Page 51 - DENG202_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_III

Elective English—III

Notes Lines 53–54
Shelley’s critics have usually ridiculed these famous lines. Here, the patterns of earth, sea and
sky are remembered as the speaker asks to be lifted from his sorrows by the inspiring West
Wind. He appears almost Christ-like in his suffering, the “thorns of life” recollecting the crown
of thorns worn by Christ during the crucifixion.

Lines 55–56
The Christ-like image of the speaker continues in these lines. His life experiences have been like
heavy crosses for him to bear and have weighed him down. Despite that, there is spark of life
and hope inside him. He can still remember the time when he had several of the wind’s qualities
and powers.

Lines 57–70
If Stanza IV is the description of why the West Wind is being summoned then Stanza V is the
prayer itself. The appeals of the speaker seem to amass speed much as the wind does whereas he
begins by asking to be moved by the wind and wishes to unite with this power. Just as if a breeze
can ignite a glowing coal, the speaker asks the wind to breathe a new life into him and his poetic
art. Now the speaker reminds his audience that change is right at the corner, be it natural,
artistic, political or personal. Several Romantic writers, including S T Coleridge in his poem The
Eolian Harp, used the instrument as a symbol for the human imagination that is played upon by
a greater power. However, in this poem, the speaker asks to be the West Wind’s lyre, its means
of communication and music.

Notes The lyre referred to in line 57 might be the Eolian lyre or harp, its name derived
from Eolus, god of the winds. This lyre is a box with strings stretched across an opening.
When the wind moves through it, the eolian harp produces musical sounds.

Lines 58–62
Here, the speaker appears to accept his distresses and miseries; he realises that the wind’s power
may let him to include harmony to autumn’s music. He is still unhappy, but he recognises
sweetness in his pain and that he is part of a natural cycle where he will have a chance to start
over as both man and poet. The speaker’s increasing strength is suggested at by the powerful
exclamations in lines 61 and 62.

Lines 63–64
The wind blew leaves over the forest floor, fertilising the soil. Now, the speaker asks the wind
to disperse his timeworn ideas and writings across the earth in hopes of rousing new thoughts
and works. Notice the word play on “leaves,” which can be found either on trees or in books.
Lines 65–67
In A Defence of Poetry, Shelley said, “the mind in creation is as a fading coal, which some invisible
influence, like an inconstant wind, awakens to transitory brightness.” In asking the wind to fan
and arouse the dying embers of his words, the speaker seems to be echoing this idea.

Lines 68–69
These lines recollect the angel’s “clarion” of line 10, waking the earth from the deep wintry
slumber. Here, the speaker asks to become the poet-prophet of the latest season of regeneration.

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