Lecture on Shelley’s Ode to a Skylark

Introduction to the Poem

• Title: Ode to a Skylark
• Poet: Percy Bysshe Shelley
• Type of Poem: Ode
  • Elaborate stanzaic structure
  • Celebrates or glorifies something or someone
  • Intense emotion, elevated style

Context and Background

• Period: Later Romantic
• Other Romantic Poets:
  • Later: Keats and Byron
  • Early: Wordsworth and Coleridge
• Year Written: 1820
• Inspiration:
  • Song of a skylark in Italy
  • Shelley and Mary Shelley heard this in Livorno

Shelley’s Idealism

• Shelley's Character:
  • Idealist, faced opposition and criticism
  • Matthew Arnold’s comment: "a beautiful and ineffectual angel"
• End of Shelley’s Life: Drowned untimely

Structure of the Poem

• Stanzas: 21 stanzas
• Lines per Stanza: 5 lines
• Rhyme Scheme: ABA, BD

Analysis of Stanzas

Stanza 1

• Begins with glorifying the bird as a "blithe spirit"
• Bird is a spirit due to its invisibility
• Song is "unpremeditated art"

Stanza 2

• Bird compared to a "cloud of fire"
• Describes the bird's song as it soars high
• Blue sky imagery

Stanza 3

• Evening imagery: "pale purple even"
• Bird compared to a "star of heaven"
• Invisible yet audible

Stanza 4

• Bird compared to the moon
• Invisible yet present, similar to moon during day

Stanza 5

• Earth and air reverberate with the bird’s song
• Moon and cloud imagery

Stanza 6

• Curiosity about the bird’s nature
• Describes bird’s song as a "rain of melody"

Stanza 7

• Bird compared to a hidden poet
• Poetry as an outflow of natural thought

Stanza 8

• Bird compared to a high-born maiden
• Maiden’s secret music overflows from her room

Stanza 9

• Bird compared to a glowworm
• Glow is visible despite being hidden

Stanza 10

• Bird compared to a rose
• Scent overpowering warm winds

Stanza 11

• Music surpasses the sound of summer showers

Conclusion

• Shelley uses rich similes and metaphors to describe the skylark's song
• The skylark remains unseen but is always heard, symbolizing the purity and spontaneity of art