-
Central China Normal University
Course Paper for
Undergraduates
Title
The Analysis of
Shelley
’
s Ode to the West
Wind
School
(Department)
School of
Foreign Languages
Major
Tourism Management
Minor
English
Language and Literature
Grade
2010
Name
吴思凝
Student Number
2010214419
Teacher
Xiao Xiong
Score
December, 2012
The Analysis of
Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind
Abstract
Ode to the West Wind is one of the most
famous lyric poems written by Percy Bysshe
Shelley, the great British romantic
poet in 19th century. In this poem, the poet in
order to
show the wonder of the sky,
the land and the ocean, he used a lot of rich
imaginations and
new allegories. In his
writing, Shelley relied mainly on symbolic
features. The west wind
is
not
only
the
nature’s
wind,
but
also
the
wind
of
revolution.
In
the
surface,
Shelley
described the
natural wind. Actually, he expected the storm of
revolution through the west
wind.
By
using
symbolic
features,
the
west
wind
becomes
more
impressive
and
deep-going.
Actually,
these
are
based
on
the
specific
historical
period
and
the
environment.
Through
analysis on the background of this poem, this
article mainly analyzes from some
major
aspects like its structure characteristics and
figures of speech, especially analyzes the
poet
’
s
emotions.
Above
all,
in
the
poem,
Shelley
praised
the
west
wind,
expressed
his
desire to get rid of the
reality and to en
joy freedom, and
showed his optimism on human’s
future.
Key Words:
Shelley; Ode to the West Wind;
analysis; appreciation
2
1. Introduction
Percy Bysshe Shelley is one of the most
talented lyric poets in English literature. He
has
been
called
“One
of
the
best
artists
of
us
all”
by
William
Wordsworth,
and
Byron
praises
him
“Without exception the best and
least selfish man I ever knew”
. So we
can see
that he was one of the
outstanding poets in the poetic world, and this
era is known as the
romanticism period.
The romanticism is an important branch
of literature which thoroughly manifested the
social characteristic of British during
its period, and symbolized for the people’s
request
through
literature
(Wang
Ting,
2011:224).
In
the
history
of
literature,
romanticism
is
generally regarded as
the thought
that designates
a literary and philosophy theory which
tends to see the individual as the very
center of all life and all experiences (Wang
Xuefang,
2012:224).
So
the
intimate
relationship
between
literature
and
society
was
clearly
displayed.
The
romanticism
developed
extremely
very
fast
in
British,
we
can
see
the
essence
of romanticism reflected specific situation of
that period and the needs of society.
Ode to the West Wind is one of
masterpiece poems of Shelley, written in 1819.
This
poem
has
five parts, respectively in
the form
of a sonnet.
At this time,
the poet
Shelley
lived in
Italy
，
and was at his peak of
writing. In the early 19th century, scientific
socialism
did not born, and the
counterforce from feudal nobles and the capitalist
class were still very
powerful. So the
poem unavoidable has the circumlocutory and sad
tone. As a pioneer of
socialism
thought,
Shelley
showed
his
optimism
on
the
prospects
of
revolution
and
human’s
future
all
along,
he
believed
that
the
justice
is
sure
to
overcome
the
evil.
Generally speaking,
the rhythm of the poem is severe and unyielding.
Above all, we can know that his
poem is said to be the reflection of
Shelley’s freedom
and
the
spirit
of
the
age.
Shelley
created
“O
wild
West
Wind,
thou
breath
of
Autumn’
s
being”
by the combination of
his own life and the wild wind. It is fully true
that the west
wind is the destroyer as
well as the preserver. It is the magnificent
sections and chapters
that
cry
out
the
rhythm
of
lives
and
the
dance
of
souls.
So
we
can
realize
the
theme,
Shelley’s
west
wind
is
as
a
spirit
th
at
can
destroy
every
creature
in
autumn
in
order
to
revive in the springtime
(Wang Ting, 2011:224).
3
2.
The Background of
romanticism and Percy Shelley’s poem
In the late of 18th
century, after the French revolution and the
European pantheism,
such as
the France’s Enlightenment idealism and
returning to the nature,
English
literature
has brought a massive
literature movement, it was called Romanticism
Literature. At that
time
in
Europe,
many
countries
labor
movements
and
the
revolution
movements
were
blustery. The working
class in England strived for its own rights to
subsistence. Meanwhile,
the
bourgeoisie
was
in
the
fierce
struggle
for
the
government,
fight
for
their
rights,
too.
Under
such
conditions,
a
kind
of
patriotic
poet
was
bought
out,
they
used
literature
to
awaken people, and we
called
them “Romanticism
Poets
”
. They were full of
critical spirits
and religious
feelings, and symbolism was their works main
characteristics.
There are two genres
of the romanticism, one is Lake Poets and the
other is Positive
Poets. Shelley is one
of the most representative poets of the
positive
, and “Ode to the West
Wind” is one of his
masterpieces.
Therefore, the positive
romanticism also has written a
journal
for
the
English
culture
in
19th
century.
Poetry
is
an
effective
way
to
express
positive
romanticism.
It
is
necessary
to
explore
the
superficial
meaning
and
the
corresponding deep meaning of the lines
for better understanding positive romanticism of
this poem.
Ode to the West
Wind is the treasure in English literature. The
poem is enthusiastic
and full of
philosophy in its writing, free and unlimited in
its style. The whole poem has
five
stanzas, and its rhythm is lucid and lively,
rhyming aba
，
bcb
，<
/p>
cdc
，
ded
，
ee in each
stanza.
And
each
of
the
stanzas
can
stand
alone,
because
the
rules
and
forms
of
poetic
composition are
integral. The lines of the poem are ordered and
full of rhythms, responding
and
advancing
each
other,
containing
ups
and
downs
and
changes,
which
just
like
the
nature’s feature. In
structure, the sentence are all brief and concise,
the five stanzas makes
up
the
whole
poem,
making
the
thinking
go
forward
one
by
one.
So
another
artistic
characteristic of
the poem is strict in its structure, clear in its
level and concentrated in its
theme.
4
3. The Features of analysis on Ode to
the West Wind
There are five parts in
this poem Ode to the West Wind. Part one is
describe the west
wind in the nature,
part two and three are describe the west wind and
the world shaking
changes
it
made
to
the
land,
the
sky
and
the
ocean.
The
last
stanza
transfers
to
express
feelings from
describing wind. Shelley even compared himself to
the west wind to express
his belief to
life and his determination to fight against the
dark. Now, I will appreciate three
important parts in this poem.
3.1 Appreciation on this
poem
3.1.1 Appreciation on the first
part
In the first part of
the poem, the main image is the west wind and the
remnants of the
forest, Shelley
describes the west wind swept through the forest
residues, and the scene of
though the
seed of life.
In this poem, withered
leaves were blowing by west wind like a
ghostly,
and
winged
leaf
has
also
been
sent
to
the
winter
nursery
bed
waiting
for
the
springtime.
Here, metaphor and symbol of the skills
has been used. Such as
“breath of autumn’
s
being
”
and
“
winged
seeds
”
.
Withered
leaves
(the
leaves
dead)
as
a
symbol
of
the
reactionary
classes,
and
the
“Pestilence
-
stri
cken
multitudes”
is
used
to
describe
the
reactionary classes of
dying. At the same time, through
“
the winged
seeds
”
,
“
Her
clarion
”
and
“
living
hues
and
odours
”
the
use
of
words,
Shelley
’s
optimism
to
revolutionary
is
shown without involuntary discharge of
urine.
Poem opens with the imposing
manner of heavy west wind , and it makes all wood
bleak, leaves numerous, it also can
destroy the old world, and bring the hope to all
over the
world.
In
this
section,
the
center
image
side
with
“leaves”
,
“consequently”
,
which
highlighted the
darkness of the old world and the decadent, and
bred the hope for the bright
future,
this can fully embody
Shelley
’s
spirit of
optimism.
3.1.2
Appreciation on the fourth part
In the fourth part, the author hopes
that if he were the leaves, clouds, or the waves,
it
can let him felt the pulse of the
west wind, and in one with it. After that he can
to mopping
up
decadent
reactionary
forces.
At
the
beginning
of
this
section,
the
author
uses
several
subjunctive moods to
express his strong desire. Since this part,
Shelley's center not only on
the
destructive power of the west wind, but also
emphasis on the power of the preservation
5