Page 42 - DENG202_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_III

Unit 4: Ode to the West Wind by P B Shelley

hero. The poet has a profound spiritual appreciation for nature, as in the poem To Wordsworth Notes
(1816), and this strong connection with nature gives him access to extremely great cosmic truths,
like in Alastor; or, The Spirit of Solitude (1816). He possesses the power—and the duty—to interpret
these truths with the help of his imagination into poetry, but only a sort of poetry that the
readers can understand. Therefore, his poetry becomes a type of prophecy with the help of
which a poet capable enough to change the world for the better by bringing spiritual, social and
political change.
Shelley’s poet is a near-divine redeemer, similar to Christ as well as to Prometheus, a Greek
demigod who stole fire from heaven and gave it to humans. Like Christ and Prometheus,
figures of the poets in Shelley’s writings are usually destined to suffer. This is because their
visionary power separates them from other men, misunderstood by critics, persecuted by an
oppressive government, or suffocated by conservative middle-class and religion morals.
Ultimately, however, the poet wins because his art is immortal, enduring the tyranny of the
society, religion and government and living on to inspire new generations.

The Power of Nature

Similar to several of the romantic poets, particularly William Wordsworth, Shelley exhibits an
immense admiration for the beauty of nature, and feels strongly connected to nature’s power.
In his early poetry, Shelley shares the romantic interest in pantheism. It is the belief that God, or
a divine, unifying spirit, is present in everything in the universe. He talks about this unifying
natural force in many poems, defining it as the “spirit of beauty” in Hymn to Intellectual Beauty
and distinguishing it with the Arve River and Mont Blanc in Mont Blanc. This force is the reason
of all human goodness, happiness, pleasure, and faith and is the source of divine truth and poetic
inspiration. Shelley asserts many times that this force can affect people to change the world for
the better. However, Shelley at the same time acknowledges that nature’s power is not entirely
positive. Nature destroys as often as it creates or inspires but it destroys things without any
discrimination and with cruelty. Therefore, Shelley’s joy in nature is diminished by an awareness
of its dark side.

The Power of the Human Mind

Shelley uses nature as his main source of poetic inspiration. In poems such as Ode to the West
Wind and The Mask of Anarchy Written on the Massacre at Manchester (1819), Shelley implies that
nature holds a sublime power over his imagination. This power seems to emerge from a peculiar,
more spiritual place than merely his appreciation for nature’s magnificence or beauty. Although
Shelley believes that nature has creative power over him as it is a source of inspiration but he
feels that his imagination has creative powers over nature.

Notes It is the imagination or our ability to form sensory perceptions, which permits us
to explain nature in various, original ways that help to shape how nature appears and,
hence, how it exists. Therefore, the power of the human mind becomes equal to the power
of nature, and the experience of beauty of nature becomes a type of partnership between
the observer and the observed.

As Shelley cannot be certain that, the inspiring powers he discerns in nature are merely the
result of his exceptional imagination. He finds it hard to ascribe nature’s power to God and the
human activities in shaping nature hurt Shelley’s belief that nature’s beauty comes exclusively
from a divine source.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 37