Ode to the West Wind by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The speaker addresses the west wind as it drives autumn leaves and seeds, gathers storm clouds, and disturbs the seas. Weighed down by life, the speaker asks the wind to restore his strength and scatter his thoughts and words among humanity, ending by asking whether spring can be far behind winter.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Ode, Lyric Poetry, Nature Poetry · 990 words
First lines
(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 is at once mild and animating, was collecting the vapours which pour down the autumnal rains. They began, as I foresaw, at sunset with a violent tempest of hail and rain, attended by that magnificent thunder and lightning peculiar to the Cisalpine regions. The phenomenon alluded to at the conclusion of the third stanza is well known to naturalists. The vegetation at the bottom of the sea, of rivers, and of lakes, sympathizes with that of the land in the change of seasons, and is consequently influenced by the winds which announce it. -[SHELLEY'S NOTE.])
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Ode to the West Wind is listed on Textopian as a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Ode, Lyric Poetry, Nature Poetry
- Length: 990 words
- Structure: 1 section, 31 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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- Work identity for Ode to the West Wind by Percy Bysshe Shelley
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Genres
- Ode — Five verse sections address the west wind directly, invoking its power over leaves, clouds, seas, and the speaker.
- Lyric Poetry — The speaker voices personal suffering and asks the wind to renew his spirit and carry his words among humanity.
- Nature Poetry — Autumn leaves, dormant seeds, storm clouds, and wind-driven seas connect seasonal change with the speaker's plea for renewal.
Tags
autumn · wind · storms · seasonal change · poetic inspiration · renewal