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Ethereal minstrel! Pilgrim of the sky!
Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound?
Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye
Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground?
Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will,
Those quivering wings composed, that music still!
Leave to the nightingale her shady wood;
A privacy of glorious light is thine,
Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood
Of harmony, with instinct more divine;
Type of the wise, who soar but never roam,
True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home!
(William Wordsworth )
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was born in the Cumberland Highlands of northern England. The beauty of this country had a great influence on him and his poetry. In 1799 he retired to the beautiful Lake Country, not far from his boyhood home, and there lived a simple life, depending almost entirely on Nature for companionship and inspiration. Wordsworth was devoted to the cause of liberty, and he believed firmly in the beauty and charm of the humble life. The simplicity and sincerity of his nature are revealed in his poems on birds and flowers. Although most of Wordsworth’s poems are about every day,prosaic events and subjects, they often contain profound truths and an intense emotional strain.
aspire : fly upward, hope to reac
composed : at rest
instinct : feeling
Answer the following questions.
1) How did Wordsworth feel toward the skylark?
2) In what two ways was he thinking of the bird?
3) What questions does the poet ask the skylark?
4) Where is the skylark’s nest made?
5) How is the skylark hidden?
6) What feeling led Wordsworth to write this poem?