A Written Report of Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind”

I. The Author

Percy Bysshe Shelley, the author of “Ode to the West Wind”, was a significant part of the English literary period we now refer to as the Romantic Age which ran from 1798 to 1832.

The most prominent features of the Romantic period were the reflected effects of the American and French Revolutions, as well as the growth of a new romantic stream in poetry, and the development of a strong sense of delight in the beauty of nature and the world around them.

This literary period is known to be a revolt against reason being used as a standard of creative expressions that was followed by the Classicists of the Puritan Period. Instead, it revolved around political reforms and movements, a rebellion against tyrannical authority, nature’s beauty and vivid imaginations that construct an atmosphere of romance and poetry.

Just as the Romantic Age, Percy Bysshe Shelley supported these reform movements and had a strong desire for change. He, too, can be considered a rebel, taking note of when he was expelled from Oxford. Shelley is somewhat an enthusiast of nature as well. This is based from the fact that a number of his works use nature as an instrument in spreading his messages.

Percy Bysshe Shelley, the son of a well-off family living in Sussex, England, was expelled from Oxford University College when he and his friend published “The Necessity of Atheism”, as earlier mentioned. Eloping with Harriet Westbrook, the daughter of a tavern owner, he gradually channeled his passionate pursuit of personal love and social justice in poetry.

“Ode to the West Wind”, written in 1819, near Florence, Italy and published a year later by Charles and James Ollier in London as a part of the Prometheus Unbound, A Lyrical Drama in Four Acts, With Other Poems Collection, is believed to be due to the loss of his son with Mary Shelley, William in 1819. The ensuing pain influenced Shelley which is why the poem allegorizes the role of the poet as the voice of change and revolution. At the time of composing this poem, Shelley was said to be influenced by an oncoming fierce storm from the west as well.

II. The Literary Piece

I

O Wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being, Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, Pestilence-stricken multitudes! O Thou, Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, Each like a corpse within its grave, until Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow (Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) With living hues and odours plain and hill: Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!

II

Thou on whose stream, ‘mid the steep sky’s commotion, Loose clouds like Earth’s decaying leaves are shed, Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean, Angels of rain and lightning! there are spread On the blue surface of thine airy surge, Like the bright hair uplifted from the head Of some fierce Maenad, ev’n from the dim verge Of the horizon to the zenith’s height – The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge Of the dying year, to which this closing night Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre, Vaulted with all thy congregated might Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst. O hear!

III

Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams The blue Mediterranean, where he lay, Lull’d by the coil of his chrystalline streams, Beside a pumice isle in Baiae’s bay, And saw in sleep old placers and towers Quivering within the wave’s intenser day, All overgrown with azure moss and flowers So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou For whose path the Atlantic’s level powers Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear The sapless foliage of the ocean, know Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear, And tremble and despoil themselves: O hear!

IV

If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear; If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee; A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share The impulse of thy strength, only less free Than Thou, O Uncontrollable! If even I were as in my boyhood, and could be The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven, As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed Scarce seem’d a vision; I would ne’er have striven As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need. Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed! A heavy weight of hours has chain’d and bow’d One too like thee – tameless, and swift, and proud.

V

Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is: What if my leaves are falling like its own! The tumult of thy might harmonies Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone, Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce, My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one! Drive my dead thoughts over the universe, Like wither’d leaves, to quicken a new birth; And, by the incantation of this verse, Scatter, as from an unextinguish’d hearth Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! Be through my lips to unawaken’d Earth The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

III. Analysis

Summary

The speaker of the poem appeals to the West Wind to infuse him with a new spirit and a new power to spread his ideas. In order to invoke the West Wind, he lists a series of things the wind has done that illustrates its power: driving away the autumn leaves, planting seeds in the earth, bringing thunderstorms and the cyclical “death” of the natural world, and stirring up the seas and oceans.

In the first stanza, the West Wind has been shown in action over the land. The West Wind is portrayed as a destroyer - making the withered leaves to fall, thus baring - and also as a preserver - carrying away the seeds and burying them underground, thus preserving life.

In the second stanza, West Wind is now shown in action over the sky. The poet describes the arrival of the West Wind as coming together of clouds and the approaching storm. It is depicted as the messenger of thunder and lightening. The poet also presents the west wind as the funeral song of the dying year and asks it to listen to him.

In the third stanza, the West Wind is shown in action over the water. The poet describes how the West Wind awakens the Mediterranean from its deep slumber. The poet doesn't fail to portray how even the mighty Atlantic splits up to allow passage to the West Wind.

Having described the effects of the West Wind on the land, air and water, the poet now turns to identity himself with the West Wind in the fourth stanza. He portrays how he too used to be like the wind's spirit as a boy but now, he is growing old. He begs the west wind to carry him along with itself, give him power and make him feel the youthful spirit he had as a boy.

In the last stanza, the poet asks the West Wind make him his lyre and blow through him a song that flows over the forest, even though, the poet himself is in the “autumn” or the old age of his life. The victorious tone of the wind's unity and peace shall blow from both the poet as well as the forest. This song will be filled with sweetness though that will contain sadness too. He asks the Wind to become one with him, spreading his old thoughts over the universe and among mankind. The poet believes that his thoughts will bring about a change among the people and start the golden age of mankind.

The last line displays how the trumpet makes a loud forecast of the seasons that follow one after the other, like winter signified by darkness, death, gloom; is followed by spring which signifies happiness, rebirth, hope & enlightenment. This line also signifies how one must never lose hope because when one door closes, another one opens up on its own.

Symbol Analysis

There are a number of symbols in this literary piece such as the West Wind which is meant to represent the powerful force that could deliver the author from his figurative inability to make him self heard or communicate his ideas to others. The dead leaves signify the remains of the previous season which the wind clears away. The “winged seeds” are his thoughts waiting to be blown and to bloom.

Figures of Speech

In this ode, the figures of speech used are meant to give art and aesthetic beauty to it. “Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing” is a simile used to show the nearness of autumn’s end. There are examples of anastrophe such as in this line, “Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead”.

Rhyme, Form, Meter

Each of the seven parts of “Ode to the West Wind” contains five stanzas – four three-line stanzas called tercets and a two-line couplet, all metered in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme in each part follows a pattern known as terza rima, the three-line rhyme scheme employed by Dante in his Divine Comedy. This piece follows this rhyme scheme: ABA BCB CDC DED EE.

IV. Speaker’s Point of View

The point of view used in this literary piece is first person. This can be determined in the fifth wherein the author used words such as “I”, thus pertaining to himself.

V. Present Day Significance

Despite the fact that this piece was published in 1820, the themes explored in this ode remain relevant to the modern world. Take revolt, one of the ode’s themes, as an example.

On August 16, 1819, agitators attracted thousands of people to a rally in St. Peter’s Field, Manchester, to urge parliamentary reform and to protest laws designed to inflate the cost of corn and wheat. Nervous public officials mismanaged the unarmed crowd and ended up killing 11 protesters and injuring more than 500 others. In reaction to this incident, Shelley wrote “The Masque of Anarchy” in the fall of 1819 to urge further nonviolent action against the government. This work was not published during his lifetime. However, “Ode to the West Wind”, also written in the fall of 1819, was published a year later.

Until today, there are still people who go against the political government and who want to call for a change, which by the way, is the second theme explored in this piece.

The third theme is nature. It is obvious that with the urbanization and the fast pace way of life of people, the appreciation for nature is starting to lessen because the youth of this generation are more interested in more modern things such as Facebook. Shelley used his appreciation and admiration for the wind as an instrument to spread his desires which is meant to remind everyone of how significant, beautiful and powerful nature is in life.