Page 50 - DENG202_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_III

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

Lines 20–23 Notes
These lines talks about Shelley and his experience in Florence. When Shelley was in Florence, he
saw a relief sculpture of four maenads. Women were worshipping the Roman god of wine and
vegetation, Bacchus (in Greek mythology, Dionysus) by performing dances and their hair were
flowing from side to side. In these lines, the speaker compares the streaks of the cirrus clouds
across the horizon with the maenads’ blown tresses. This image seems particularly apt as Bacchus/
Dionysus is related to the natural world and the wind and clouds are main elements of nature.

Lines 23–28
In these lines, the wail of the wind is compared to a song of grief, as if it were grieving the
“dying” year. As the year ends, nature prepares for the funeral as the coming night is defined as
a “sepulcher,” a burial tomb that will be marked by lightning and hail from a storm.
Lines 29–42
In these lines, the speaker says that the West Wind exercises its power over the sea. However,
unlike the first two stanzas, this one is presented by an image of peace, sensuality and calm. The
Mediterranean Sea is described as tranquil as if sleeping alongside the old Italian town of Baiae.
Baize was once a playground of Roman emperors, which sank due to volcanic activities. It is
now covered with underwater plants. However, the wind has the ability to “waken” (line 29) the
sea and disrupt the summer tranquillity of the waters by ushering in an autumn storm.
Lines 32–33
These lines talks about the time when Shelley sailed past the Bay of Baiae In 1818. He sent a letter
to Thomas Love Peacock in which he ardently explains the “ruins of its antique grandeur standing
like rocks in the transparent sea under our boat.”

Lines 36–38
In these lines, the speaker disturbs the peace of the seascape and retells the West Wind of its
power to shake wild, white capped surf.

Lines 39–42
In these lines, the poet says that even the lush sea foliage underwater is aware of the wind’s
destructive powers. He is recalling the mayhem of cold weather storms on the vegetation as it
drains of colour like a person turns pale with fear, or leaves fade in the fall. In a note to these
lines, Shelley wrote, “The vegetation at the bottom of the sea, of rivers, and of lakes, sympathises
with that of the land in the change of seasons, and is consequently influenced by the winds which
announce it.” The natural cycles of death and regeneration therefore, continue everywhere on
earth, even underwater, with the help of the West Wind.
Lines 43–56
In these lines, the speaker asks to be encouraged by this spirit. For the first time in Ode to the West
Wind, the wind confronts humanity in the form of the speaker. No longer an idealistic young
man, the speaker experienced pain, limitations and sorrow. He stumbles while he asks the wind
to uplift him spiritually. Simultaneously, he can remember his younger years when he was
“tameless, and swift, and proud” like the wind. These memories help him to appeal to the wind
for inspiration and new life. In this manner, the poem suggests that humans are part of the
never-ending natural cycle of death and rebirth.

Lines 47–52
In line 47, the speaker describes his childhood encounters with the wind. He says that as an
idealistic youth, he used to “race” with the wind and win, in his own mind. However, now as an
old and wise man, he could never imagine challenging the wind’s power.

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