“Ode to the West Wind” , Critical Appreciation
“Ode to the West Wind”
is one of the most famous poems by Shelley and it was published in the same
book, which consists of his famous drama, Prometheus Unbound and many
magnificent lyric poems. He wrote this poem in the autumn of 1819 in Florence.
The poem is considered as one of the noblest lyrics in English. It bears testimony
to the poetic genius that Shelley was.
Structurally the poem
is divided into five stanzas or cantos. Each stanza is in sonnet form. The ode
consists of five sonnets. Every sonnet consists of four terza rima with
traditional terza rima rhymes and a rhymed couplet. The first three stanzas are
the address of the wind and at the same time the characterization description
of the wind. All of three stanzas end with the “O hear” prayer. In the fourth
stanza, personal elements penetrate in the poem and Shelley compares himself
with the wind. He makes fervent plea to the wind to lift him up as he bleeds
falling on the ‘thorns of life’. The last stanza is a prayer to the forceful
spirit of the wind to use him for regeneration of humanity. Shelley ends on a
note of optimism
“O, Wind,
If winter
comes, can spring be far behind”
In the poem, the West
Wind is presented as a powerful force. Shelley makes myths of the autumnal West
Wind as a great force which possesses redeeming power. It is gigantic, wild,
restless power, free and unbounded. Two contrasting aspects of the wind are
under lined in the first three stanzas- its terrifying destructive power and
its gentle fostering influence. It is simultaneously a destroyer and a
preserver. On the earth, the wind drives away dry leaves of trees like “ghosts
from an enchanter fleeing”. It also carries the winged seeds and deposits them
in the ‘dark wintry bed’, where they remain buried throughout the winter. The
same wind will also make them germinate in the spring. It also sweeps wild
storm clouds along on the firmament from the bottom of the sky to the peak of
the sky. The wind also makes its mighty influence felt on the sea. It stirs the
Mediterranean Sea to its depth. It makes
a lashing progress through the waters of the Atlantic, dividing the mighty
Atlantic’s ‘level powers’ into two halves, its impact reaching miles below to
turn the submarine nature grey in fear.
Thus, the mythical might of the wind cover the earth, the sky and the seas.
“Ode to the West Wind”
is a lyric. The music swells like the surge of the west wind. Shelley uses a number of poetic devices in order to bring his ideas home. The dramatic
alliteration in the opening line, “Wild West Wind”, announces energy and force.
The wind is personified and has been given a mythical stature. The poem is
replete with images and metaphors. There is a rapid succession of images in the
poem. The poet’s emotion is at the peak when he makes fervent appeal to the
wind to make him its ‘lyre’. His use of emotive language is noteworthy.
The poem starts with
the natural and the moves to the personal finally turning to the universal.
Shelley deftly blends the natural, the personal and the universal in the same
poem. It also captures the past, the present and the future. Shelley finished
this great poem optimistically believing in the rise of humanity.
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Shelley mythopoeic elements in his poems.