Monday, December 31, 2018

What ideas other than death and rebirth could you infer from the poem "Ode to the West Wind?"

The poem is a kind of appeal to the west wind to unite with the poet. When Shelley writes, “Be thou me, impetuous one!”, it can be understood in several ways. Shelley could be wishing that the power and beauty of the west wind could inhabit his verse (“Make me thy lyre”), or he could be expressing a deeper desire to merge with nature, to become part of the seasonal cycle that the wind creates. There is a tragic difference, the poem suggests, between the power of the wind and the life of the adult Shelley (“I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!”). Another idea is that by merging with the wind Shelley can somehow escape his adult responsibilities. The first three stanzas establish the wind as a great and terrible natural force, a creator and destroyer. Shelley’s wish to become one with it is a yearning to claim that power for himself in order to break the cares that have “chain’d and bow’d” him. It is at once an expression of poetic ambition and a cry for personal absolution.


Another major idea or theme of "Ode to the West Wind" is that a poet's ideas can be blown all over the earth the way the wind blows autumn leaves. The leaves on a tree remind the poet of leaves of paper on which he writes his verses. 
In the last verse, the poet addresses the wind, asking if he, the poet, can become its "lyre" or the instrument the wind plays. The poet desires to become one with the spirit of the wind. "Be thou [you] me," he implores. Here, he continues to convey the idea that his thoughts can be sent all over.
The poet understands the wind as a universal song that he can join. He notes the wind's "mighty harmonies." Finally, he imagines that he and the wind can come together so the wind becomes his "trumpet" and spreads his words.  
In this, the poet expresses his deep, fervent desire not just to write poetry or experience rebirth, but also to have his thoughts widely known through his words.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing such a nice content. Your post was really good. Some ideas can be made. About English literature. Further, you can access this site to learn more about Ode to The West Wind

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