Percy Bysshe Shelley, a British writer who lived from 1792 to 1822, was a central figure in the Romantic movement. Among his most celebrated works are "Ode to the West Wind," "To a Skylark," and "Ozymandias."
"Ode to the West Wind," written in 1819 in the Cascine woods near Florence, Italy, reflects Shelley's desire to spread his message of reform and revolution. The wind serves as a metaphor for disseminating the poet’s call for change. Some scholars also interpret the poem as a response to the death of his son William, born to Mary Shelley in 1819. The poem allegorizes the role of the poet as a voice for transformation and revolution.
Percy Bysshe Shelley by Alfred Clint, 1819
"Ode to the West Wind" is composed of five sections, or cantos. The first three describe the wind's impact on the earth, air, and ocean. In the final two sections, the poet directly addresses the wind, imploring it to grant him its power, to lift him up and make him a companion in its journeys.
1. The West Wind is Destroyer.
Shelley, as the poem starts, represents the wind as a force of destruction - and the force strong enough to address to it as if it was a person. We see '"'breath of Autumn's being'; Shelley calls the leaves 'ghosts' and 'pestilence-stricken multitudes':
[...] O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, [...]First canto
In the final line of this canto, the west wind is seen as both the "Destroyer," as it sweeps away the last remnants of life from the trees, and the "Preserver," as it disperses seeds that will germinate and flourish in the spring.
In the second canto, Shelley expands his vision from the earthly scene with the leaves before him to encompass the vast turmoil of the skies. This suggests that the wind is no longer distant on the horizon, but directly overhead. The clouds mirror the swirling motion of the leaves, creating a parallel that symbolises the shift in perspective from the finite world to the broader macrocosm. The "clouds" can also be compared to the leaves, though they are larger and more unstable. Unlike the leaves, the clouds serve as messengers of rain and lightning, reinforcing their powerful, elemental role.
Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread
On the blue surface of thine aëry surge,
Like the bright hair uplifted from the head
Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge
Of the horizon to the zenith's height,
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge
Of the dying year, to which this closing night
Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,
Vaulted with all thy congregated might
Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: oh hear!Second canto
2. The Wind is a Spiritual Force.
While the first three cantos of the poem begin with "O wild West Wind" and "Thou", clearly addressing the wind, there is a shift in the fourth canto. Here, the focus turns away from the wind and onto the speaker, who begins with "If I…".
If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share
The impulse of thy strength, only less free
Than thou, O uncontrollable!Fourth canto
Up until this point, the poem has remained impersonal, centred entirely on the wind and its power, with the poet himself largely absent. However, it becomes increasingly evident that the speaker is now talking about himself. This is highlighted by the frequent use of first-person pronouns such as "I", "my", and "me", which appear nine times in the fourth canto. Shelley seems to heighten the dramatic tension, encouraging the reader to recall the imagery from the first three cantos. By reintroducing these images, Shelley aligns himself with the wind, even though he acknowledges that it is impossible for anyone to cast aside the lessons of life and return to a "world of innocence."
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!Fourth canto
3. The Wind is a symbol of change.
In the final canto, the wind once again plays a central role. At the poem’s beginning, the wind could only blow leaves from the trees, but by the previous canto, the poet had identified himself with those leaves. Now, the wind is capable of acting upon both—the poet and the leaves.
Up until this point, the poem has focused on the elements of wind, earth, and water. In this canto, the fourth element, fire, is introduced. The frequent use of first-person pronouns reappears, though this time, the possessive pronoun "my" takes prominence. Whereas the use of "I" in the previous canto conveyed self-consciousness, this canto conveys a sense of self-possession. It is no longer a request or prayer, as in the fourth canto, but a demand. The poet becomes the instrument of the wind, his "lyre", symbolising his passive submission to the wind. The wind’s breath becomes his own, making him the wind’s musician.
The poet's attitude towards the wind has also shifted. In the first canto, the wind was referred to as an "enchanter", but now it has become an "incantation". In the end, Shelley again calls upon the wind in a prayer-like appeal, desiring it to become his spirit: "My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!".
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like wither'd leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguish'd hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawaken'd earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?Fifth canto
Conclusion
In ancient Greek tradition, an ode was regarded as a formal public invocation, often featuring a complex structure and performed during significant religious or state ceremonies, either chanted or sung. Harold Bloom suggests that "Ode to the West Wind" draws from two ode traditions: the exalted, celebratory tone of Pindaric odes and the more personal, contemplative nature of Horatian odes. Shelley merges both elements in this poem. In the English tradition, the ode became a medium for expressing sublime, intellectual, and spiritual thoughts, a purpose that is also evident in Shelley's work.