Skylark

The skylark symbolizes the brilliant flash of nature, which reveals itself to humanity in impenetrable and esoteric ways. The skylark is graceful and exuberant, gliding without trepidation, longing, or anxiety from the vantage of the poet. The skylark symbolizes the fanciful and miraculous natures of flight. This represents a transcendence that is inaccessible to human beings. Throughout the poem the prowess and poise of the skylark is compared with a number of different lifeforms and natural forces. Shelley lauds the skylark as superior to human beings.

Birdsong

While not explicitly described in the poem, the song of the skylark and of birds in general is implicitly invoked at various points in the verse. “All the earth and air / With thy voice is loud” (26-27), Shelley writes in the sixth stanza. The twelfth stanza is the clearest example of this. Shelley writes, “Sound of vernal showers / On...