Celebrating The Skylark!- Shelley's Ode,'To A Skylark'.., poems, classical music and songs inspired by the Bird
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| Spotted! : A Skylark, dust-bathing! @Titchwell Marsh, Norfolk coast, 4-June-2011 |
Skylark :
Throughout its range ( Europe, Asia and North Africa) it is renowned for the song of the male, while in 'display flight', hovering, ascending vertically.. from heights of ~50 to 100 m, when the singing bird may appear as just a dot in the sky from the ground..
Songs lasting 2-3 minutes, and longer, later in the mating season..
Apparently, female Skylarks prefer males that sing and hover for longer periods (and so more likely to have good overall fitness! )
For a bird with such a lofty name, it might look rather dull and brown on the ground.
You might pass it for a dull-sparrow-next-door until you hear it sing from the sky! ;)
It spends most of the time on the ground- including nesting
and foraging for seeds and insects.
Its recent and dramatic population declines locally make it a Red List species within Britain.
(In Britain, only 10% remain, of the numbers that were present 30 years ago, due to changes in farming practices and pesticides. English farmers are now encouraged and even paid, through wildlife-friendly farming subsidies, to maintain and create biodiversity for improving the habitats, including for Skylarks. See this for details of how agricultural practices are affecting these birds in particular, and some conservation measures are explained here. But with the economic turmoil and budget squeezes, it remains to be seen whether the governments will keep supporting wildlife friendly farming.)
Percy Shelley's Ode, 'To a Skylark' :
Percy Shelley's Ode, 'To a Skylark' :
The famous poet Percy Bysshe Shelley waxed lyrical about their song,
in his poem "To a Skylark" (1820). It was inspired by an evening walk in the country near Livorno, Italy, with his wife Mary Shelley and describes the appearance and song of a skylark they come upon.
Here is a reading of the poem, and below it are some excerpted stanzas and comments from Shelley's Ode, "To a Skylark".
Some stanzas mention about the behaviour mentioned above, while in 'display-flight'.
For the complete poem, click here.
Some stanzas mention about the behaviour mentioned above, while in 'display-flight'.
For the complete poem, click here.
[ It starts:
Hail to thee, blithe spirit!
Bird thou never wert-
That from heaven or near it
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
Higher still and higher
From the earth thou springest,
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
Bird thou never wert-
That from heaven or near it
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
Higher still and higher
From the earth thou springest,
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
..
The pale purple even
Melts around thy flight;
Like a star of heaven,
In the broad daylight
Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight-
Melts around thy flight;
Like a star of heaven,
In the broad daylight
Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight-
..
All the earth and air
With thy voice is loud,
As when night is bare,
From one lonely cloud
The moon rains out her beams, and heaven is overflow'd.
What thou art we know not;
What is most like thee?
From rainbow clouds there flow not
Drops so bright to see,
As from thy presence showers a rain of melody:-
..Like a poet hiddenWith thy voice is loud,
As when night is bare,
From one lonely cloud
The moon rains out her beams, and heaven is overflow'd.
What thou art we know not;
What is most like thee?
From rainbow clouds there flow not
Drops so bright to see,
As from thy presence showers a rain of melody:-
In the light of thought,
Singing hymns unbidden,
Till the world is wrought
To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not:
Like a high-born maiden
In a palace tower,
Soothing her love-laden
Soul in secret hour
With music sweet as love, which overflows her bower:
..
Sound of vernal showers
On the twinkling grass,
Rain-awaken'd flowers-
All that ever was
Joyous and clear and fresh-thy music doth surpass.
Teach us, sprite or bird,
What sweet thoughts are thine:
I have never heard
Praise of love or wine
That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.
..
What objects are the fountains
Of thy happy strain?
What fields, or waves, or mountains?
What shapes of sky or plain?
What love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain?
..
We look before and after,
And pine for what is not:
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.
Yet, if we could scorn
Hate and pride and fear,
If we were things born
Not to shed a tear,
I know not how thy joy we ever should come near.
Better than all measures
Of delightful sound,
Better than all treasures
That in books are found,
Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground!
Teach me half the gladness
That thy brain must know;
Such harmonious madness
From my lips would flow,
The world should listen then, as I am listening now.
--x--
That's quite ethereal expressions of his experiencing the bird song!.. Even 'rainbow clouds' do not rain as brightly as the shower of melody that pours from the skylark..
its music is better than all music and all poetry..
He asks the bird to teach him "half the gladness / That thy brain must know",
for then he would overflow with "harmonious madness",
and his song would be so beautiful that the world would listen to him,
even as he is now listening to the skylark!!. ]
George Meredith's poem, The Lark Ascending, and the popular classical music composition by the same name, inspired by the poem:
George Meredith (1828–1909) , English novelist and poet, studied law and became a solicitor, but abandoned that profession for journalism and poetry in 1849, shortly after marrying Mary Ellen Nicolls, a widowed daughter of Thomas Love Peacock [what a name!! ;) Interestingly, Mr Peacock, English satirist and author, "was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley and they influenced each other's work."]
Meredith wrote novels and poetry, often inspired by nature. His writing was characterized by a fascination with imagery and indirect references. He had a keen understanding of comedy and his Essay on Comedy (1877) is still quoted in most discussions of the history of comic theory.
George Meredith's 122-line poem about the Skylark, The Lark Ascending inspired the English composer Ralph Vaughan William
to compose classical music by the same name.. "The work was written in two versions: violin and piano, written in 1914; and violin and orchestra, written in 1920. The orchestral version is the one that is almost always heard now. It is one of the most popular pieces in the Classical repertoire among British listeners.".
Here, is a performance of 'The Lark Ascending' at Royal Albert Hall in London, by Dutch solo violinist Janine Jansen and the BBC Concert Orchestra -This was part of the annual 'BBC Proms' festival, promoted as 'The World's Greatest Classical Music Festival': This is an exquisitely beautiful piece.. very light, delicate,breezy, uplifting..
[Total 15 minutes, available in 2 parts on youtube. Can find 2nd part from this link ]
..and.. a Malayalam Song featuring Skylark:
Closer home, a Malayalam song featuring Skylark (Vaanampaadi) ,
by Jnanpeeth award winning poet and lyricist ONV Kurup
Music Director: Raveendran
Raaga: Mohanam (Those in the know, verify this. I don't know about the classical bit;)
Singer: Yesudas
[from the 1986 movie, Deshaadanakkili karayaarilla, directed by Padmarajan]:
Info about the Bird:
George Meredith's poem, The Lark Ascending, and the popular classical music composition by the same name, inspired by the poem:
George Meredith (1828–1909) , English novelist and poet, studied law and became a solicitor, but abandoned that profession for journalism and poetry in 1849, shortly after marrying Mary Ellen Nicolls, a widowed daughter of Thomas Love Peacock [what a name!! ;) Interestingly, Mr Peacock, English satirist and author, "was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley and they influenced each other's work."]
Meredith wrote novels and poetry, often inspired by nature. His writing was characterized by a fascination with imagery and indirect references. He had a keen understanding of comedy and his Essay on Comedy (1877) is still quoted in most discussions of the history of comic theory.
George Meredith's 122-line poem about the Skylark, The Lark Ascending inspired the English composer Ralph Vaughan William
to compose classical music by the same name.. "The work was written in two versions: violin and piano, written in 1914; and violin and orchestra, written in 1920. The orchestral version is the one that is almost always heard now. It is one of the most popular pieces in the Classical repertoire among British listeners.".
Here, is a performance of 'The Lark Ascending' at Royal Albert Hall in London, by Dutch solo violinist Janine Jansen and the BBC Concert Orchestra -This was part of the annual 'BBC Proms' festival, promoted as 'The World's Greatest Classical Music Festival': This is an exquisitely beautiful piece.. very light, delicate,breezy, uplifting..
[Total 15 minutes, available in 2 parts on youtube. Can find 2nd part from this link ]
..and.. a Malayalam Song featuring Skylark:
Closer home, a Malayalam song featuring Skylark (Vaanampaadi) ,
by Jnanpeeth award winning poet and lyricist ONV Kurup
Music Director: Raveendran
Raaga: Mohanam (Those in the know, verify this. I don't know about the classical bit;)
Singer: Yesudas
[from the 1986 movie, Deshaadanakkili karayaarilla, directed by Padmarajan]:
Info about the Bird:
posted by Sujith at 10:47 PM
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