Question

Shelley’s “To a Skylark” is an ode, but the term ode does not show up in the title or the text itself. How exactly do you know that it is an ode based on what Shelley does and says in the poem? Why do you think this poetic form was one that worked so well for the Romantics?

In your response, make sure you explain what makes this poem an ode and why the Romantics used this type of poem so much. Make sure you also include textual evidence from the poem to support your ideas. Respond in 4-6 complete sentences (6-8 sentences).

Answer 1

An ode is a kind of lyric poetry-expressing intuitive and instinctive feelings-and it usually directed to someone of something or it represents the ode's meditating on that person or thing. In "To a Skylark" the author addresses to a a skylark saying that is is not a bird but a blithe spirit. The bird is like "a poet hidden/in the light of thought".The skylark’s song surpasses “all that ever was, / Joyous and clear and fresh,”.