The writing background of "To a Skylark" was written one evening in the summer of 1820 when Shelley heard the chirping of a skylark while walking in the countryside of Laihang.

"To the Skylark" is a lyric poem with 21 stanzas in total. It starts with praise and ends with exclamation, with clear layers and rigorous structure. It can be roughly divided into six or seven short paragraphs. There is no place in the whole poem where the skylark is not mentioned, and at the same time, there is no place where Shelley's self is not mentioned. "To the Skylark" is one of Shelley's masterpieces of lyric poetry. It was written after hearing the chirping of a skylark while walking in the countryside of Laihang. The poem uses romantic techniques to enthusiastically praise the skylark and express the yearning for joy, light, freedom and ideals.

The image of the skylark in the poem is not purely a skylark in nature, but the poet's ideal self-image or the poet's ideal image carrier. The poet and the skylark are similar in many aspects: they both pursue light, pursue the sublime, and yearn for the ideal world. The only difference is that the poet painfully felt the gap between ideal and reality, but this gap does not exist for Skylark. It can be seen from the entire tone of the poem that although Shelley feels the pain of distant ideals, he still transcends sentimentality with a rising positive sentiment.

A brief introduction to the author of "To a Skylark"

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was a British romantic poet, political writer, and reformer. Considered one of Britain's most outstanding lyric poets. Born into a British aristocratic family, he was influenced by Rousseau, Godwin and others in his early years. Strongly promote atheism and oppose autocracy.

While studying at Oxford University, he was expelled from the school for publishing a short story "The Necessity of Atheism". Later, he joined Ireland's national independence struggle and published "A Letter to the Irish People", which was eventually issued at a low price (5 pence), aiming to arouse the inner awakening of the poor people in Ireland. This move was persecuted by the British government, and he was later forced to leave the UK and settle in Italy. During his stay in Europe, he interacted with Byron, Keats and others. In 1822, the poet and his friends went to sea and were killed in a storm. It was just before my 30th birthday.