happy as a lark vs merry

happy as a lark

adj
  • Very happy (sometimes with the extra connotations of being carefree or unaware of grimmer realities). 

merry

adj
  • Causing laughter, mirth, gladness, or delight. 

  • Festive and full of fun and laughter. 

  • Brisk 

  • drunk; tipsy 

  • Jolly and full of high spirits; happy. 

noun
  • An English wild cherry. 

How often have the words happy as a lark and merry occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )