To a Skylark by Percy Bysshe Shelley
A speaker addresses a skylark soaring and singing beyond sight, comparing its music to a hidden poet, a maiden, a glow-worm, and a rose. Contrasting the bird's seemingly untroubled joy with human longing and sorrow, the speaker asks to learn half its gladness so the world might listen.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Ode, Lyric Poetry, Nature Poetry · 901 words
First lines
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.
Genres
- Ode — The speaker addresses and celebrates the skylark, praises its song above human music, and asks it to teach its gladness.
- Lyric Poetry — Rhymed five-line stanzas express the speaker's response to birdsong and desire to sing with comparable joy.
- Nature Poetry — The skylark's flight and song anchor comparisons with clouds, moonlight, a glow-worm, a rose, and spring showers.
Tags
birdsong · flight · joy · human sorrow · poetic inspiration
What this Textopian page supports
To a Skylark is listed on Textopian as a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Ode, Lyric Poetry, Nature Poetry
- Length: 901 words
- Structure: 1 section, 21 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for To a Skylark by Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph