When Shakespeare's sad and woeful narrator, after recounting all his sorrows, thinks of his beloved, his mood changes to happiness. He likens this change of mood (this "state") to the beautiful song of the lark.

The lark is a bird associated with morning and daybreak. Shakespeare compares its song to "hymns at heaven’s gate." In other words, the poem's speaker feels a holy joy fill his heart that reminds him of the lark's lovely song as he remembers the one he loves.

The lark is a symbol of a new day and new joy in this poem. It symbolizes the speaker coming out of the "night" of darkness and despair into the "morning light" of remembering that his happiness over his relationship with his beloved outweighs any sorrow he feels. He states in the final couplet that

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Comment on the image of the lark in Shakespeare's Sonnet 29.

Despite being only mentioned once in the entire poem, the lark is by far the poem's most potent and vivid image. The lark is presented to readers in a simile in line eleven.

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;

The image is a great image because the speaker has spent the first eight lines of the poem in an incredibly depressed mood. He is completely discontent with his life, his financial situation, his looks, etc. Then things start to change once the speaker thinks about a special someone. Once he thinks about this person, his mood is changed in a major way. His spirits are lifted in a way that might resemble the way that a lark takes rapid flight in the morning. It's a free spirited and energetic bird movement, and it shows readers just how drastically the speaker's mood has changed.

Comment on the image of the lark in Shakespeare's Sonnet 29.

Despite being only mentioned once in the entire poem, the lark is by far the poem's most potent and vivid image. The lark is presented to readers in a simile in line eleven.

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;

The image is a great image because the speaker has spent the first eight lines of the poem in an incredibly depressed mood. He is completely discontent with his life, his financial situation, his looks, etc. Then things start to change once the speaker thinks about a special someone. Once he thinks about this person, his mood is changed in a major way. His spirits are lifted in a way that might resemble the way that a lark takes rapid flight in the morning. It's a free-spirited and energetic movement, and it shows readers just how drastically the speaker's mood has changed.