In Thomas De Quincey's essay "Confessions of an English Opium Eater," the speaker discusses the problems associated with drugs. He suggests that his "dreams were accompanied by deep-seated anxiety and gloomy melancholy, such as are wholly incommunicable by words" (971). However, sadness and gloom do not belong exclusively to addicts as Shelley points out in his poem "To a Skylark." The everyday man also faces the same problem as De Quincey's opium eater as human beings have a tendency to focus on life's sadness. In his poem, Shelley uses the joyous skylark as a contrast to man in order to express the idea that human beings live a seeming unfulfilled life as any pleasure found in life also comes with unhappiness.
The speaker describes the skylark as a happy creature completely pure in its joy and unhampered by sorrow or misery. As the speaker watches the bird, he notes that it seems to soar through the sky "like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun" (ll. 15). The skylark seems to have an unending amount of "joy" as the bird's emotion has "just begun." Furthermore, it's happiness appears of extreme magnitude as it exists "unbodied" which suggests both the sense that nothing can restrain the lark's delight as well as the idea that mortals cannot feel such "joy." In addition, when the skylark flies out of sight the speaker can still "hear thy shrill delight" (ll. 20). Even though the speaker cannot physically see the joyful bird, he still can sense its "shrill delight." Because the lark possesses such intense happiness, the speaker does not need to see it to feel its pure, and thus powerful, emotions. Additionally, the speaker uses a series of metaphors, comparing the skylark with a poet, maiden, glow-...
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...rk appears to possess.
Thus, while the skylark experiences a pure happiness, untainted by any feelings of sadness or other negativity, the knowledge of mortality does not allow for human beings to have the same knowledge of joy. Happiness for mortals, invariably comes with melancholy or may manifest itself as a bittersweet form of joy. Just as De Quincey's opium eater suffers from a melancholy state, so does the speaker feel burdened by the fact that he will never feel pure joy and therefore envies the skylark. Human beings can never escape the knowledge that they live mortal lives and will one day face death, and therefore never feel full contentment as they always look for more ways to enrich or enhance their lives. Mortal beings can never experience true happiness, always discontent with their current standing and looking for what they do not have.
By utilizing vivid details and intense imagery, she allows the readers to feel her emotions and visualize the abstract imagery that she put forth when describing the birds. Throughout her passage, Dillard incorporates very adept literary techniques to create a trance-like feeling, such as when recounting the flight patterns of the birds with, “The flight extended like a fluttering banner, an unfurled oriflamme, in either direction as far as I could see.” As she continues, she immerses the readers with the actions of the birds, in such a manner that makes it seem as if she was a bird herself, flying majestically with the flock. She stated that “Each individual bird bobbed and knitted up and down in the flight at apparent random, for no known reason except that that’s how starlings fly, yet all remained perfectly spaced.” By stating that, “The flocks each tapered at either end from a round middle, like an eye”, Dillard is able to provide additional explicit imagery and details that give the readers emotional insight rather than mere facts of what happened. Furthermore, as she describes the sounds she hears with, “Over my head, I hear a sound of beaten air like a million shook rugs, a muffled whuff. Into the woods they sifted without shifting a twig, right through the crowns of trees, intricate and rushing, like wind”, she provides so much intricate detail in a way that the
“Discontented with your present condition for reasons which presage for your unfortunate posterity even greater discontent, you will wish perhaps you could go backwards in time – and this feeling must utter the eulogy of your first ancestors, the indictment of your contemporaries, and the terror of those who have the misfortune to live after you” (P.79). In Rousseau’s A Discourse on Inequality, he not only argues the inequalities between men, but also the inequality of happiness between the pre-civilized and post-civilized human. Rousseau believes that as savages, humanity lives a simple and oblivious lifestyle, unaware of their own existence with “self preservation being [their] only concern” (P.86). Rousseau defines this monotonous existence as happiness, yet with a constant, unchanging lifestyle, comfort and indifference appear to be surpassing characterizations. Modern living, which Rousseau views as an oppressive pit of misery, contrasts savagery with its diversity and thus possibility of happiness. Though Rousseau successfully depicts the adequate lifestyle of the “savage people”, he fails to convince readers of a pre-civilized greater happiness.
There is a very commonly held belief that life is difficult. More to the point, life consists of a lot of suffering. It is common to hear comments such as, life is a constant struggle, life is an uphill battle, a never-ending fight. These comments raise many questions about the nature, or even the very existence of absolute happiness. Is it possible for a human being to ever achieve complete happiness? Answering this question completely is impossible because humans are very complex and each one of us has a different definition of happiness.
People experience emotions daily and is constantly changing due to their situation, even if the person may seem like a robot they still have the feeling of contempt which is still a basis of happiness. Before happiness became a modern way of living for us, we were told to show less emotion, more contempt if anything but throughout the years we began to change our focus. We in the past have had our focus on the economy and progression as a nation, however as explained in the article “The happiness effect” 246-47 By Alice Ghent, our economy might have been raising but our global sense of general well being has not. The effects of happiness vastly alters our lives in more ways than one. It can come in all shapes and sizes, it
In Dickinson’s Hope is a thing with feathers she describes the bird to be singing, or chirping, constantly but ever so sweetly. The bird is a metaphor for hope but how the bird is described
“The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living” is a collaboration by His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., who identify many possible components that could lead to a happy and satisfying life. Their approach combines and integrates the thoughts of East and West; Buddhist principles and practices on one hand and Western science and psychology on the other. Many everyday difficulties are highlighted in this book, and Dalai Lama and Dr. Cutler attempts to help the readers find appropriate solutions in order to find a balanced and lasting happiness. Dalai Lama’s understanding of the factors that ultimately lead to happiness is based on a lifetime of methodically observing his own mind, exploring the nature of the human condition, and investigating these things within a framework first established by The
Early Modern Europe experienced several tragedies in which the citizens sensed that there must be a better way to live where happiness was more familiar. Alterations for what truly defines absolute happiness in a society during these times of catastrophe were expressed through utopian literature. Thomas More’s Utopia, Tomasso Campanella’s City of the Sun, and Caron De Beaumarchais’ The Marriage of Figaro together attempt to answer what truly creates a happy civilization during different periods of crisis within Europe. Each of these utopian literature’s suggest a different origin that happiness derives from, soundly signifying that change in Europe would be beneficial. The revolutionary ideas of change in Europe proposed by Utopia, City of the Sun, and The Marriage of Figaro through their individual utopias, demonstrated their beliefs that such change of social classes, the expression of pleasures morally, and a more unified government would lead to a happier, less corrupt society.
Shelley viewed the skylark as nature’s “blithe spirit”(line 1). The manner in which the bird flies and sings is angelic. Its effect on nature’s beauty is worth more than any human, based on the perspective of Percy Shelley. “All the earth and air with thy voice is loud, as when night brave, from one only cloud the moon rains of her beams, and Heaven is overflowed”(lines 26-30). The skylark’s voice is considered an art of nature. It is even compared to Heaven, which is an eliminating compliment due to its virtuous qualities.
Of particular interest is the use of birds by two romantic poets. John Keats once listened to a bird song and gifted us with his Ode to a Nightingale. The sky-lark inspires Percy Shelley and through his vision of the bird we are privy to its beauty. Birds have always held a significance in human lives. While some animals were companions, others for labor or a source a food, our flying companions held an other-worldly place. They achieved heights unattainable to humans -- and sung while they did that. These two poets use a bird as their muse and also symbolically for the human experience.
“Our sweetest songs are those that tell of the saddest thought,” (line 90 pg 893) encompasses Shelley’s views on how humanity cannot find happiness without the experience of pain. Therefore he contrasts the joy of the Skylark as love without ever having been forced to undertake the suffering, which accompanies it. Shelley yearns to learn how to find happiness the way the Skylark does, and he beseeches it to “teach us,” as in humanity the way it does. However as depicted through the first section of the poem, this Skylark is quite different than a normal bird.
Percy Shelley’s To a Sky-Lark and John Keats ' Ode to a Nightingale are two poems that have applied nature, specifically birds, to convey their messages. In Shelly’s poem, the speaker refers to the skylark as ‘blithe Spirit’. The capital S in the word spirit demands extra attention to the word spirit. The speaker also states that the skylark in reality is not a bird, but something that comes ‘from heaven, or near it.’ This reference indicates that the speaker thinks of the skylark as a godly creature. This also reflects the reality that although God and angels are unseen, people still believe in them. The skylark in the poem is unseen although the speaker is aware that it is there because he can hear its ‘shrill delight.’ The message conveyed in this use of nature is that it is critical to believe in unseen phenomena like the existence of God (Enright & de Chickera, 1963).
...s that one must accept the possibility of one's own death before he can truly appreciate what he has on earth, as the sobering awareness that one day, it will all be out of reach, prompts the urge to appreciate and value what one can have only for a limited period of time, and to use every moment of that time doing something that one will not regret when the bird sings its last note.
As pains and sufferings are the part and parcel of man's life,therefore,to forget his personal sorrows. He indulges in the world of natural beauty. As in the "ode to Nightingale", Nightingale and he becomes one, his soul sings in the bird which is the symbol of joy. The song of the bird transfers him into the world of imagination and he forgets his peronal sorrows in the happy world of the nightingale:
One who seeks their own happiness through life will fail to do much good for others. A preoccupation with achieving this "ideal" state of happiness will certainly lead to an inconsiderate view of the world. Anton Chekhov's story Gooseberries portrays a man who has come to this realization. He has seen the consequences of pure unadulterated happiness, and describes his subsequent emotions as "melancholy". Why should an educated man, a veterinary surgeon none the less, have such issues with human happiness? This paper seeks to understand the question and relate it to the motives of the author, Anton Chekhov.
In "Ode on Melancholy," Keats welcomes the truth before him. He understands that bliss and suffering are one. To be able to completely have joy, one must also experience sorrow or melancholy to its fullest. “Ode on Melancholy” can be distinguished from "Ode to a Nightingale" and "Ode on a Grecian Urn," where the poet is a dreamer that is trying to escape his own reality into the sorrow less, eternal world of the nightingale and the urn. “Keats valued intensity of emotion, intensity of thought, and intensity of experience; fulfillment comes from living and thinking passionately. Keats does not shrink from the implication that feeling intensely means that grief or depression may well cause anguish and torment” (website junks).