Page 48 - DENG202_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_III

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

The tumult of thy mighty harmonies Notes
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 withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawakened earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O, Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind!

4.5 Summary of the Poem

The speaker prays to the “Wild West Wind” of autumn, which scatters the dead leaves and
spreads seeds so that they can be nurtured by the spring. He also calls out to the wind as
“destroyer and preserver,” and asks it to hear him. The speaker calls the wind the “dirge/Of the
dying year,” and explains how it stirs up violent storms, and again begs it to hear him. The
speaker states that the wind moves the Mediterranean from “his summer dreams,” and cleaves
the Atlantic into uneven craters, making the “sapless foliage” of the ocean shudder, and asks for
a third times that it hear him.
The speaker says that if he were a dead leaf that the wind could bear, a cloud it could carry, or a
wave it could push, or even if he were, as a boy, “the comrade” of the wind is “wandering over
heaven,” then he would never have needed to pray to the wind and invoke its powers. He pleads
with the wind to lift him “as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!”—for though he is like the wind at heart,
untameable and proud—he is now chained and bowed with the weight of his hours upon the
earth.
The speaker asks the wind to “make me thy lyre,” to be his own Spirit, and to drive his thoughts
across the universe, “like withered leaves, to quicken a new birth.” He asks the wind, by the
incantation of this verse, to scatter his words among mankind, to be the “trumpet of a prophecy.”
Speaking both about the season and about the effect upon mankind that he hopes his words to
have, the speaker asks, “If winter comes, can spring be far behind?”

4.6 Explanation

Lines 1–14
In this first of the five sections of the poem, the speaker defines the areas and the powers of the
West Wind. Stanza I describes the wind’s effects on the land, stanza II discusses the wind’s effect
on the sky and stanza III addresses its impacts on the sea. The autumn breeze disperses dead
leaves and seeds on the forest floor, where they finally sprout into new plants. The wind is called
both “destroyer and preserver” (line 14), the wind ensures the recurring regularity of the seasons.
The interconnectedness of life and death and themes of regeneration runs throughout Ode to the
West Wind. The wind is, certainly, more than simply a current of air. Shelley was familiar with
Greek and Latin and in both of these languages—the words for “wind,” “inspiration,” “soul,”
and “spirit” are all related. Hence, Shelley’s “West Wind” appears to symbolise an inspiring
spiritual power that moves everywhere and affects everything.

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