P.B. Shelley - ODE TO THE WEST WIND

Right from the title, the intelligent reader can understand that the content of the poem may be a invocation to the West Wind. In the title there is also expressed the structure of the poem, that is the ode; thus the poem uses a high dignified language, with influences by classical arts.

The poem is composed of five parts, each one performing a definite function in the poem. Each part is composed of fourteen lines, divided into four triplets and a couplet: Shelley there takes Dante's terza rima scheme, ending each scheme with a couplet like in Shakespearian sonnet. The function is the same too; in fact the couplet has the task to sum up the theme of the stanza.

In the first three stanzas the poet tells about the qualities of the Wind; the fact that these three parts belong together can visually be seen by the refrain "Oh hear!" at the end of each of the three parts, in the couplet, that also makes the role of emotions particularly important, typical feature of the Romanticism. In particular, in the first stanza the poets tells about the effects of the Wind on the earth, and especially on the dead leaves. In the second stanza Shelley conveys the effects of the West Wind towards the sky and with a specific reference to the effects on the clouds. In the third stanza the poet describes the effect of the wind on the sea and namely to the waves.

In the fourth part there is the turning point, and this stanza re-organizes and draws together all the previous elements, while the fifth stanza is an invocation to the wind.

We can suppose that Shelley is telling about a experience he had made, when watching and visualizing the effects of the wind on the nature. So in the first part he sees the multi-coloured dead leaves driven by the wind, brought to life by a simile and a metaphor: the leaves are like ghosts fleeing by an enchanter, they are like a great crowd fleeing, panic-stricken by an imaginary pestilence. But with them we can find the seeds, that fall and lie like corpses within their graves, in their "wintry bed", until the Spring and a new wind (Zephirus) will come. At the end the wind is addressed like a "destroyer" because it drives the last signs of life from the trees; he is also considered the "preserver" for scattering the seeds which will come to life in the spring.

In the second stanza the poet observes the effects of the wind on the sky, and sees that the clouds are detached swept away by the wind like leaves; the poet, with a metaphor, compares them to "Angels of rain"; thus they may be messengers that bring a message from heaven down to earth through rain and lightning; these two natural phenomena, with their power, bring a significant change. The clouds are compared to locks of air.

In the third stanza Shelley visualizes how the wind awakens the Mediterranean sea by his summer's rest, when it was "lulled by the coil of his crystal line streams", making him reflect "old palaces and towers" lazily because of the waves; then he visualizes the way the Atlantic sea will be affected by the west wind. The wind affects the Atlantic sea so much that also the vegetation in the depths of the sea ( named "the sapless foliage of the ocean") is shaken.

In the fourth part the poet makes philosophical thoughts about what previously said and imagines him as a dead leaf, or as a cloud, or as a wave, which are affected by the wind, and wants the liberty the clouds have, and the powers of the waves to combat the evils. He wants to be free like the wind and to follow him as a companion, he thinks the wind could be the answer to all his life's problems ("thorns of life") and he prays it to help him. He feels he has lost his boyhood's freedom, when everything seemed possible to him, and that the passing of life has enslaved him.

In the fifth stanza then there is the real invocation to the wind, where Shelley prays the wind to give him its strength and to be his impetuous Spirit to scatter to humans his words: in fact the poet is aware that his words are like the dead leaves, which fall and only the wind can bring them to life. In this stanza the poet expresses a specify intention: we can say that the wind is seen as revolutionary air bringing new ideas of freedom and a new society,  but if we go deeper we can say that the wind is meant as the poet's inspiration which leads him to write his works. The poets moreover wants to have the strength of the wind to change society like the west wind does with nature, and to make this possible his words should be listened by the people, so he prays the wind to scatter his words like it does with the leaves.

The language used is high dignified and there is a recurrent rhyme pattern, which is: ABA BCB CDC DED EE.