To a Skylark

poem by Shelley

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Article History

To a Skylark, lyric poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, published in 1820 with Prometheus Unbound. Consisting of 21 five-line stanzas, “To a Skylark” is considered a work of metric virtuosity in its ability to convey the swift movement of the bird who swoops high above the earth, beyond mortal experience. The skylark is a symbol of the joyous spirit of the divine; it cannot be understood by ordinary, empirical methods. The poet, longing to be a skylark, muses that the bird has never experienced the disappointments and disillusionments of human life, including the diminishment of passion.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.