To the Skylark

In the poem’s first stanza, the speaker sets up the idea of freedom and domesticity as contrasts. In their first rhetorical question, they ask the skylark if it loathes the earth, even as it flies. This dichotomy is both literal and metaphorical. Skylarks do fly, and they are known for building nests upon the ground instead of in trees like some other bird species. On a metaphorical level, the skylark’s flight represents freedom and independence, while its nest on the ground represents domesticity, stability, and comfort: “Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will / Those quivering wings composed, that music still!” (Lines 5-6). The speaker presents the sky/earth and freedom/domesticity duality as a one-or-the-other preference: they suggest that the skylark must favor the sky or the earth, or freedom or domesticity.

The speaker then shifts their line of reasoning. In the second stanza, they note how even when at “the last point of vision” (Line 7) in the sky, the skylark’s “strain” (Line 8), or song, is “love-prompted” (Line 8) and forms “a never-failing bond” (Line 9) between the skylark and its loved ones on the earth. This means that even when in flight, the skylark’s song represents connection to the earth and the more familiar comforts it can find there, as the song is inspired by love and thrills all those below who hear it: “Thrills not the less the bosom of the plain” (Line 10).

In the third stanza, the speaker concludes this thought, presenting the freedom/domesticity contrast raised in the first stanza as a false choice. The skylark doesn’t choose between earth and sky; instead, the bird unites both geographical realms and ways of being within itself. Its song is full of “harmony” (Line 16); it unites “the kindred points of Heaven and Home!” (Line 18) because it knows how to “soar, but never roam” (Line 17). The skylark can enjoy the exhilaration and liberty that flight gives it, while still feeling connected to the earth and without straying or “roam[ing]” too far from its own nest. In referring to “Heaven and Home” as “kindred points,” the speaker suggests that those who know how to live like the skylark understand that the sky and the earth complement one another; because they are “kindred” instead of oppositional, it is best to enjoy one’s freedom while remaining mindful of one’s roots.