Analysis Of The Poem
First of all, this poem is extremely complex. Each of the
five stanzas is a sonnet written un terza
rima, and an intricate interplay of alliteration, assonance and rhyme
contributes to the poem’s density. There are five 14-lined stanzas of
iambic pentameter, each of this stanzas contain four tercets of
interlocking rhyme and a closing couplet. The rhyme scheme is: ABA BCB
CDC DED EE. (2)
Interpretation Of The Poem
“Ode to the West Wind” can be divided into two parts: the
fist three stanzas are about the qualities of the wind. The first one
describes the wind’s effects on the land, the second stanza addresses
the wind’s influence on the sky and the third discusses its effects on
the sea. Whereas the first three stanzas give a relation between the
wind and the speaker, there is a turn in the fourth stanza,
the focus is now on the speaker.
Lines 1-14
In this first of the five sections of the poem, the
speaker begins to define the domains and the powers of the West Wind.
While stanza II addresses the wind's influence on the sky, and stanza
III discusses its effects on the sea, stanza I describes the wind's
effects on the land. The autumn breezes scatter dead leaves and seeds
on the forest soil, where
they eventually fertilize the earth and take root as new
growth. Both "Destroyer and Preserver" (line 14), the wind ensures the
cyclical regularity of the seasons. These themes
of regeneration and the interconnectedness of death and life, endings
and beginnings, runs throughout "Ode to the West Wind."The wind
is, of course, more than simply a current of air. In Greek and Latin —
languages with which Shelley was familiar —
the words for "wind," "inspiration," "soul," and "spirit" are all
related. Shelley's "West Wind" thus seems to symbolize an inspiring
spiritual power that moves everywhere, and affects everything.
Lines 2-3
These lines ostensibly suggest that, like a sorcerer
might frighten away spirits, the wind scatters leaves. But one might
also interpret "leaves dead" (line 2) as forgotten books and "ghosts"
(line 3) as writers of the past, has the sense of death, but also life
after death; in this sense, the winds of inspiration make way for new
talent and ideas by driving away the memories of the old. “Thou from
whose unseen presence the leaves dead / Are driven like ghosts from an
enchanter fleeing,” (lines 2 and 3) this suggests that, like a sorcerer
might frighten away spirits, the wind scatters leaves. And the
“enchanter” emphasizes the supernatural power of the west wind, the
reference to enchantment anticipates the reference to the
“Pestilence-stricken multitudes” hypnotised by the dance of Death.
Lines 4-5
The colors named here might simply indicate the different
shades of the leaves, but it is also possible to interpret the leaves
as symbols of humanity's dying masses. In this analysis, the colors
represent different cultures: Asian, African, Caucasian, and Native
American. “Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red” (line 4)It has been suggested that the colours represent
the various races of human beings. “hectic”
(line 4) suggests fevered. This idea is supported by the phrase "Each
like a corpse within its grave" (line 8) this could indicate that each
person takes part in the natural cycle of life and death.
Lines 6-7
Here, the wind is described as a chariot that carries
leaves and seeds to the cold earth. This comparison gives the
impression that the wind has some of the aspects of those who are
associated with chariots — gods and powerful rulers.
Line 8
The leaves are personified as people within their graves,
an image that harkens back to lines 4 and 5, where the leaves are
considered as diseased "multitudes" of people.
Lines 9-12
In Greek and Roman mythology, the spring west wind was
masculine, as was the autumnal wind. Here, the speaker refers to the
spring wind as feminine, perhaps to stress its role as nurturer and
life-giver. She is pictured as awakening Nature with her energetic
"clarion," which is a type of medieval trumpet. “azure”
(line 9) suggests a clear blue (of the cloudless sky) and “clarion”
(line 10) means trumpet. The clarion is always associated with the
Resurrection, but here it is associated with the image of the
shepherdess summoning her flocks.
Lines 13-14
At the conclusion of the first stanza, the speaker
identifies the wind as the powerful spirit of nature that incorporates
both destruction and continuing life. In fact, these two processes are
said to be related; without destruction, life cannot continue. At the
end of line 14 is the phrase "Oh hear!" that will be repeated at the
end of stanzas 2 and 3. This refrain emphasizes sound, which seems
appropriate given that wind, an invisible force, is the poem's central
subject.
Lines 15-28
In stanza II, the wind helps the clouds shed rain, as it
had helped the trees shed leaves in stanza I. Just as the dead foliage
nourishes new life in the forest soil, so does the rain contribute to
Nature's regenerative cycle.
Shelley spans his vision from the earthly scene to take
in the vaster commotion of the skies. This stanza is concerned with the
violence and terror of air storms, and it begins with a description,
which express the powerful espectacle of turbulences.
Lines 16-18
This passage has been heavily attacked by critics like F.
R. Leavis for its lack of concreteness and apparently disconnected
imagery; others have cited Shelley's knowledge of science, and the
possibility that these poetic phrasings might indeed be based on
natural fact. The loose clouds, for example, are probably cirrus
clouds, harbingers or "angels" as heralds (line 18) of rain, here he
refers to the clouds, because clouds are messengers of thunderstorms
and rain, and can help to build the atmosphere of the supernatural
energies. As the leaves of stanza I have been shed from boughs, these
clouds have been shaken from the heavier cloud masses, or "boughs of
Heaven and Ocean" (line 17). In Latin, "cirrus" means "curl" or "lock
of hair"; it is thus appropriate that these clouds resemble a Maenad's
"bright hair" (line 20) and are referred to as the "locks of the
approaching storm" (line 23).
Lines 20-23
When Shelley was in Florence, he saw a relief sculpture
of four maenads. “Maenad” are female
devotee of Dionysus, Greek god of wine, revelry and vegetation; when
possessed by the god’s power, the Maenads acted as if mad. Here, the
speaker compares the appearance of the cirrus clouds streaked across
the horizon with the maenads' blown tresses. This image seems
especially appropriate in that Bacchus/Dionysus is associated with the
natural world and the wind and clouds are primary elements of nature.
Lines 23-28
The word “dirge” (line 23) this word emphasize the
terrifying darkness of the storm scene, with its darkness and
associations with death (laments of the dead). In the last five lines,
there is an image that the darkened sky is compared with a cathedral’s
interior with the clouds forming the roof and with lots of images of
death and of the apocalyose: The wail of the wind is compared to a song
of grief, as if it were mourning the “dying year” (line 24) as the year
draws to a close, Nature prepares for the funeral and the coming night
is described as a “sepulcher” (line 25) a burial tomb that will be
marked by lightning and hail from a storm. This last day will end in
darkness, under storm clouds.
Lines 29-42
In stanza III, the West Wind wields its power over the
sea; but unlike the first two stanzas, this one is introduced by an
image of calm, peace, and sensuality. The Mediterranean Sea is pictured
as smooth and tranquil, sleeping alongside the old
Italian town of Baiae. Once a playground of Roman emperors, Baiae sunk
as a result of volcanic activity and is now the bed of a lush
underwater garden. But the wind can also "waken" (line 29) the sea and
disturb the summer tranquility of the waters by ushering in an autumn
storm.
Lines 32-33
In 1818, Shelley himself had sailed past the Bay of
Baiae; in a December letter to Thomas Love Peacock, he enthusiastically
describes the "ruins of its antique grandeur standing like rocks in the
transparent sea under our boat." “Beside a pumice isle...day” (line
32-34) In a letter to Peacock, Shelley described “passing the Bay of
Baiae and observing the ruins of its unique grandeur standing like
rocks in the transparent sea under our boat” In Roman times Baiae was
the resort of Emperors.“pumice” (line 32) is
a porous stone made from volcanic lave. Baiae’s
bay near Naples and the volcanic area including Vesuvius. “old palaces and towers” (line 33) says that in
time of the Roman Empire, emperors had built palaces in the bay, and
Baiae had become notorious for ostentatious luxury and immorality. A
change in the level of the sea sumerged the town but Shelley had
himself seen the buildings still standing beneath the waves. For hims
the palaces were symbols of aristocratic and corrupt power.
Lines 36-38
Beginning at the end of line 36, the speaker disrupts the
peace of the seascape and reminds the West Wind of its power to churn
up wild, whitecapped surf.
“Thou / For whose path the
Atlantic's level powers / Cleave themselves into chasms, while far
below” (lines 36 to 38) here the speaker disturbs the peace of the
seascape and reminds the West Wind with “Atlantic’s level powers” (line
37): Atlantic is where the west wind is originated.
Lines 39-42
The lush sea foliage, which is "sapless" because the
plants are underwater, is aware of the wind's ability to destroy;
remembering the havoc of cold weather storms, the vegetation is drained
of color, as a person turns pale with fear, or as plant life on Earth
fades in the fall. In a note to these lines, (line 42) Shelley wrote:
"The phenomenon alluded to at the conclusion of the third stanza is
well known to naturalists.The vegetation at the bottom of the sea, of
rivers, and of lakes, sympathizes with that of the land in the change
of seasons, and is consequently influenced by the winds which announce
it." The natural cycles of death and regeneration thus continue even
underwater, with the aid of the West Wind. “oozy
woods” (line 39) suggests that are slimy seaweeds growing upward from
the seabed.
Lines 43-56
After three stanzas of describing the West Wind's power,
which are all echoed in the first three lines of Stanza IV, the speaker
asks to be moved by this spirit. For the first time in "Ode to the West
Wind," the wind confronts humanity in the form of speaker of the poem.
No longer an idealistic young man, this speaker has
experienced sorrow, pain, and limitations. He stumbles, even as he asks
to be spiritually uplifted. At the same time, he can recall his younger
years when he was "tameless, and swift, and proud" like the wind. These
recollections help him to call on the wind for inspiration and new
life. In this manner, the poem suggests that humans, too, are part of
the never-ending natural cycle of death and rebirth.
Lines 47-52
In line 47, the speaker begins to explain that, as an
idealistic youth, he used to "race" the wind — and win, in his own
mind. But now, as an older man, he could never imagine challenging the
wind's power.
“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. / O! lift me as
a wave, a leaf, a cloud!” (lines 47 to 53)
The wind is not subject by the forces of self-regulation, he is asking
for a return to the energy he felt as a child. Here the speaker
identifies himself with the wind, although he knows that he cannot do
that.
Lines 53-54
In these well-known lines often mocked by Shelley's
detractors, the patterns of sea, earth, and sky are recalled as the
speaker asks to be raised from his sorrows by the inspirational West
Wind. He seems almost Christ-like in his suffering, the "thorns of
life" recalling the crown of thorns worn by Christ during the
crucifixion. “O! lift me as a wave, a leaf,
a cloud!” (line 53) the speaker knows that
it is something impossible to achieve, but the speaker doesn’t stop
praying for it.
Lines 55-56
The Christ-like image of the speaker continues here; his
life experiences have been heavy crosses for him to bear and have
weighed him down. And yet there still seem to be sparks of life and
hope within him. He can still recall when he possessed many of the
wind's powers and qualities. “One too like thee” (line 56) i.e.
the poet.
Shelley leaves the fourth
element, the fire, with this he breaks the
symmetry of the poem because the reader does not meet the fire until
the fifth stanza.
Lines 57-70
If Stanza IV is the explanation of why the West Wind is
being invoked, Stanza V is the prayer itself. The requests of the
speaker seem to gather speed much as the wind does; while he begins by
asking to be moved by the wind, he soon asks to become one with this
power. As a breeze might ignite a glowing coal, the speaker asks for
the wind to breathe new life into him and his poetic art. With his last
question, the speaker reminds his audience that change is on the
horizon, be it personal or natural, artistic or political.The lyre
referred to in line 57 might be the Eolian lyre or harp, its name
derived from Eolus, god of the winds. This lyre is a box with strings
stretched across an opening. When the wind moves through it, the eolian
harp emits musical sounds. Many Romantic writers, including Samuel
Taylor Coleridge in his poem "The Eolian Harp", used the instrument as
a symbol for the human imagination that is played upon by a greater
power. Here, the speaker asks to be the West Wind's lyre, its means of
music and communication.
Lines 58-62
Here, the speaker seems to accept his sorrows and
sufferings; he realizes that the wind's power may allow him to add
harmony to autumn's music. He is still sad, but he recognizes a sweetness in his pain: he is part of a natural
cycle, and will have a chance to begin again as both man and poet. The
speaker's growing strength is hinted at by the powerful exclamations in
lines 61 and 62. “What if my leaves are falling like its own? / The tumult of thy mighty
harmonies / Will take from both a deep autumnal tone, / Sweet though in
sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce, /My spirit!
Be thou me, impetuous one!” (lines 58 to
62), the speaker accepts his sufferings, he realizes that the wind’s
power may allow him to add harmony to autumn’s music. He realizes that
he is part of a natural cycle. In this stanza we can see many plural
forms, for instance “my leaves” (lines 58 and 64), “thy harmonies”
(line 59), “my lips” (line 68)… by the use of the plural, the poet is
able to show that there is some kind of peace in his words.
Lines 63-64
The wind blew leaves over the forest floor, fertilizing
the soil; now, the speaker asks the wind to scatter his timeworn ideas
and writings across the earth in hopes of inspiring new thoughts and
works. Note the word play on "leaves" (line 64) which can be found
either on trees or in books. “quicken” (line
64) which can be to give life to or speed up.
Lines 65-67
In "A Defence of Poetry," Shelley wrote that "the mind in
creation is as a fading coal, which some invisible influence, like an
inconstant wind, awakens to transitory brightness." In asking the wind
to fan — and hopefully arouse — the dying embers of his words, the
speaker seems to be echoing this idea.
Lines 68-69
These lines recall the angel's "clarion" of line 10,
awakening the earth from wintry slumber. The speaker here asks to
become the poet-prophet of the new season of renewal.
Lines 69-70
Shelley originally framed the last two lines as a
statement; phrased as a question, (line 70) the poem ends on a note of
expectancy rather than affirmation. The speaker has made his case and
plea to assist the wind in the declaration of a new age — but he has
not yet received an answer. Along with his audience, he breathlessly
awaits a "yes", delivered on the wings of the wind. This question
might appear rhetorical but indicates Shelley’s own uncertainty. The
speaker has made his case to assist the wind in the declaration of a
new age. This hope a social change, but it has not yet happen. (2)
http://www.newi.ac.uk/rdover/ode.htm
The Relation With His Poetic
Production And What Place The Poem Occupies
Often, for example in “Mont Blanc”, “Hymn to Intellectual
Beauty”, “Ode to the West Wind”, “To a Skylark”, inspiration is
associated witht eh divine and the language used by Shelley is derived
from religion. In fact, poetry for him seems to operate as a substitute
for a discredited religion; the snag is that this divinity touches
mankind, including the poet, in an inconstant way and it cannot be
summoned. His claim that the poet is the main channel for this
enlightnment and beneficence again emphasizes the central, prophetic
role of the poet in society. At the same time, this singular quality
sets the poet apart from his society, “a nightingale who sits in
darkness and sings to cheer his own solitude with sweet sounds”, and,
as happened with teh prophets in the Old Testament, he may be
disregarded or treated as a madman or outcast by the society.
Certainly, in the reactionary climate of his time, Shelley saw the true
poet as antagonistic and seditious to the orthodoxies of the
establishment.
This poem can be read in a psychological, a political and
metaphysical way. The ability to create and manipulate symbols is a manifestations of the faculty of the imagination
to which he gives such a significance. It is through the imagination,
according to Shelley, that we achieve our humanity and our liberation:
it allows us to envisage possiblities and aspire beyond the limitations
of our present situation.
Much of Shelley's writing reflects the events and
concerns of his life. His passionate belief in reform, the equality of
the sexes, and the powers of love and imagination are frequently
expressed in his poetry. Shelley's first mature work, Queen Mab, was
printed in 1813, but not distributed due to its inflammatory subject
matter. In it Shelley denounced established society and religion in
favor of free love and atheism. The visionary and sometimes
autobiographical poem Alastor; or, The Spirit of Solitude (1816)
describes the experiences of the Poet who, rejecting human sympathy and
domestic life, is pursued by the demon Solitude. An imaginative account
of a bloodless revolution led by a brother and sister, Laon and Cythna;
or, The Revolution of the Golden City: A Vision of the Nineteenth
Century (1818) deals with the positive power of love, the complexities
of good and evil, and ultimately, a spiritual victory through
martyrdom. The subsequently revised edition of the work as The Revolt
of Islam minimized its elements of incest and political revolution. The
verse drama Prometheus Unbound (1820) combines myth, political
allegory, psychology, and theology. In the work Shelley transformed the
Aeschylean myth of Prometheus, the fire-giver, into an allegory on the
origins of evil and the possibility of regenerating nature and humanity
through love. Shelley based The Cenci on the history of a
sixteenth-century Italian noble family. After the evil Count Cenci
rapes his daughter, Beatrice, she determines to murder him, seeing no
other means of escape from continued violation, and is executed for
parricide. Drawing on the formal tradition of elegiac verse, Adonais:
An Elegy on the Death of John Keats (1821) laments Keats's early death
and, while rejecting the Christian view of resurrection, describes his
return to the eternal beauty of the universe. Epipsychidion (1821)
chronicles Shelley's search for ideal beauty through his relationships
with women. Among his shorter poems, the “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”
and “Mont Blanc” focus on Shelley's belief
in an animating spirit, while “Ode to the West Wind” examines opposing
forces in nature. “Ode to Liberty,” “Sonnet: England in 1819,” and The
Masque of Anarchy feature several of his most enduring political
themes. Shelley's last work, The Triumph of Life, left unfinished at
his death, describes the relentless march of life that has destroyed
the aspirations of all but the sacred few who refused to compromise to
worldly pressures.
The Importance Of The Poet’s
Life
Shelley's unconventional life and uncompromising
idealism, combined with his strong skeptical voice, made him a
notorious and much denigrated figure during his life. He was also
admired by Karl Marx, Henry Stephens Salt, and Bertrand Russell. He was
married to novelist Mary Shelley.
Throughout his adult life, Shelley detested organized
religion. He saw the gods of religion as created by societies, as
reflections of the worst aspect of humankind.
For Shelley as an individual, the principal means by
which the self is transcended is love for another person, and, in his
case, a woman.
Although he died young, he was in no way an inexperienced
or ignorant man. He had seen the ravages of war, he followed with
interest the public events of his time, he had seen poverty and
brutality and prejuice, and he had experienced love and happiness. As
he grew older, the world came to appear more tragically paradoxical.
And finally, Shelley felt that some hope has to be
rescued from the direst circumstances; otherwise, there is no
possibility of change and progress.
Society And Historical Moment
Written in 1819: Shelley moved about between several
parts of Italy. Finished Julian and Maddalo;
Prometheus Unbound (in two stages). Wrote
The Cenci; The mask of Anarchy; Peter Bell the Third; Ode to the west
Wind. Began A Philosofical View of Reform.
Published Rosalind and Helen. Son William
died, son Percy Florence born.
Peterloo masacre at Manchester. The “Six Acts”
(repressive measures) passed by Parliament to stop farmers who had been
protesting against the Corn Laws.
The Six Acts put limits on public meetings and on
journalistic reporting and gave police greater authority to search
people and seize their property. The first paddle wheel steamship, the
Savannah, crossed the Atlantic ocean in 39
days. The ship carried no passengers because people feared that the
pressurized steam engine might explode.
Byron: Don Juan (first two Cantos).
Published in 1820: Settled in north-west of Italy, mainly
in Pisa. Wrote The Sensitive Plant; Ode to Liberty, The cloud, To
a Skylark, Letter to Maria, Gisborne, The Witch of Atlas, Ode to
Naples, Swell foot the Tyrant. Pulished The
Cenci; Prometheus Unbound. Friendship with Emilia
Viviani.
Death of George III and accession of Prince Regent as
George IV. Democratic uprisings in Spain and
Italy. Cato Street Conspiracy to kill the Cabinet in London
discovered. Keats: Lamia and other Poems. John Clare: Poems Descriptive
of Rural Life and Scenery. (3)
Conclusion
This poem of Shelley have a prophecy for all of us. He tried to show us that the
rebirth can be fulfilled through spiritual growing. The terms he uses
to describe the creative process are of a vehicle or instrument for a
superior force. The last few lines of the poem underline this tohout
and bring the topic to a regeneration and decline to the heart in a
very explicit way. More than anything else, Shelley wanted his
message of reform and revolution spread, and the wind becomes the trope
for spreading the word of change.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Hutchinson, Thomas. The Complete
Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelly. London: Oxford University
Press.
- Wu, Duncan. Romanticism, An
anthology. Second Edition. Blackwell
Publishing.(1998)
- Angela Leighton: Shelley and the sublime. An interpretation of the major poems. Cambidge University Press (1984).
- Donald H. Reiman and Neil Fraistat: Shelley’s poetry
and prose. Norton and Company (2001).
- Alasdair D. F. Macrae: Percy Bysshe Shelley, selected
poetry and prose. Routledge (1991).
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