Appreciating One of Shelly’s Poem--- After reading Ode to the West Wind
Born in a conservative and narrow-minded country gentleman’s family, Shelly early displayed an inclination for independent thinking and a strong love for literature. Before he was 18, he had already written two romances and published a collection of poems, in which he glorified freedom, exposed tyranny and expressed his sympathy for the oppressed. Being regarded as "noble foolish” and "a folly of the age”, Shelly’s works include the famous natural poem Ode to the West Wind(1819), political poem Song to the Men of England(1819), love poem Love’s Philosophy(1819), poem opera Prometheus Unbounded(1819), and A Defence of Poetry, etc. His short lyrical poems form an important part of his literary output，which are particularly worth reading because they are in essence a magnificent psalm of man’s ideal of liberty.
Ode to the West Wind, which is one of Shelley's most celebrated works, was written by Shelley on a day when the weather was unpredictable and windy. According to Shelley's note, “This poem was conceived and chiefly written in a wood that skirts the Arno, near Florence, and on a day when that tempestuous wind, whose temperature was at once mild and animating, was collecting the vapors which pour down the autumnal rains”.
In Shelley’s eyes, the west wind has got abundant symbolic meaning. The poem reflects the mood of the weather and expresses Shelley’s desire for creativeness and intellect. Just like the other English Romantic writers, Shelley also was born during the period of a great event in Europe – the French Revolution. The Revolution had exerted such a strong influence on Percy Bysshe Shelley that one can easily figure out his political ideas from the poem. Therefore, the west wind also represents all the revolutionary forces of humankind.
Ode to the West Wind soaks with strong emotion and great ideal of revolution and is filled with rich imagination and strict material rhythm. It becomes a masterpiece of Shelly and has long been read worldwide. It is worth our studying and here I’m going to give a stylistic study of this wonderful poem.
It is frequently said that the poetry is the music embodied in the lines and the music is the poetry in context itself. One of the aesthetic values of the poetry lies in its musicality. Shelley is the poet who specializes in the use of rhyme, thus almost all of his poetries can be easily recited and are widely praised by people all around the world. It is no doubt that Ode to the West Wind is the masterpiece which can best represent his high artistic attainments; therefore, it is of great significance to analyze its phonological features. Here I just want to talk about them from the aspects below：
At first, it is its phonological features.
Rhythm and Rhyme. The stanza used in Ode to the West Wind is written in terza rima from Italy. Shelley here uses a three-line unit, a tercet, rhyming aba; the 'b' rhyme is carried into the next tercet, bcb. Each stanza has four tercets of interlocking rhyme, and ends in a couplet using the middle rhyme of the last tercet; thus the rhyme scheme is aba bcb cdc ded ee. The lines themselves are in a (not very rigorous) iambic pentameter.
The iambic pentameter is one of the frequently used rhyme scheme in the English sonnets, being cadenced thus full of musicality. Its strong beat and flying rhyme tempting the author’s feelings to the highest, which make the reader uncontrollably have a desire to put himself/herself in the powerful west wind to experience all the activities appearing in the poem. Therefore, the rhyme scheme has settled its bold and glorious tone.
The rhyme scheme, being aba, bcb, cdc, ded, ee, signifies that there is echoes and gradual advances between the very beginning and later parts in the lines, and finally comes the ending. It is true to all the five stanzas, thus the whole poem proves to be an integrated while theatrical progressive movement. Besides, at the same time, the poet has made a breakthrough---many lines are not only run-on lines, but also run-on stanzas---vividly represent us the west wind in its unruly freedom and extraordinary power. All these lines have accelerated the poetry’s beating, added its musicality, and highlighted though in sadness but sweet music sound of the blowing hard west wind.
Alliteration. Alliteration in the English poetry can not only contribute to its conspicuous auditory effects, but also have significant functions for the expression of the theme. The alliteration in Ode to the West Wind can not be easily numbered, especially for the alliteration beginning with the semivowel /W/, fricative/S/and plosives/b/, /k/, /g/. Example can be easily found in the first stanza:
“O Wild west wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead,
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,”
“Wild west wind” these three one-syllable words beginning with semivowel/W/ sounds dignified and solemn, together with plosive/b/, presenting the chilly atmosphere of the breath of Autumn’s being to give readers a sense of holiness and awesome. Then in second line the poet’s using /S/continuously as consonances, added the alliteration beginning with the/f/, present the rapid speed of west wind’s drafting away after its sudden arrival to rustle the leaves.
Here also got an example in the second stanza:
“Thou on whose stream, ’mid the steep sky’s commotion,
Loose clouds like earth’s decaying leaves are shed,
Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,”
The sound of/S/and/L/has produced a strong “flowing” sound effect. One can feel that the west wind comes to the sky and makes it cloudy. The floating clouds just like the fading and fallen leaves, stream down from “the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean”.
More examples can be found and here I’d not like to list more. While, besides the frequent use of the alliteration, the poet also applies the consonance, rhyme and so on in the poetry. Here I just mention some of them.
For the consonance, here comes the/S/again in the first stanza “from whose unseen presence the leaves dead”; and rhyme can be found in examples “Destroyer and preserver” and “chained and bowed”.
All these use of alliteration and consonance, etc. have helped bring about the main image of west wind’s elegance, swift and violence, and wildness. At the same time, they have played a melodious and lively dancing tone of “Spring” to represent us a pure and peaceful scene after the west wind’s sweeping off the earth.
Elision. When it comes to the elision, it refers to the omission of a sound or sounds in speech. In this poem, there’re many places using elision, which indicates its informal or very casual style, and helps to contribute to the beauty and the unity of the poetry.
“Thou on whose stream, ’mid the steep sky’s commotion,”
Here “amid” is made to be “mid”. By omitting the syllable “a”, this line has got 11 syllables, which has enriched the stringency of the meter.
“If I were a dead leaf thou mightiest 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,”
“If I were” in the third line is omitted. Here the subjunctive mood used is to highlight Shelley’s sense of participation and express his eager and desire to go with the wind and go for the freedom.
Other examples are “o’er the dreaming earth”, “’mid the steep sky’s commotion”, and “ne’er have striven”.
It is true that Ode to the West Wind is in iambic pentameter, though not very rigorous. Elision adopted by the poet helps to achieve the musicality and the integration of the whole poetry. Therefore, it makes the poetry more flowing and cadenced, which fascinates the reader to feel it all to the end without breathing.
When it comes to its graphological features, we mean the encoding of the meaning in visual symbols, e.g. punctuation, and paragraphing.
Punctuation. The most obvious feature of this poetry, when it comes to its punctuation, is its special use of capitalization.
Except the use of alliteration, one that is also worthy noting is the use of capitalization in the poem. The poet employs the “West Wind” instead of the west wind, “Autumn” to replace the autumn, writing the words “Destroyer”, “Preserver”, “Earth”, “O”, “Spring”, “Winter”, etc.
By using these words, the poet wants to dignify and personify the “West Wind” and the “Nature”. Thus, in a typically Romantic fashion an abstract quality or aspect of Nature is personified and addressed in the poem, such that it appears divine or god-like, or as an expression of the divine. The author just wants to make use of it to help to express his strong emotion. He expressed his envy of the Nature and the West Wind for their boundless freedom, and he wished to be free just the wind.
Paragraphing. Paragraphing refers to the way in which a text is divided into paragraphs, that is the organization of the content. In the above parts I’ve talked that there are five stanzas in iambic pentameter in the poem Ode to the West Wind. When one goes through the poem, one could come to the conclusion that it can be divided into five parts according to its contents.
Part1: the first stanza. The poet describes the activity of west wind on the earth.
The west wind plays the role both as a destroyer and preserver. The west wind is considered a destroyer, for sweeping the last signs of life from the trees; it is regarded a preserver, for scattering the seeds which will come to life in the spring.
Part 2: the second stanza. It is the activity of the west wind in the sky. The mighty wind comes to the sky and makes it cloudy, bringing rain and storm. However, after the rain, the world looks new and fresh.
Part 3: the third stanza. It is about the activity of the west wind on the waves of the sea. The west wind comes to the warm and calm Mediterranean and it tells us the freedom of west wind.
Part 4: the fourth stanza. Here the poet begins to connect the wind with himself. He expresses his envy for the boundless freedom of the west wind and his wish to be free like the wind.
Part 5: the fifth stanza. In this stanza, the poet strongly whishes that he could become the free spirit of the wind to scatter his words among mankind. The final line of the poem, “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” has illustrated Shelley’s optimistic belief in the future of mankind.
Then, as to the syntactic features, I only want to focus on the following aspects:
Parallelism. Poetry is the ultimate example of effective parallelism (rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, and lexical, phrasal, and syntactic parallelism). Parallelism of form implies parallelism of meaning, which helps to build up an emotional climax.
Examples are:
“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
The parallelism appeared just like a signal of the poet’s strong feelings, for each time it can help to promote both poet and the reader’s emotion to the climax.
For my part, if the use of alliteration in this poetry can be called the “basis”, then the use of exclamation marks can be called the “gradual advances”, the use of parallelism must be the “climax”, for the parallelism employed in the poetry has greatly contributed to the outlet of the poet’s strong and desirable feelings for the longing for the unruly freedom and extraordinary power of the west wind. The poet wishes that he can be free like the wind to scatter his words among mankind.
The Use of Exclamation Mark. Even if just scanning the poem, one can remember its use of the exclamation marks, for example, “O hear!”, “a cloud!”, “I bleed!”, “its own!”, “impetuous one!”, “a new birth”, and “among mankind!”. In particular, the repeating appearance of “O hear!” and the use of exclamation mark in fifth part.
In Shelley’s eyes, the West Wind played both the role of destroyer and preserver. As a preserver, it scattering the seeds which bring life and hope to mankind; being a destroyer, it swept the bad and backward things, i.e. the tyranny and injustice. Thus, it is obvious that by employing the marks the poet eulogized the wind to strongly express his eagerness to enjoy the boundless freedom from the reality and also his political ideas are passionately provided.
In Ode to the West Wind, there are many figures of speech used, for example, personification, simile, repetition, etc. Besides, one typical feature of this poem is the perfect use of the symbolism of the west wind and other things. These all wonderfully contribute to the best representation of the poet’s strong emotion and feelings.
Finally, it comes to the semantic features.
Symbolism. Shelley gathers in his poem a wealth of symbolism, and employs a structural art at its mightiest.
The most successful one is the symbolic meaning of the west wind. Shelley eulogizes the west wind as a powerful phenomenon of nature that is both destroyer and preserver. The west wind therefore becomes a manifestation of spiritual or supernatural energy, associated with breath, respiration and inspiration, with the Holy Ghost or Spirit, the spirit of life itself. The wind also represents the destructive and revolutionary energies that had been seen in Europe over the previous 30 years, overthrowing long-established and corrupt social order in France and Italy.
Besides, “the leaves dead” represents the reactionary in Britain; “tangled boughs of heaven and ocean” signifies the stubborn reactionary classes; while “the blue Mediterranean” symbols governors at that time. More can be found when one goes deeper into it.
Personification. Ode to the West Wind was in typically Romantic fashion and an abstract quality or aspect of Nature is personified and addressed in the poem, such that it appears divine or god-like, or as an expression of the divine. For example:
“O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,”
“Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill”
“Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain, and fire, and hail, will burst: O hear!”
“Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lulled by the coil of his crystàlline streams,”
“A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed
One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.”
Personification can be found all from the poetry and are frequently used by the poet. Just from the first stanza, the west wind is personified as a man with the appearance of the word “breath”, thus the poet gets to the theme in the opening lines. In the following lines, the pronouns “her”, “he”, “his”, “one” are many times used. The poet gives the life to the wind and calls it “Autumn’s being”, “sister of the Spring” and “Wild spirit” in order to vividly show the readers the wildness, swiftness and powerful ability that only owned by the west wind to create new things and beings. Therefore, the poet’s envy for the west wind is illustrated and can be proved itself.
Simile. Shelley also employs a lot of metaphors in the poems. In the first stanza, “Are driven, “like ghosts” from an enchanter fleeing” is used, which is obviously a simile. The signal is the word “like” to compare the tenor “dead leaves” into the vehicle “ghosts” to meticulously describe the splendid scene of the spreading of the dead leaves swept by the powerful west wind. More examples are:
“Loose clouds like earth’s decaying leaves are shed,
Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,” (from stanza 2)
“Drive my dead thoughts over the universe,
Like withered leaves, to quicken a new birth!” (from stanza 5)
All of these words vividly show us the pictures and images brought by the wild spirit west wind. By describing a series of natural phenomena and the changes of leaves, clouds, and sea influenced by the west wind, the poet expressed his revolutionary ideas.
Repetition. The repetition is a very common rhetorical device. The use of it is not that aimless, instead is to emphasize the important parts to achieve some special effects.
In the forth stanza, “One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud”, here the “and” is repeated to emphasize the wildness and tameless of the west wind as well as the poet’s romantic feelings; The repetition of “O hear!” continuously helps to burst out Shelley’s strong emotion and fully mobilize reader’s hearing, thus making one be personally on the scene to experience the images and feelings within.
Besides, the repeated “If I were” is used not only to express the poet’s hope to just become the spirit of the west wind to scatter his words among the world, but also help to promote the poetry’s content and poet’s emotion to a higher level, thus getting close to its climax.
In Ode to the West Wind we see that Shelley fuses the airy imagery, the interplay of color and light and shadow which are his poetic forte, with the philosophical and moral concerns that tinged his political life. I just catch some points here try to analysis it from the perspective of stylistics.
From the poem I have felt Shelley’s optimistic belief in the future of mankind—“If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” —and I am inspired. I hope this paper can help readers to gain more knowledge of Shelley’s works and his attitudes towards life and society from a new starting point.
Because of my limited scope of knowledge, many relevant problems have not been discussed or not fully discussed. Therefore, much endeavor should be made in future studies and researches to obtain a thorough analysis.
