.
Like a star of Heaven / In the broad daylight / Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill
delight:
The skylark is compared to a star that cannot be seen during the day. Though invisible, its song
remains clear and joyous, resonating through the air.
Stanza 5
Keen as are the arrows / Of that silver sphere,
The skylark’s voice is sharp and piercing, like the beams of the moon.
Whose intense lamp narrows / In the white dawn clear, / Until we hardly see, we feel that
it is there.
The moon’s light fades with the coming dawn, becoming almost imperceptible, yet its presence
is still felt. Similarly, the skylark’s song has an ethereal quality that transcends visibility.
Stanza 6
All the earth and air / With thy voice is loud,
The skylark’s song fills the entire environment, making the earth and sky resonate with its
music.
As, when night is bare, / From one lonely cloud / The moon rains out her beams, and
heaven is overflowed.
Just as the moon’s light floods the night sky from behind a single cloud, the skylark’s voice
saturates the world with its brilliance and beauty.
Stanza 7
What thou art we know not; / What is most like thee?
Shelley admits that the skylark’s essence is mysterious and beyond comprehension. He seeks
comparisons to understand it.
From rainbow clouds there flow not / Drops so bright to see, / As from thy presence
showers a rain of melody:
The skylark’s song surpasses even the beauty of raindrops shining in a rainbow. Its melody
feels like an unearthly downpour of pure beauty.
Stanza 8
Like a poet hidden / In the light of thought,
The skylark is compared to a poet who remains unseen but creates profound beauty through
their thoughts and words.
Singing hymns unbidden, / Till the world is wrought / To sympathy with hopes and fears
it heeded not:
The poet (or skylark) expresses emotions and ideas that awaken the world to feelings and
thoughts it had previously ignored.
Stanza 9
Like a high-born maiden / In a palace tower,
The skylark is likened to a noble maiden confined in a tower.
Soothing her love-laden / Soul in secret hour / With music sweet as love, which overflows
her bower:
This maiden sings beautiful songs in solitude, just as the skylark’s music flows naturally and fills
the air with sweetness.
Stanza 10
Like a glow-worm golden / In a dell of dew,
The skylark is compared to a glow-worm whose light illuminates the darkness of a dewy valley.
Scattering unbeholden / Its aerial hue / Among the flowers and grass, which screen it
from the view:
The glow-worm’s light, hidden by the grass and flowers, mirrors the skylark’s unseen presence,
with its song illuminating the world.
Stanza 11
Like a rose embowered / In its own green leaves,
The skylark is compared to a rose surrounded by lush green foliage.
By warm winds deflowered, / Till the scent it gives / Makes faint with too much sweet
these heavy-winged thieves:
As the wind scatters the rose’s fragrance, the skylark’s music spreads beauty that overwhelms
the senses.
Stanza 12
Sound of vernal showers / On the twinkling grass,
The skylark’s song is as refreshing and delightful as spring rain falling on sparkling grass.
Rain-awakened flowers, / All that ever was / Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth
surpass.
The skylark’s melody surpasses all sounds of nature in its joy, clarity, and freshness.
Stanza 13
Teach us, Sprite or Bird, / What sweet thoughts are thine:
Shelley pleads with the skylark to reveal the secrets behind its unending happiness and
creativity.
I have never heard / Praise of love or wine / That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.
No human praise of love or celebration can match the ecstatic beauty of the skylark’s song.
Stanza 14
Chorus hymeneal, / Or triumphal chant,
Even grand songs celebrating marriage or victory fall short compared to the skylark’s melody.
Matched with thine, would be all / But an empty vaunt, / A thing wherein we feel there is
some hidden want.
Such songs seem hollow and lacking when compared to the skylark’s perfect expression of joy.
Stanza 15
What objects are the fountains / Of thy happy strain?
Shelley wonders what inspires the skylark’s blissful song.
What fields, or waves, or mountains? / What shapes of sky or plain? / What love of thine
own kind? what ignorance of pain?
He questions if it is nature, love, or freedom from suffering that fuels its joyous music.
Stanza 16
With thy clear keen joyance / Languor cannot be:
The skylark’s joy is so pure and intense that it excludes any sense of weariness.
Shadow of annoyance / Never came near thee: / Thou lovest; but ne’er knew love’s sad
satiety.
The skylark’s love is untainted by disappointment or sadness, unlike human love, which is often
bittersweet.
Stanza 17
Waking or asleep, / Thou of death must deem / Things more true and deep / Than we
mortals dream,
The skylark’s understanding of life and death transcends human comprehension, suggesting a
deeper wisdom.
Or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream?
Such pure, untroubled music could only come from a being free of earthly fears and sorrows.
Stanza 18
We look before and after, / And pine for what is not:
Humans dwell on the past and future, lamenting what they lack, unlike the skylark, which exists
fully in the present.
Our sincerest laughter / With some pain is fraught; / Our sweetest songs are those that
tell of saddest thought.
Even our happiest moments are tinged with sorrow, and the most beautiful art often emerges
from pain.
Stanza 19
Yet if we could scorn / Hate, and pride, and fear; / If we were things born / Not to shed a
tear,
Shelley suggests that if humans could overcome their negative emotions and suffering, they
might achieve the skylark’s pure joy.
I know not how thy joy we ever should come near.
Yet, he doubts that humans can ever truly attain such unblemished happiness.
Stanza 20
Better than all measures / Of delightful sound, / Better than all treasures / That in books
are found,
The skylark’s song surpasses any human music or literary creation in its ability to inspire joy.
Thy skill to poet were, thou Scorner of the ground!
If poets could match the skylark’s skill, they would create works of unparalleled beauty. The
skylark is described as a "scorner of the ground," emphasizing its freedom and transcendence.
Stanza 21
Teach me half the gladness / That thy brain must know,
Shelley yearns to learn even a fraction of the skylark’s happiness and creative inspiration.
Such harmonious madness / From my lips would flow, / The world should listen then, as I
am listening now.
If he could channel the skylark’s joy, he would create poetry so captivating that the world would
listen in awe, just as he is enraptured by the skylark’s song.
This poem is a celebration of pure, unrestrained joy and creativity, with the skylark serving as a
metaphor for an ideal, untainted by earthly struggles.
Here's a comprehensive analysis of "To a Skylark" by P.B. Shelley, including its themes,
symbols, structure, style, and detailed interpretation:
1. Overview of "To a Skylark"
"To a Skylark" is one of Percy Bysshe Shelley's most celebrated poems. Written in 1820, it is an
ode that explores the nature of the skylark as a symbol of joy, freedom, and the transcendence
of human limitations. The poem contrasts the skylark’s idealized existence with the human
condition, which is often filled with pain, sorrow, and constraint.
2. Themes
2.1. Freedom and Joy
● The skylark, described as a creature of boundless joy and freedom, symbolizes the ideal
of unrestrained existence. It lives above the mundane struggles of earthly life, soaring
high in the sky without concern for material things.
● Shelley contrasts this with the human experience, often weighed down by societal
conventions, suffering, and the limitations of mortal existence.
2.2. The Limitations of Human Life
● Shelley juxtaposes the skylark's effortless joy with human suffering, especially the way
humans are trapped in their own desires, ambitions, and miseries. The skylark’s song is
a reminder of what humans long for but can never fully achieve.
● There’s a reflection on how people tend to lose sight of the pure, untainted happiness
that the skylark embodies. The bird’s freedom highlights the constraints and limitations of
human life.
2.3. Transcendence and the Power of Imagination
● The skylark is a symbol of the power of imagination and transcendence. It rises above
the material world, which is often full of struggles, and touches the divine or eternal.
● The speaker of the poem seems to wish for this kind of transcendence through
imagination, seeking a way to rise above the suffering of human existence, even if it’s
only through art or contemplation.
2.4. The Idealization of Nature
● The skylark is also a powerful representation of nature's purity and innocence. Shelley
uses the bird to depict nature as a source of idealized freedom and joy, free from the
pain of human experience.
● Through the skylark, Shelley explores the Romantic ideal of nature as a model of beauty,
purity, and transcendence.
3. Symbols
3.1. The Skylark
● The skylark is the central symbol in the poem, representing freedom, joy, and the
transcendence of the human condition. It is elevated above the limitations of earthly life,
soaring through the skies without a care.
● The skylark contrasts with the human condition, which is limited by sorrow, struggle, and
the weight of physical existence. Its song represents the purity of untainted joy,
something the speaker yearns to experience.
3.2. The Sky and Clouds
● The sky symbolizes freedom and the divine. The skylark’s flight through the sky
represents the aspiration to transcend the mundane and touch something greater, more
eternal.
● The clouds, while mentioned occasionally, can be seen as the obstacles that obscure
one’s ability to achieve spiritual or intellectual elevation. They are the limits humans face
in trying to reach the ideal, pure joy of the skylark.
3.3. The Earth
● In contrast to the sky, the earth represents the material world—full of suffering,
limitations, and sorrow. Human beings are tethered to the earth, bound by their bodies
and desires, unable to rise above the physicality of existence.
3.4. The Night
● The night may symbolize the unknown, mystery, and perhaps the darker aspects of the
human soul—suffering, confusion, and longing for something beyond the material world.
● Shelley contrasts the skylark’s joyful daylight existence with the darker, more painful
aspects of human life.
4. Structure and Form
● Form: The poem consists of 21 stanzas, each written in iambic tetrameter (four iambic
feet per line) and following a rhyme scheme of ABAB in most stanzas.
● Stanza Length: Most stanzas have four lines, but some are longer, allowing for more
expansive thoughts and deeper reflection as the poem progresses. The regularity of the
stanza form gives the poem a lyrical quality, making it more song-like, which fits the
subject matter of the skylark’s song.
● Rhythm and Meter: The rhythm, with its regular and flowing meter, mirrors the
movement of the skylark itself. The iambic tetrameter gives the poem a light, musical
quality, enhancing the contrast between the weight of human life and the freedom of the
skylark’s song.
● Language: The language is elevated, romantic, and idealistic. Shelley uses rich, vivid
imagery and metaphors to convey the bird’s purity and freedom. His diction also reflects
his deep longing for the transcendence the skylark represents.
5. Style and Tone
● Romantic Style: Shelley’s style in "To a Skylark" embodies the Romantic movement's
emphasis on nature, idealism, and emotion. The skylark, like other symbols in Romantic
literature, represents an idealized vision of life that contrasts sharply with the limitations
of human existence.
● Tone: The tone of the poem fluctuates between exaltation and melancholy. The
speaker is full of admiration and awe for the skylark and its freedom, but there is also a
sense of yearning, as he recognizes the impossibility of fully achieving such a state of
joy and liberation in human life. This contrast creates a tone of wistfulness and
longing.
● Imagery: Shelley’s use of imagery is vivid and evocative, with images of the skylark
soaring through the sky, singing, and representing an idealized state of freedom. The
contrast between the skylark’s freedom and the human condition is made through
powerful images of darkness, struggle, and limitation.
6. Line-by-Line Analysis (Stanza 1 - 3)
Stanza 1
"Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!
Bird thou never wert—
That from Heaven or near it
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art."
● The speaker greets the skylark as a "blithe Spirit," or a joyful, carefree spirit.
● The skylark is not bound by the limitations of earthly existence. It is presented as a
transcendent being, pouring forth its song in "unpremeditated art"—meaning the bird's
song is pure, spontaneous, and effortless.
Stanza 2
"Higher still and higher
From the earth thou springest
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest."
● The skylark is described as soaring higher and higher, symbolizing its transcendence
over the earth.
● The "cloud of fire" imagery indicates a fusion of lightness (clouds) and brilliance (fire),
suggesting a combination of beauty, purity, and power in the bird's flight.
Stanza 3
"In the golden flashes
Of the sun’s rays,
O’er the trees, the bushes,
And the fields of hay,
Thou dost float in the heavens above, singing as you fly."
● The skylark's song is an expression of joy, blending with the natural world around
it—light, freedom, and beauty are all in harmony.
● The golden flashes represent the perfect, radiant existence the bird has, floating
effortlessly above the earth, disconnected from human suffering.
7. Conclusion
"To a Skylark" is a celebratory yet melancholic poem that contrasts the idealized existence of
the skylark with the limitations of human life. Through the skylark, Shelley explores themes of
freedom, joy, and transcendence, using vivid imagery and symbolism to portray the bird as
a representation of purity and the longing for an existence free from suffering. The poem speaks
to the human condition, illustrating our desire for freedom and joy, even though such a state
may seem unattainable. The structure, style, and tone all work together to emphasize the
Romantic ideals of nature, emotion, and the aspiration for transcendence.
