Ode - a “rhymed lyric”- in the form of an address - dignified in subject, feeling and style - elaborately structured poem - musicality (repetition,alliteration; rhetorical device)

- divided into five stanzas- each is sonnet, made up of 14 lines - all stanzas have same rhyme scheme :

aba bcb cdc ded ee

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) - highly imaginative- intellectually active -- strong presence in his works The Cenci (poetic drama) Ode to Liberty Adonis To a Skylark Ozymandias

The poem Introduction-

“Ode to the West Wind”

• conceives a world as seen in a forest at the edge of wild, boisterous waters

• the stormy West wind was collecting the vapors of the Autumnal rains

• The poet imagines an ideal dialogue with the Natural elements: The wind (personification)

Summary

• activities of the WW on the land are described.

• The WW drives the dead leaves of various colours –yellow, black, pale and red-

• scatters the winged seeds far and wide

• buries leaves and seeds under the earth - like deadbodies in their graves, until spring

• Then they sprout and bear flowers to fill the valleywith sweet fragrance

• The WW depicted as

destroyer (of dead leaves)

preserver (of seeds buried under ground)

1. west wind active in the air

2. carries loose clouds as the dead leaves

3. clouds floating with the WW are messengers of rain and lightning (symbolism –

quench,regeneration,activity,turbulence from whence new life comes forth)

4. the approaching storm – civil awareness

5. The stanza also describes WW as the harbinger of the end - song of the dying year, a new era preannounced

6. stanza illustrates the abstract qualities of Shelley’s poetry.

• WW in action on water

• awakens the blue Mediterranean from a longtorpor/sleep – inaction as in a dream - of ruined palaces and towers

(now submerged in water), once they stood majestically on its shores.

• On those ruins – marine vegetation, moss and plants with flowers

now growing

• The WW blows over the Atlantic in such afury(rebelling spirit)

• rising waves give way to the mighty “Wind”so the vegetation on the bottom of the oceantrembles with fear and is uprooted

After describing the effects of WW on the earth, sky and sea,

1. the poet turns to himself and identifies his own personality(role) with that of the West Wind

2. recalling his swift, energetic, and uncontrollable childhood (innocence to perceive more profoundly

the state of matters as they truly are)

3. the poet feels like the WW and could accompany it on its wandering over the sky

4. But adversities of life have crushed him (defeat of intent)

5. He is bleeding on the thorns of life (Christ figure of salvation/sacrifice for the new order/beliefs)

6. Poet needs inspiration from WW for support7. Powerless and helpless, he desperately appeals to

WW to uplift him (elevation to a new perceptive consciousness which he will share with the world)

• The poet appeals to WW to make him his acolyte- a lyre and blow/sing through him like it blowson the forest

• Like the forest, he sees the autumn of our era

• He entreats WW to become one with him and toscatter his thoughts over the world to be theharbinger of new period in human history

• The present miserable condition must give placeto a happier and brighter new order

• The last line of the poem is a clear expression ofShelley's idealism - belief in the perfectibility of human nature.

SYMBOLISMThe poem has several symbolic layers of meaning-

• The west wind is symbolic of destruction (of the old order) and preservation (of new one).Thus a symbol of change/renewal.

• dead leaves and seeds – all material things are subject to change – as is the hope for a new world order

• The west wind also embodies the poet himself.

• West wind a symbol of the powerful influence and forces that will announce the new order of mankind.

STANZA - I

Similes and Metaphors

• Metaphors:(1) Breath of autumn’s being(2) the winged seeds(3) destroyer and preserver

• Similes:(1) Like ghost from enchanter(2) each like corpse

STANZA - II• Metaphors:(1) Angels of rains and lightning(2) some fierce Maenad(3) dome of a vast sepulture

• Similes:(1) clouds like earth’s decaying leaves (2) like the bright hair uplifted

STANZA - III• Metaphors:(1) the coil of his crystalline streams(2) Atlantic level powers

• Similes:(1) Like ghost from enchanter(2) each like corpse

STANZA - IV• Metaphors:(1) thorns of life(2) The comrade of thy wandering

STANZA - V• Metaphors:(1) the trumpet of prophecy(2) winter(3) spring

• Similes:(1) as from an unextinguished hearth ashes and sparks.