To a Skylark

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1820

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Related Poems

“Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1820)

“Ode to the West Wind” was published in 1820, along with “To a Skylark” and Prometheus Unbound. The speaker of “Ode to the West Wind” addresses the wind in a comparable manner as the speaker of “To a Skylark” addresses the skylark; both use the apostrophe. Furthermore, the wind and skylark are both referred to as a “Spirit.” However, “Ode to the West Wind” is about the poet spreading ideas of change and revolution, while “To a Skylark” focuses on the song of the poet as inspired by nature and imagination.

“To the Skylark" by William Wordsworth (1827)

One of the first generation of British Romantic poets, Wordsworth also wrote a poem addressing the skylark. Wordsworth’s poem is much shorter than Shelley’s version: only 12 lines, as opposed to Shelley’s 105 lines. Both discuss the “music” of the bird, which it pours out in a “flood.” While Shelley’s skylark ascends high above the earth, Wordsworth questions if it “despise[s] the earth” (Line 2) because he considers the nest of the skylark a “Home” (Line 12) to which it is compelled to return.

“To the Moon” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1824)

“To the Moon” is another Shelley poem that uses the apostrophe. This poem is much shorter than “To a Skylark,” containing only eight lines. It is a fragment posthumously published by Shelley’s wife Mary. “To the Moon” can be read as a companion to “To a Skylark,” as Shelley refers to the moon as “chosen sister of the Spirit” (Line 7) in the former, and refers to the skylark as a spirit in the latter. The moon also appears in “To a Skylark”—its beams are compared to the skylark’s song.

Further Literary Resources

“A Defense of Poetry” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1840)

This is Shelley’s posthumously published essay on poetics that can help the reader understand the artistic goals of “To a Skylark,” as well as Shelley’s general philosophy on the craft of writing. In “A Defense of Poetry,” Shelley contrasts reason and imagination, favoring the latter. According to the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, Shelley “emphasizes the unconscious power of imagination over the conscious will in poetic composition” (p. 671). The essay, like Shelley’s poetry, is filled with images and analogies.

Prometheus Unbound by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1820)

This excerpt of Shelley’s play published by the Poetry Foundation gives the reader a sense of the main text that was accompanied by “To a Skylark” in its publication shortly before Shelley’s death. It was written as a closet drama: a play meant to be imagined rather than performed. The subject of the lyric play is the release of Greek mythological figure Prometheus from captivity.

Listen to Poem

Vincent Price reads “To a Skylark” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Actor and orator Vincent Price reads Shelley’s poem “To a Skylark.” The YouTube video is taken from a 2014 Heritage Records album called “The Poetry of Shelley and Coleridge.”