Mirroring stanza 13, Shelley repeats his request for the skylark to impart its joy to humans. This time, however, Shelley limits his request for edification to himself only. Here, Shelley draws a direct link between nature and his vocation as a poet by establishing an affinity between the singing skylark and himself – a poet who aims to move and inspire humanity with his works. Inspired by nature, Shelley shall become a prophet who speaks a transcendent language, uttering a“ harmonious madness” that shall enthrall mankind( Shelley also attributes a similar inspirational and prophetic quality to nature in his masterful poem Ode to the West Wind). Stanza 21’ s last line is a masterful example of antithesis, the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in parallel syntactical structure. Here, Shelley contrasts the future with the present(“ then” vs“ now”), humanity with the individual(“ world” vs“ I”). Shelley imagines that in the future, he shall be a prophet to mankind who enthralls the world with his writings and speeches. The grand scale of this vision is then compressed into the humble tranquility of the poem’ s present: Shelley is rapt as he listens to the skylark. Interestingly, by ending the poem with an image of himself listening to the skylark in the present, Shelley belies the fact that he wrote the poem after listening to the skylark, not during the event.
© Skylark Press Studio 2016 14/ 19