Poem: Ode To The West Wind
—- By Percy Bysshe Shelley

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!

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 aëry 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!

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!

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 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?

Summary

Ode to the West Wind is a beautiful poem written by romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. The poet shows the power of the west wind in all spheres of the earth. In the first stanza, the poet describes the power of the west wind in the lands. The west wind drove away the dead leaves and put the seeds under the dark wintry bed for growing. Here the poet says the west wind is a destroyer and a preserver. The west wind destroys old leaves and preserves the seeds for growing.

In the second stanza, the poet describes the power of the west wind in the heaven/sky. When the west wind comes the whole sky is thrilled. Loose clouds are decaying into the earth like leaves. The poet metaphorically introduces the clouds as the angels of rain and lightning. The poet compares the upcoming storm with the Maenad. (Maenad is a mythological character. Who was the follower of the God of wine, Bacchus). All these seem to compose the dirge/mourning song for the dying year.

In the third stanza, the poet describes the power of the west wind under the sea. The west wind has a mighty power that he can wake up the blue Mediterranean sea from his summer dreams. When the west wind comes all the creatures under the sea are destroyed. Even the Atlantic level cleaves itself. The voice of the west wind is so high that it despoils everything under the sea.

In the fourth stanza, the poet wanted to be a dead leaf so that he could fly with the west wind. He wanted a little power from the west wind. The poet said the west wind was uncontrollable. The poet compared his boyhood with the west wind. Then the poet requested the west wind so that the west wind could live with him. The poet stuck down with the thorns of his life. He was bleeding. Time also chained him. So he requested the west wind to carry him.

In the last stanza, the poet requested the west wind to give him a lyre. He also requested to take his dead ideas and give a new idea so that he can scatter the power of the west wind among the unconscious people. In the last two lines, they addressed the west wind that after a bad time a new happy time will come.

He said in that way, O Wind,

If winter comes, can spring be far behind? The poet says in those two lines that a bad time is not permanent. Good and bad is the opposite of one another. So after a bad time, a good time will come.

Rhyme Scheme

A rhyme scheme is the ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines of a poem or verse.

The rhyme scheme of the poem is aba bcb cdc ded.
“being”=a
“dead”=b
“fleeing”=a
“red”=b
“thou”=c
“bed”=b
“low”=c
“until”=d
“blow”=c
“fill”=d
“air”=e
“hill”=d
“everywhere”=e
“hear”=e

The Ode is written in a different form. It is written in the Italian verse form called terza rima. The three-line rhyme scheme employed by Dante in his Divine Comedy. It consists of twelve iambic pentameter lines arranged in tercets, followed by a heroic couplet. The poem’s rhyme scheme of the poem (terza rima) is aba bcb cdc ded, and the couplet rhymes with the middle line of the last tercet. Each section consists of four tercets (ABA, BCB, CDC, DED) and a rhyming couplet (EE). It is a highly complex verse form indeed, but. Shelley’s adept handling of it gives the poem.

Tone

The tone is a musical or vocal sound with reference to its pitch, quality, and strength. The tone of the poem is optimistic. Because the poet optimizes for a new thing. The poet describes the activities of the west wind in all spheres of the world. It is a destroyer and a preserver. The poet was charmed by its power. Even by its mighty power the Mediterranean sea chasm itself into two divergences. Then the poet wants half of the power of the west wind so that he can scatter his revolutionary ideas among the people. In the last two lines, we can find the full maturity of his optimistic ideas.
“O Wind, If winter comes can spring be far behind?
Here the poet shows his optimistic idea.

Structure

The poem “Ode to the West Wind” consists of five sections written in terza rima. Each section consists of four tercets (ABA, BCB, CDC, DED) and a rhyming couplet (EE). The Ode is written in iambic pentameter.Shelley’s structure in this poem is one of his own inventions. He uses an Italian three-line rhyme scheme known as terza rima. Shelley’s poem also reflects the incomprehensible movement of the wind. He also uses alliteration, rhyme, and assonance, which compliments the poem’s theme of regeneration or what might be better understood as the cycle of life.

Theme

The theme is the central idea in a piece of writing. The whole body explains the theme.
The West Wind is depicted as an autumnal wind, preparing the world for winter. The poem is filled with images of death and decay, reminders of both natural and human mortality. The poet depicts the various activities of the west wind on the earth. He also depicts the power of the west wind. The poet requested the west wind to give him half of his power so that he can scatter his revolutionary thoughts and can bring a new generation. The speaker hopes that the death of one world will be inevitably followed by a new rebirth and a new spring, but the poem leaves this rebirth uncertain.

Authors Position

When an author writes to persuade, he/she will have his/her own position on the subject. The author’s position is an author’s opinion about the subject. It may be subjective or objective.

Subjective means where the writer can use his/her own feelings, emotion, and own choice.

Objective means where the writer can’t use his/her own feelings, emotions, and own choice.

The poem is a subjective one. Because the poet uses his own emotions and feelings. Finally, he wanted half of the power of the west wind. Here, he uses the term subjectivity which is an important feature of romantic poets. So, it’s a subjective poem

Figures of Speech

Figures of Speech mean the use of ornamental elements in a piece of writing.

Apostrophe:
It is a figure of speech in which the writer addresses someone absent or something abstract as if the person or the thing is present there.
“O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being”.
Here, the poet addresses the west wind. So it’s an example of apostrophe.

Personification:
It is a figure of speech in which the writer puts imaginary life into a living being or thing.
“Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh, hear!”
Here, the poet personifies the west wind as a human being.

Alliteration:
Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds.
“Beside a pumice isle in Baiae’s bay,”
Here, “B” is repeated one more time so it’s an example of alliteration.

Simile:
A simile is an indirect comparison between two far-faced things with the help of “as” or ‘like”.
“Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing.”
Here, the dead leaves are compared with ghosts. So it’s an example of a simile.