W Wordsworth | To the Skylark | An Analytical Study
W Wordsworth | To the Skylark | An Analytical Studyh’s To the Skylark Analysis, Summary
W Wordsworth | To the Skylark | An Analytical Study
‘To the Skylark’ is a romantic poem written by William Wordsworth (1770-1850). The main theme of the poem is beauty, joy, and mystery in nature.
The poet W. Wordsworth in this poem takes the skylark as the subject matter of his poetry and rounding it he lets his store of imagination go out and addresses the skylark as ‘Ethereal Minstrel’ by that the poet wants to mean that the skylark is not an earthly being but a heavenly bird. Again he says metaphorically that the bird skylark is the “pilgrim of the sky” which means that the sky is a holy place where the bird pilgrimages with a religious heart. After saying so, the poet asks the bird whether it despises the Earth which is full of sorrows and sufferance and whether she remembers the earth where its nest lies behind while it sours up to heaven. The bird can, though go high up to the sky, drop down into its nest at will and then its music comes to an end.
In the second stanza, the poet says that this bird flies up to the last vision of human eyes and even it can fly beyond the mountain. While it sours up high it sings a song that is full of love and joy. Her young one lies in its nest. The poet says that there is a never-failing bond between it and its young ones. Its song is so joyous that the song thrills the bosom of human being that lives on this earth. The skylark has the special privilege that it can sing the song all season which the other birds cannot do.
In the third stanza, the poet compares the skylark with the nightingale and says that the nightingale is a bird that lives in shady wood but the skylark can live in light also. It sings so a melodious song that with its melody it inundates the world. The poet says that it sings the song from its instinct but in its instinct, there is more divine inspiration. At last, the poet comes to the conclusion that the bird is a type of wise man. As a wise man does not forget his duty to God, though life on this mortal earth is full of sorrow and sufferance, so is the case with the bird. Though it lives on earth it does not forget its devotion to God for which it sours up to heaven.
The poem is a romantic one as the poet sees and feels joy, beauty and mystery not in human society but in Nature and in natural objects. The poem is mystic as the poet looks at the bird with a mystic outlook and sees the spirit of God in it.
The poem is full of natural imagery. The skylark’s soaring up so high, its special privilege to sing in all seasons and its comparison with the nightingale—all the imageries are very sensitive which the poet visualizes in this poetry.
In it, there are two fine novel metaphors as—‘Ethereal Minstrel’, and ‘pilgrim of the sky’.
In conclusion, it is to say that this is a fine romantic poem with a didactic lesson written in a simple style. 0 0 0
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N. B. This article entitled ‘W Wordsworth | To the Skylark | An Analytical Study’ originally belongs to the book ‘World Poetry Criticism‘ by Menonim Menonimus.
Books of Literary Criticism by M. Menonimus:
- World Short Story Criticism
- World Poetry Criticism
- World Drama Criticism
- World Novel Criticism
- World Essay Criticism
- Indian English Poetry Criticism
- Indian English Poets and Poetry Chief Features
- Emily Dickinson’s Poetry-A Thematic Study
- Walt Whitman’s Poetry-A Thematic Study
- Critical Essays on English Poetry
- Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel: Return of the Spirit-An Analytical Study
- Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel: ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Arayaf’-An Analytical Study
- Analytical Studies of Some Arabic Short Stories
- A Brief History of Arabic Literature: Pre-Islamic Period …
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