Ans: Shelley’s “To a Skylark” is about a miniscule bird whose melodious song s”ts off his poetic sensibilities. He calls the bird a “blithe Spirit” which sings in “profuse strains of unpremeditated art”. The bird is thus compared to an unearthly, heaven-connected event, not merely a physical bird. It is “Like a cloud of fire” and dwelling in “the golden lightning” the bird is free and unfettered, “an unbodied joy whose race is just begun”. The poet then indulges in a series of similes with a view to capturing the extraordinary nature of this singing bird. He brings in a series of similes striking comparisons between the skylark and a host of other things primarily focused on the motifs of light and heat. The bird has been compared to a ‘cloud of fire’ that melts the evening around itself. It has been variously compared to a poet, a maiden atop her palace, a glow-worm and a rose embowered in its own green leaves. But he soon realizes the futility of capturing the bird’s superiority through comparisons because none of the images is sufficient to convey the sheer, ecstatic joy that he feels when he listens to its song. Shelley idealizes the skylark and presents it as a unique creature. To him, 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. It is Shelley’s natural metaphor for pure poetic expression, the “harmonious madness” of pure inspiration
