Percy Bysshe Shelley

23/4/19 1

To a Skylark This poem is written in 21 five-line stanzas designed in a metrical

pattern of four trimeter lines with a final alexandrine and a rhyme scheme ababb. This kind of uneven lines show the “madness” of the skylark and the regular rhyme pattern and the perfect structure of the poem show the harmony of the skylark's song, so the form of the whole poem shows the harmonious madness of the skylark.

23/4/19 2

To a Skylark In this poem, Shelley again unites in poetic form ideas of real and spiritual

things. The skylark is an actual bird, one he has seen and heard and at the same time, one that functions as a symbol of an un(im)bodied joy, the platonic idea or essence of joy. It is a prophet of other-worldly things and an inspiration to the poet-prophet. Through it the poet praises the strange unknown pleasure and shows his love of the ethereal lark, free from human failing and human pain, and expresses his desire to get perfect joy which is beyond human conception.

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To a Skylark

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