Analysis of "To a Skylark"

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Percy Bysshe Shelley, who wrote To a Skylark, believed that nature was more beautiful without human interference. This belief derived from being an anarchist. An anarchist is someone who believes man should not have power and that the government is the epitome of our destruction. This point of view comes across in the power when he uses nature and its God-given splendors as inspiration.
Although nature is grandiose, it is perceived as untamable, which is one of the elements of Romanticism. The skylark is a motif of this because it personifies nature’s freedom and man’s inability to control it. “Like a rose embowered, it its own green leaves…”(Shelley lines 51-52). The word “own” stands out in this passage because it shows how nature creates its own destiny when it is not adulterated by humans. The skylark is a specimen that is both untamable and agrestial.
Shelley viewed the skylark as nature’s “blithe spirit”(line 1). The manner in which the bird flies and sings is angelic. Its effect on nature’s beauty is worth more than any human, based on the perspective of Percy Shelley. “All the earth and air with thy voice is loud, as when night brave, from one only cloud the moon rains of her beams, and Heaven is overflowed”(lines 26-30). The skylark’s voice is considered an art of nature. It is even compared to Heaven, which is an eliminating compliment due to its virtuous qualities.
Nothing can compare or change the beauty of nature around us; the skylark cannot be changed either. “Better than all measures of delightful sound, better than all treasures that in books are found, thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground!”(lines 96-100) In this section of the poem, Shelley compared the skylark’s singing to a treasu...

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...f nature and what it is like to not be controlled by the grip of society.
Thus, To a Skylark incorporates elements of romanticism, figures of speech, and conveys a theme of freedom in nature. He tried to get people to understand his view that the world and nature’s beauty are better than anything one could imagine. “The world should listen then, as I am listening now”(line 105). In the last line of the poem, Shelley says that he finally started listening to the skylark and its call for humans to see the beauty in nature. Although this issue has continued to nowadays, we can expound Shelley’s idea that we, as humans, impact nature. The skylark’s wondrous wings, its blissful song, and cry for people to care for nature all culminate to a single word: freedom. Freedom is living limitless, without being controlled, with endless opportunities to see nature as it is.

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