To the Skylark

“To the Skylark” is a lyrical ballad written by William Wordsworth in 1825. It was his second lyric featuring the imagery of skylarks. Wordsworth had produced an earlier poem entitled “To a Skylark” in 1805 (published in 1815). The lyric is a joyful meditation upon the flight and song of the skylark, with the poem’s speaker meditating upon the ways in which the bird represents a harmonious union between freedom and domesticity. While written later than many of Wordsworth’s most famous lyric poems, the poem shares a close kinship with his earlier work in terms of its themes, its simple lyrical style, and its celebration of the beauty of the natural world and English countryside.

Poet Biography

William Wordsworth is one of the giants of English literature, and his influence has been profound both on his literary contemporaries and posthumously. Born on April 7th, 1770 in England’s Lake District, Wordsworth became enchanted with nature early in his life—a fascination that would later define him as a poet, and which would help to shape the trajectory of his life and personality.

Wordsworth experienced tragedy at a young age, having lost both his parents by his early teens. He received an excellent education, first at a grammar school in Hawkshead village, and later at the University of Cambridge, although he gradually lost interest in distinguishing himself academically. As a young man, Wordsworth was enthusiastic about the French Revolution. He stopped in France in 1790 during his walking tour of Europe to witness the country’s radical upheaval for himself. In 1791 he met and fell in love with a Frenchwoman, who later gave birth to his daughter. They never married, as Wordsworth returned to England after hostilities broke out between England and France and a reunion became less and less feasible. While in France, Wordsworth became heavily influenced by the radical ideas of the French revolutionaries, which in turn shaped his own political and poetic outlook.

After returning to England, Wordsworth lived with his sister, Dorothy, with whom he had always been close and who would remain his devoted companion for the rest of their lives. His return to England led to his meeting and befriending of another young poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), who helped kindle Wordsworth’s confidence in his poetic talents. In 1798 they jointly published a collection called Lyrical Ballads, which would become a landmark text in the history of English Romanticism. In his preface to the 1802 edition of Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth provided a now-famous explanation and defense of his and Coleridge’s poetic forms and themes, such as the privileging of emotion and individual experience, the beauties of nature, and the worth and dignity of the ordinary man/woman.

In 1807 Wordsworth published another poetry collection simply titled Poems, in Two Volumes, which included some of his most famous lyrics, such as “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” and “The Solitary Reaper.” During these years Wordsworth lived with his sister in a place known as Dove Cottage in the Lake District, writing his major works and enjoying long walks in the natural landscapes that inspired him. He married Mary Hutchinson in 1802, and together they had several children. The death of one of his daughters, Catherine, would later inspire one of his most famous sonnets, “Surprised by Joy,” which details his deep grief over her loss.

Although a radical in his youth, Wordsworth became far more conservative with age and gradually adopted more reactionary beliefs. As he grew older, he wrote less. Although it is generally accepted by English scholars that Wordsworth’s poetic gifts faded with time, he became more respected socially and critically as he aged, only beginning to enjoy a reasonably decent literary reputation in the 1830’s. While his younger and more radical work would prove to be enormously influential on other poets—especially the “second generation” Romantics such as Keats, Byron, and Shelley—contemporary critics seemed to prefer the mellower, more conservative Wordsworth of later years. Wordsworth was crowned Poet Laureate of England in 1843, and remained in the post until he died on April 23, 1850 at the age of 80.

Poem Text

Wordsworth, William. “To the Skylark.” 1825. Bartleby.

Summary

“To the Skylark” is one of Wordsworth’s lyric ballads. It opens with the poem’s speaker directly addressing the bird of the poem’s title, calling the bird a “minstrel” and a “pilgrim” (Line 1). The speaker praises the beauty of the bird’s song, and imagines the bird as capable of experiencing emotions and motivations akin to those of humans. In describing the bird’s flight and nesting habits, the speaker depicts the bird as representing both the allure of unfettered freedom and the comforts of home, as it can both soar through the sky and return to its familiar nest at will. The poem ends with the speaker crediting the bird as an example of the wisdom of those who can wander while still maintaining a sense of belonging to one place.