Ode to the West Wind - Shelley Flashcards
When did Shelley write Ode to the West Wind?
1819
Summary of the strophe for Ode to the West Wind
Speaker invokes “wild west wind” of autumn, which scatters dead leaves, spreads seeds and stirs up violent storms
Speaker repeatedly implores the wind to hear him
Summary of the antistrophe of Ode to the West Wind
Speaker wishes he was a leaf, cloud or wave so he could be at the wind’s mercy as he feels like the wind at heart (untameable and proud)
In reality, speaker is chained and restricted
Summary of the epode for Ode to the West Wind
Speaker asks the wind to scatter his words among mankind to be the “trumpet of a prophesy”
How does the wind become a metaphor for Shelley’s own poetic art in Ode to the West Wind?
Expressive capacity to drive “dead thoughts” like “withered leaves” over the universe
What is the spring season a metaphor for in Ode to the West Wind?
A “spring” of human consciousness
- a renaissance for imagination, liberty and morality
What type of poem is Ode to the West Wind?
Didactic
What does the reader learn from Ode to the West Wind?
Life is resurrected from death
Revolution arises from stagnation
Creative power is revived from artistic sterility
What is the structure of Ode to the West Wind?
Each 7 parts contains 5 stanzas (4 3 line stanzas and 2 line couplet)
All metered in iambic pentameter
Rhyme scheme: terza rima ABA BCB CDC DED EE
Who employs Shelley’s rhyme scheme in Ode to the West Wind?
Dante in his Divine COmedy
How does the poem reflect the speaker’s feelings?
Only the destruction of society as it is currently can pave the way for something new and better
- all the bloodshed and energy of revolution resulted in return of monarchy
- England’s society was becoming more conservative
- people, like Shelley, felt the world was moving backwards
Themes in Ode to the West Wind
The power of nature
- the West Wind’s power and beauty, strong as it is, is at risk by hostile and forces
The power of poetry
- poet adores the power and grandeur of the west wind
The cycle of life
- connection between man and nature and the decay of things
Communication
