English 10
Shelley, “To a Skylark” Study Questions
“To a Skylark” is an ode. An ode may be defined as a poem of moderate length with an
elevated style, a serious tone, and an elaborate stanza pattern. An ode usually praises
something or someone. Many of the Romantic poets’ odes are called “Romantic
meditative odes”—“meditative” indicating that the ode provides an opportunity for the
poet to think more deeply about his subject matter. Not surprisingly, the Romantic poets
wrote several odes about elements of nature (birds, seasons, etc.).
1. The most common metrical foot in Shelley’s “To a Skylark” is a trochee. Why
might this pattern, which places the stress at the first syllable of the foot, be
appropriate for the ode? Another way of thinking about this question: Does the
rhythmic effect of the trochees match the sentiment Shelley communicates in the
poem? How?
2. What place does Shelley associate the bird with in the first 2 stanzas?
3. What emotion does the skylark embody for Shelley? (see stanza 3)
4. Shelley uses synesthesia* in the comparisons in stanzas 6 & 7. What two senses
(of the 5 senses) is he comparing?
5. In stanza 7 Shelley asks a question that he tries to answer in the next 5 stanzas.
What is the question?
6. Note the 4 comparisons Shelley makes in the middle of the poem, stanzas 8, 9, 10,
11 (hint: they are all similes). What are they and how are the first two different
from the second two? (This difference establishes a pattern of comparison
throughout the poem.)
7. In stanza 12 Shelley has arranged the sentence pattern backwards. If you begin the
sentence with the last clause, “thy music doth surpass,” try to make sense of this
stanza. Put it in your own words.
8. What is Shelley basically asking the bird about in stanza 15?
9. What lesson (or lessons) does Shelley hope to learn from the bird? (note
especially the last stanza, 21)
10. General things to note:
a. The imagery: how would you characterize it?
b. The types of sentences—what type is most prevalent?
c. The figurative language, especially similes and metaphors (there’s
practically one in every stanza)
*
The description of one of the five sense in terms of another. For example, describing a sound as blue.