“Up with me! Up with me into the
clouds!
For thy song, Lark, is
strong;
Up with me, up with me into the clouds!
Singing, singing,
With clouds the sky about thee ringing,
Lift me, guide me till I
find
That spot which seem so to thy mind.”
Wordsworth, “To a Sky-lark”
I have always admired Wordsworth’s attempt to achieve the lightness of a Keats poem in this ode. He tries desperately to rise weightless, and fails boldly, like an elephant thinking it is an eagle.
(Parenthetically, I think skylarks have so
much poetic press just because of their name. In nature, they are hardly the most ethereal or
lofty of birds.)
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