Quotes from work
To a Skylark

To a Skylark

"To a Skylark" is a poem completed by Percy Bysshe Shelley in late June 1820 and published accompanying his lyrical drama Prometheus Unbound by Charles and James Collier in London.It was inspired by an evening walk in the country near Livorno, Italy, with his wife Mary Shelley, and describes the appearance and song of a skylark they come upon. Mary Shelley described the event that inspired Shelley to write "To a Skylark": "In the Spring we spent a week or two near Leghorn ... It was on a beautiful summer evening while wandering among the lanes whose myrtle hedges were the bowers of the fire-flies, that we heard the carolling of the skylark."


Percy Bysshe Shelley photo
Percy Bysshe Shelley photo

“And singing still dost soar and soaring ever singest.”

St. 2
To a Skylark (1821)
Context: Higher still and higher
From the earth thou springest,
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar and soaring ever singest.

Percy Bysshe Shelley photo
Percy Bysshe Shelley photo

“Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight.”

St. 4
To a Skylark (1821)

Percy Bysshe Shelley photo

“Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun.”

St. 3
To a Skylark (1821)

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