Analysis of “To a Sky-Lark” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
1. “Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!”
1. “Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!”
- Blithe: joyful, happy
- An example of an apostrophe — a figure of speech characterized by a sudden cry that addresses a third party, rather than the audience. This helps set the tone for the rest of the poem; the bird is the means of reflection for the speaker.
2. “In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.”
- Here, Shelley provides the first instance of art and nature intertwining. Art is present in nature, evidenced by the sky-lark’s own art (its melody).
3. “And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.”
- The diction and flow within this line mimic the sky-lark’s action in flight. The repetition (but in reverse order) of sing/soar seems to impersonate the swooping flight path of the bird, full of joyous song.
4. “Like a star of Heaven / In the broad day-light”
- Reference to Venus: when the planet appears before sunrise, it is called a morning star. It is a phenomena that is present, but imperceptible, just like the sky-lark whose voice is its sole identity to the speaker.
5. “What is most like thee?”
- The speaker is so mesmerized by the unique sky-lark that he struggles to find an adequate object or concept to compare it to.
6. “Scattering unbeholden”
- The sky-lark is like this glowing worm; both creatures continue to exhibit their beauty (through song or through sight), despite the presence of any other thing. They are indebted to no one, strengthening the beauty of art in nature.
7. “Teach us, Sprite or Bird”
- This is the second time that the speaker refers to the sky-lark as a spirit, signifying its magical and mystical qualities. However, this is the first instance where the speaker addresses the bird beyond an observatory way; in this line, he desires to actually learn from the bird.
8. “Thou of death must deem / Things more true and deep / Than mortals dream”
- These lines strengthen the idea of looking towards the sky-lark as a spirit. It takes on characteristics of an immortal being in this stanza, rather than a natural creature subject to death.
9. “If we were things born / Not to shed a tear, / I know not how thy joy we ever should come near.”
- The age-old question: could humans really experience joy without knowing sadness or pain?
10. “Thy skill to poet were, thou Scorner of the ground!”
- The speaker has hinted at this throughout the poem, but here he explicitly notes that his own song (poetry) will never be as elaborate or beautiful as the sky-lark’s song. There is a distinction between natural and man-made beauty.
11. “Such harmonious madness”
- Harmonious madness is a type of oxymoron; the idea of harmony is typically the antithesis of madness. Here, it serves to draw attention to the incredible nature of the sky-lark’s happy song—it is so beautiful and melodious that one would assume there must be some sort of disorder behind it, yet this is not the case.