To the skylark- William Wordsworth: Summary and guide notes.

Summary:-

The poem of William Wordsworth, "To the Skylark" is a beautiful poem describing the activities of the Skylark in the sky. He puts a series of questions in front of the lark. He firstly asks the question whether he hates the ground below as the poet always finds the bird flying up in the sky. Or does his mind and eye still engrossed in the thought of home? The poet goes on to praise the bird for the sweet melody it produces, though he cannot drop in to his home freely at will.
        The skylark has been called a daring bird for the height at which it flies. He has a strong bonding with the home. The song he sings spread throughout the plain and fills it with the divine rapture of the timeless melody it produces.
        The speaker requests the skylark' to leave the dark forest to the nightingale as he has a glorious light to himself. The bird is wise because he still remain connected to the roots, the nest and remains true to both the sky and earth.

Q1) Briefly analyze the poem 'To the skylark' by William Wordsworth.

Answer:-  The speaker of the poem in the first stanza asks a question to the skylark' that whether he hates the ground while he begins by calling it an "ethereal minstrel", a divine singer and "pilgrim of the sky", a traveler of the sky. He says on earth 'care' thrives. ''Care'' here can be taken as something positive but going by the tone seems to be more of a suffering and unhappiness. Then the poet further goes onto ask the bird, does still his heart and eye in his home on the ''dewy ground'', even though his wings are keen to fly. He asks this because he always sees the bird high up in the sky singing and wandering. Although he has a nest which he cannot drop into at will but that music, the divine melody is constantly composed by his quivering wings and in spite of it the poet praises the song. The meaning of the last sentence could be found in the behaviour of the Skylark and this forms the reason for the poet's calling the bird ''he''. Skylark is a song bird and perching bird as well. But unlike the other perching bird the skylark, as it has s in its name, can sing only when it's in flight, flying high up in the sky. So, he ''cannot enter his home freely'' means that if the Skylark desires to sing then he cannot be at home. 
   Now the poet ventures on to describe the flight of the ''Ethereal minstrel''. It's flight to the "last point of vision and beyond" means that it cannot be seen and the poet calls it "daring" for the height it mounts to. "Twixt thee and thine a never-failing bond" means that the bond between the Skylark and his home is very strong and unbreakable and this love for his home makes the song equally pleasant when on ground as well as in sky. Although he flies too high on air, it never forgets the home and so the poet calls here "might'st" and "proud privilege" because he sings independent of the leafy spring, independent of season of earth and he sings timeless.
  In the last stanza, Wordsworth asks the Skylark to leave the nightingale to the shady wood. Nightingale, which is a songbird, sing in forest unlike the Skylark which sing in the sky and the poet says that the Skylark posses the "privacy of glorious light" which is a little contradictory as how could the open sky provide privacy to the lark. But this not about whether someone sees it or not but because of the height where it sings .
The speaker then says that the lark fills the world with "flood of harmony". The bird has a great instinct as it is a bird that soars but never roams by which the poet means that however high the lark flies he would return to his home and this makes him wise, depicting that he is true to his roots,his lovely nest.
   Last the Skylark is "true to the kindred point of Heaven and Home" meaning that the Skylark is closely related to both heaven and home , i.e. sky and the ground.

Q2) What is the central idea of the poem "To the skylark'' ?

Answer:- The poem by Wordsworth, "To the skylark'' is a beautiful description of the skylark's behaviour and a passionate praisal of the creation of Mother Nature and Almighty. The "flood of harmony" that the skylark showers onto the ground below from his "privacy of glorious light", gives it an effect as if God is showering his blessing on the earth. The skylark's bond with the home on the dewy ground and it's tendency to soar high up in the sky is what the poem seems about when first looked at but one can always take away something from poetry. Here in this poem readers can take away the wisdom of staying true to their roots , their home even when that reach high up in life . With the arrival of success, if we forget the origin or the roots to which we belong then we'll never be able to carry on and reach up to the higher levels. What we have to contribute, it must go two ways- one towards the elevated position to raise it to further heights while other to the home. Only then we can be truly wise. This is the central idea to always maintain a strong, never-failing bond with home even when we are far away. Incorporating these values in life as Wordsworth expects us to, helps us achieve a better position in life. Another idea which lies here is that of giving an ode to a skylark for its certain unique qualities.