GOOD AFTERNOON

ODE TO THE WEST WINDBY

P.B. SHELLY

P.B ShellyBorn : 1792, Horshom in SussexEducation : Eton and University College

OxfordSpouse : Harriet Westbrook – 1811 Mary Shelley – 1814 Speciality : English Romantic poet, finest

lyric, epic, poets in the English language.

Dead : 8 July 1822, Italy

His Works Spirit of solitude – 1816 The Cenci – 1819 Witches of Atlas – 1820 Defence of poetry – 1821

Canto – 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  Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill (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, oh hear!

Explanation – I West wind – action over the land. Description – How the wind blow over the

leaves of various colors to make them fall. West wind portrayed as Destroyer and

Preserver. Reason : Makes leaves to fall - Destroyer

and Carrying the seeds and Burying – Preserver .

Poet mention spring, upon arrival the valley will filled with vibrant colors and pleasant smells.

Canto – 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, even 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: oh hear!  

Explanation – II West wind – action over the sky. Description – the arrival of the west wind

as coming together of clouds and approaching storms.

Wind is depicted as the messenger of thunder and lightening.

Presents – west wind as the funeral song of the dying year and asks it to listen to him.

Canto – III Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams The blue Mediterranean, where he lay, Lull'd by the coil of his crystalline streams,  Beside a pumice isle in Baiae's bay, And saw in sleep old palaces 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: oh hear!

Explanation – III West wind – action over the water. Description – the west wind awakens the

Mediterranean from its deep slumber. Picture – the mosses growing upon the

broken palaces and the movement of that plant because of the blow of the west wind passes over it.

He also portray the mighty Atlantic splits up to allow passage to the west wind.

Canto – 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.

Explanation – IV Now the poet turns to identify himself

with the west wind. He portray about the wind’s spirit in his

childhood age. He is growing old. He beg – to carry along itself and give the

power to feel the spirit of youthful in his boyhood days.

He appeals west wind to become one with him.

Canto – V Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is: 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!  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?

Explanation – V He ask to the west wind to make him as

his lyre. He urges the west wind to become the

lips of his outdated thoughts and spread them among the people to create sparks and ashes wherever they fall.

He believes that his thoughts will bring a change among the people and start the golden age of mankind.

LITERARY DEVICEODE TO THE WEST WIND

BYP.B. SHELLY

SIMILIE

A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid.

Examples Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter

fleeing. Each like a corpse within its grave sweet buds like flocks to feed in air Loose clouds like Earth's decaying leaves Like the bright hair uplifted One too like thee as from an unextinguished hearth even as the forest is Like withered leaves

METAPHOR

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them.

Examples thou breath of Autumn's being tangled boughs of Heaven and

Ocean Angels of rain and lightning The locks of the approaching storm closing night

Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre The trumpet of a prophecy

PERSONIFICATION

The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something non-human, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.

Examples O wild West Wind" thou breath of Autumn's being, Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves

dead Who chariotest Destroyer and Preserver Thou dirge

Of the dying year Thou who didst waken from his summer

dreams The blue Mediterranean, where he lay My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one

SYMBOL

A mark or character used as a conventional representation of an object, function, or process.

Examples West wind– death & rebirth West wind– power Of  nature Dead leaves— Destruction Winged seeds— rejuvenation Dying year— End of the season Falling leaves & Dead thoughts— His

old poems West wind--an inspiring spiritual

power

ALLITERATION

The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Examples O wild West Wind" the leaves dead Are driven Thou dirge

Of the dying year in Baiae's bay, grow grey with fear, when to outstrip thy skiey speed Scarce seemed a vision

THANK YOUBY

ANTO H14ENG03