Ode to the west wind

Ode to the west wind was an ode written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. He was an English Romantic poet who rebelled against English politics and conservative values. Shelley drew no essential distinction between poetry and politics, and his work reflected the radical ideas and revolutionary optimism of the era. Shelley's joy, his magnanimity, his faith in humanity, and his optimism are unique among the Romantics; his expression of those feelings makes him one of the early nineteenth century's most significant writers in English.

Throughout all the life of Shelly, he wrote a number of allegorical poems. They are Alastor, The Revolt of Islam, The Mask of Anarchy. He also wrote some lyrical dramas among which are Prometheus Unbound, Hlllas and The Cenci, a tragedy in verse form. His lyrics are the best known among the English poets. The most well known is the Ode To The West Wind.

In the turbulent year of 1819, Shelly wrote many political lyrics. Ode To The West Wind is the most representative of Shelley's feelings and thoughts at that time. It was in the autumn of that year. He met with the storm. It was said by Shelly that the day was warm originally, but

suddenly the west wind became turbulent and the sky was covered with dark clouds. At dusk, the rainstorm and hail were all over the place. So he got the inspiration from this theme and wrote this popular poem. May be due to this, his poem can be so real and grand. He related natural phenomena with the politics and his whole life. He wanted to encourage those struggles for freedom. At the same time, he expressed the hope that its words will inspire and influence those who read or hear it.He wanted his message of reform and revolution spread, and the wind became the trope for spreading the word of change through the poet-prophet figure.

The poem was a lyric poem that addressed the west wind as a powerful force and asked it to scatter the poet's words throughout the world.In Ode to the West Wind, Shelley used the wind to represent driving change and a carrier for his ideas.

It consists of five cantos. And it can be divided into two parts: the first three cantos and the last two cantos. The former part is an objective description. The dynamic force of the west wind is manifested in its power on the land. In the air, and in the season in a different season. It is the destroyer and the preserver. It will destroy the old world and heard in a new one. The latter canto of the poem is much more fluid than the

former one. He begins to realize himself again. Shelly wishes that he was a leaf, a cloud, a wave, so that he could feel the power of the west wind; but he is aware of his age and his sufferings in life which have bent himself down. Finally, he appeals to the wind, the wind of aspiration and change, to reinvigorate him and to give force and persuasiveness to his poetry.

In the first canto, the poem begins with "O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's." It impresses us with a passionate tone, and then describes the appearance of the west wind quickly. After that, it tells the effect of west wind to the land: "from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing", "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".

In the second canto, Shelly changes his perspective. He begins to describe the changes of sky in the wind: the sky is noisy because of you; "loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed"; "Angles of rain and lightning: there are spread on the blue surface of thine aery surge , like the bright hair uplifted from the head"; "A vast sepulchre halted with all

thy congregated might", finally, "Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst".

In the third canto, Shelly begins to write the ocean. The blue Mediterranean didst waken from his summer dreams. But it is you that disturb his sweet dream. "Thou for whose path the Atlantic's level power", "cleave themselves into chasms, while far below", "the sea and the oozy woods hear your voice, then suddenly grow grey with fear".

It is the storm of nature, and it is also the storm of revolution. Shelly predicts the storm of nature, and he also predicts the storm of revolution. Thus, he expresses his ambition of revolution in the last cantos. The view of his is changed.

In the fourth canto, he begins with "If I were a dead leaf thou mightiest bear". And then, he uses several hypothesis in series. It conveys his hatred for the society and himself. "I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!"; "A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud". These are what he wants to say about his deepest expectation.

In the fifth canto, the emotion is stronger. He hates the society and himself, so he prays for the wind "Make me thy lyre, even as the

forest is". Please give me the spirit,"Be thou me, impetuous one". "Drive my dead thoughts over the universe Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth". So, if winter comes, can spring be far behind. He expects the new life born in the revolution.

The wind is very important in the whole poem. At the beginning of the poem, the 'wind' is only capable of blowing the leaves from the trees. In the previous canto, the poet identifies himself with the leaves. In the last canto, 'wind' is now capable of using both of these things mentioned before.

This poem is a highly controlled text about the role of the poet as the agent of political and moral change. This was a subject Shelley wrote a great deal about, especially around 1819, of this strongest version of it articulated the famous last lines of his "Defence of Poetry".

In Ode To The West Wind, shelly wants to show his desire for transcendence. They need an act just like the west wind, in order to change and improve the natural and human world. And I am strongly shocked by his thoughts and ambitions.

第二篇：西风颂

Analysis of Ode to the West Wind

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Yuncheng University

2011-4-23

Abstract： Shelley eulogizes the west wind as a powerful phenomenon of nature that is both destroyer and preserver. The wind enjoys boundless freedom and has the power to spread messages far and wide. He expresses his eagerness to enjoy the boundless freedom from the reality. He gathers in his poem a wealth of symbolism, employs a structural art at its mightiest Key words: the west wind the revolution lyric image aesthetics

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摘要：雪莱讴歌西风作为有力的自然现象,既是破坏者,保护者。自由自在的风把信息传遍八方。作者表现出急切地想在现实中也享受这样无限的自由。在他的这首诗中,他将有引用丰富的象征意义,采用一种最强大的结构艺术。

关键字：西风 革命 抒情诗 意象

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Analysis of Ode to the West Wind

1. Introduction

This poem was basically written in a place where there was a forest near riverside in Florence in 1819. That day, it warmed then wind rose suddenly as if the rain was coming. It’s not out of my thought. The sundown arrived at and the storm began. At first clip has hail, accompanied by the peculiar thunder and lightning of Alps’ south. -- The author’s note

2. Background

―Ode to the west wind‖ is Shelley’s most outstanding poem among his works. When was it written? And where was? How the situation was that author was faced with?

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born at Field Place near Horsham in 1792. He was the eldest child of Sir Timothy Shelley, the M.P. for New Shoreham. He was an English poet. In his whole life, he had many famous works.

Eventually in 1922 he died in the ship Ariel, Viareggio, Italy due to accident – drowning.

At the time, European workers' movement and the revolutionary

occurred continually. In British working class fighting hard for their right to live smashed machine valiantly and launched the strikes against with the bourgeoisie. In other countries people proposed the protest for the bourgeois government’s bloody atrocities. At this moment, in a tempest of natural

landscape, this kind of uncontrollable fervor of the revolutionary immediately rushed out of the breast, plummeted, into a song of passionate and generous.

3. Structure

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are many versions on the internet and I choose one that was 1

translated by Wang Zuoliang. It’s pretty good. Depend on it, we can realize it is concisely organized and well-structure. Then I can’t help asking how was the feeling the author would like to show up.

The whole poem has five sections and is divided two parts. The first part is from one to three section .This part is a paean to the west wind. The remaining two sections are the second part. The author shifts the description of the west wind to the expressive of his emotion. The poetry connected him into the poem—blends his inner mental with natural subjects.

The first section mainly praise that the west wind as the destructor and protector. Not only could the west wind sweep away the dead leaves—stand for the corrupted reactionary force, but also it could protect and sow the seeds, Only if thine azure sister to make everything live—stand for the thought of revolution eventually being spread.

The second section praise again the big power of sweeping the rotten, old world—stand for the power of revolution. It expanded from over ground to the upper airspace. The west wind scrolled the clouds, bringing the black rain and hailstorm and blaze so that it could bury the coming things.

The third section sweeps from the sky to the sea, implying that windstorm of the revolution would spread out everywhere. The west wind waked the blue Mediterranean and shocked the Atlantic. The turbulent mighty waves made the way for the west wind, grass shivering.

In the forth section, though the poetry was under affliction, he still

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hoped to be like the west wind holding waves, leaves, clouds. The west wind made him rouse and gain a new life. It implies the great wishes of poetry to involve the revolution.

In the last section, giving the poetry the west wind’s spirit—spirit fierce, impetuous one so that author’s thought spread away the mankind and waked up the earth. And the last two sentences show the bright future, full of the firm belief for the future.

4. Figures

Every time I read it, I’m always shocked by the author’s imagination. In the poem there are many writing skills such as metaphor, simile, symbolic and so on.

The symbolic meaning of the west wind is the regeneration which follows the destruction and death of winter. Spiritually, it is an abstract expression or manifestation of the spirit within nature, a driving force behind the truing wheel of the seasons and the cycles of life and death.

In ―The tumult of thy mighty harmonies‖, the tumult stands for the big sound, and the mighty harmonies stands for the powerful music. In ―Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone‖, the ―both‖ stands for both lyre and the forest, and ―autumnal tone‖ stands for being like autumn. In the ―sweet though in sadness, be thou, Spirit fierce‖, ―Spirit fierce‖ implies the violent revolutionary spirit. In ―My spirit, be thou me, impetuous one‖, ―impetuous‖

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means impulsive. In the ―Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth‖, ―withered‖ implies the dead. In the ―and, by the incantation of this verse‖, ―incantation‖ implies the magic power. In the ―scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth‖, ―scatter‖ means ―spread‖ and ―unextinguished hearth‖ implies ―burning‖ and ―fire‖

5. Comments

After analyzing the structure, we know it’s a romantic poem. So how do we understand?

It connects the description of natural subjects and the lyrical conveyance for the revolution. The west wind is the symbol of strength of the revolution. It’s the mantra that the west wind has the power to sweep the old rotten forces. The poem revel the objective law that the old forces are replaced by the new forces. In this poem, the poetry reflected the resentment to the reactionary, decayed forces and the confidence to the bright future.

6. Conclusion

Generally speaking, it is a very great poem for expressing his hope of the revolution. The poem is hard for us to understand completely, so we should do some researches about the culture information. In ―ode to the west wind‖, Percy Bysshe Shelley use the image of the west wind to express his beliefs, to inspire his soul, to wake up people to fight. Especially this sentence ―if winter

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comes, can spring be far behind?‖ has always be the slogan of the revolutionists.

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Bibliography：

[1] 李志斌，苏文箐.外国文学作品选.长江文学出版社，2010.

[2] 覃先美，李阳.英美修辞学概论.长沙：湖南师范大学出版社，2006.

[3] 王守仁.英国文学选读.高等教育出版社，2005.

[4] 辛中华.雪莱《西风颂》主题探索.内蒙古工业大学报，2007.

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