Ode to the West Wind analysis
Ode to the West Wind analysis is one of the finest poems written by P.B. Shelley, a visionary revolutionary, a great lyric poet, and a prophet. It is a masterpiece of lyricism.
It is nearer to music than any other poem in English literature. Shelley’s musical gift has found the fullest expression here.
The poet in this poem appears as a master of harmonies, melody, rhythm, and harmony reach here the heights of perfection. Though the whole poem abounds in music, we may quote the following as a fine recipe-
Summary of Ode to the West Wind
Here the repetition of L’ sound in ‘lulled coil’ C (k) of ‘coil’ and ‘crystamne’ of ‘s’ sound is crystalline and ‘streams’ and of ‘Z’ sound of ‘his’ are remarkable. In this alliteration of the line thus we have ‘artless art’.
Shelley in this poem personifies the west wind and gives life to it that is free. He also humanizes the Atlantic ocean and the Mediterranean sea. But, he does not give these nature forces any human quality. This may be dubbed mythopoetic.
Ode to the West Wind
This poem is very rich in its prophetic quality as Shelley’s poetry is in general. The poet acts as a prophet in this ode:
…… O Wind
If winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
He asks the west wind, the carrier of his prophetic message to propagate it.
Be through my lips of unawakened earth.
The trumpet of prophecy.
This poem is majestic, but it also strikes a personal poignant note. It is coupled with the intensity of emotion.
Ode to the West Wind shelley
The verse in this poem sweeps along with the rush of the wind it celebrates. The poet unlike Keats shows an excess of emotion in the following lines:
Oh lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud, I fall upon the thorns of life, I bleed!P.B. Shelley
But at the same time, they show the complete abandonment of self. On the finest expression made in the concluding line, Stopford Booke says; “The cry is prophetic of this unconquerable hope for mankind which underlying the greater part of Shelley’s poetry, has made half its influence upon the world”.
