Ode to the West Wind powerpoint analysis

7/25/2019 Ode to the West Wind powerpoint analysis

1/9

ODE OF THE WEST

WIND

by:

Percy Bysshe Shelley


2/9


3/9

Harriet Westbrook a pupil at the sameboarding schoolas Shelley's sisters, whom hisfather had forbidden him to see

Shelley was increasingly unhappy in hismarriage to Harriet and accused Harriet ofha!ing married him for his money

Harriet"s second child with Shelley, #harles, was

born in $o!ember of %&% (ary Wollstonecraft )odwin, the daughter of

Shelley"s belo!ed mentor, William )odwin, and(ary Wollstonecraft, the famous feminist author

ofA Vindication of the Rights of Women *hree months later, (ary ga!e birth to a girl

*he infant died +ust a few weeks later n %&%-,(ary ga!e birth to their son, William
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boarding_schoolhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boarding_school


4/9

S*.$/. %

.ddressing the west wind as a human, the poetdescribes its acti!ities: t dri!es dead lea!es awayas if they were ghosts 0eeing a wi1ard *helea!es are yellow and black, pale and red, as if

they had died of an infectious disease *he westwind carries seeds in its chariot and depositsthem in the earth, where they lie until the springwind awakens them by blowing on a trumpet

2clarion3 When they form buds, the spring windspreads them o!er plains and on hills n aparado4, the poet addresses the west wind as adestroyer and a preser!er, then asks it to listen towhat he says


5/9

S*.$/. 5

*he poet says the west wind dri!es clouds along+ust as it does dead lea!es after it shakes theclouds free of the sky and the oceans *heseclouds erupt with rain and lightning .gainst the

sky, the lightning appears as a bright shaft of hairfrom the head of a (6nad *he poet comparesthe west wind to a funeral song sung at the deathof a year and says the night will become a dome

erected o!er the year's tomb with all of the wind'sgathered might 7rom that dome will come blackrain, 8re, and hail .gain the poet asks the westwind to continue to listen to what he has to say


6/9

S*.$/. 9

.t the beginning of autumn, the poet says, the the west windawakened the (editerranean Sealulled by the sound of theclear streams 0owing into itfrom summer slumber near anisland formed from pumice 2hardened la!a3 *he island is in abay at Baiae, a city in western taly about ten miles west of$aples While sleeping at this locale, the (editerranean saw

old palaces and towers that had collapsed into the sea duringan earth;uake and became o!ergrown with moss and0owers *o create a path for the west wind, the powers of themighty .tlantic


7/9

S*.$/.

*he poet says that if he were a dead leaf 2like the ones inthe 8rst stan1a3 or a cloud 2like the ones in the secondstan1a3 or an ocean wa!e that rides the power of the.tlantic but is less free than the uncontrollable west windor if e!en he were as strong and !igorous as he was when

he was a boy and could accompany the wandering wind inthe hea!ens and could only dream of tra!eling fasterwell,then, he would ne!er ha!e prayed to the west wind as he isdoing now in his hour of need>eferring again to imagery in the 8rst three stan1as,the poet asks the wind to lift him as it would a wa!e, a leaf,or a cloud? for here on earth he is e4periencing troublesthat prick him like thorns and cause him to bleed He is nowcarrying a hea!y burden thatthough he is proud andtameless and swift like the west windhas immobili1ed himin chains and bowed him down


8/9

S*.$/. @

*he poet asks the west wind to turn him into a lyre 2a

stringed instrument3 in the same way that the west wind'smighty currents turn the forest into a lyre .nd if the poet'slea!es blow in the wind like those from the forest trees,there will be heard a deep autumnal tone that is both sweetand sad Be Amy spirit,A the poet implores the wind ABe

thou meA and dri!e my dead thoughts 2like the deadlea!es3 across the uni!erse in order to prepare the way fornew birth in the spring *he poet asks the wind to scatterhis words around the world, as if they were ashes from aburning 8re *o the unawakened earth, they will become

blasts from a trumpet of prophecy n other words, the poetwants the wind to help him disseminate his !iews onpolitics, philosophy, literature, and so on *he poet isencouraged that, although winter will soon arri!e, springand rebirth will follow it


9/9

7)>C

Documents

Ode to the West Wind powerpoint analysis