Ans. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s celebrated poem “To a Skylark” is about a skylark, a miniscule bird that is famous for its song. In the poem, Shelley idealizes the bird and presents it as a unique creature. To Shelley, the skylark is an immortal being symbolizing illimitable beauty. Its music is perfect embodiment of beauty and joy and hence an endless source of inspiration for the poet. At the very outset of the poem, Shelley calls the bird a “blithe Spirit”.
The word “blithe” is an Old English word literally meaning ‘care free, happy and lighthearted’ and ‘Spirit’ means “incorporeal supernatural being”. Shelley calls the bird a ‘Spirit’ because it is rarely visible and only its melodious song is heard by the people. The sweet song of the skylark reveals to Shelley that unlike ordinary mortals it is absolutely carefree. The skylark symbolizes the free soul. It, according to Shelley’s vision, is ignorant of the sufferings and cares of this world. By saluting the skylark as ‘blithe Spirit’ Shelley is trying to represent the bird as an abstract quality of pure joy.
