Ode to the West Wind (Themes)

Themes

Cycle of Life

This is a poem about renewal, about the wind blowing life back into dead things, implying not just an arc of life (which would end at death) but a cycle, which only starts again when something dies. The dead leaves are stirred to new life, dormant seeds fly, the vapid clouds regroup into an approaching storm, the quiet ocean is shaken awake, dead thoughts quicken new birth, and the poem’s speaker, who had lost his enthusiasm and inspiration, is revived and given a new interest in life. The central metaphor of this poem is the seasons of the year: Autumn in the first stanza and Winter and Spring in the last, with a glancing reference to summer in the middle. Shelley’s choice to begin a poem about renewal in the Autumn, when the whole world is not yet dead but moving toward its death-state, is unusual, but effective: having the speaker bear in mind the rebirth that does not come in the next season but in the season after that is a way of emphasizing how much faith he has in the process of nature. That faith is even more impressive when we realize that the speaker has a shadow of doubt that the cycle will repeat itself indefinitely, as indicated by the fact that the last line says “if Winter comes,” not when. Winter never fails to come, of course, but if we take this statement as an indication of how he thinks the seasons reflect his mental state, we can see that he is not certain of what is going to happen next and only hopes that it will follow the cycle of life.

Return to Nature

Throughout “Ode To The West Wind,” the speaker’s relationship with the wind changes — at different times one then the other is inspired or submissive, used like a tool or the user. The poem starts as an invocation, as the speaker calls upon the wind, mentioning its wonderful accomplishments, begging the powerful wind for its attention. The first three stanzas sing the glory of the wind and its ability to create life where there was none, from the top of the sky to the bottom of the sea. In the fourth stanza the speaker finally comes out with what all of these praises have been leading up to: a partnership, so that he can be the wind’s companion in flying all over the world, the way he did when he was young. At this point the speaker is entirely submissive and his ode is “a prayer my sore need.” In the final stanza, though, the relationship is redefined several times: first the speaker asks to be a lyre, an instrument to be used at the wind’s will; then he asks to become one with the wind, inviting it to be his spirit; and finally it is he who is using the wind as an instrument, “The trumpet of a prophecy.” Critics have pointed out that the inconsistency here goes beyond the normal stretch of imagination that we can accept as “poetic license.” It is perfectly understandable for the speaker to ask several different things of the wind after he has heaped praise upon it for three stanzas, but the difference in physics between being the wind and being the wind’s instrument cannot be excused.

Freedom

The speaker of this poem implies that he has come to suffer some serious oppression lately: “A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed / One too like thee; tameless, swift and proud.” Critics love to look for details within Shelley’s life that would give him a reason to feel this way, but for the sake of understanding the poem it is sufficient to say that he feels confined by the responsibilities of growing up, and that is why, when he looks back on his boyhood, he idealized himself as flying across the sky. If this feeling of increasing limitations is the basis of the poem, then it is no wonder that it is addressed to the west wind with all its might. Appropriately for the daydreams of an adult who feels he deserves better, who is in “sore need” because he never gets to have fun anymore, the wind’s freedom is imagined not only in its ability to go anywhere but also in the freedom to create and destroy. The wind that is recognized for its ability to stir leaves and clouds also has a dark side: it brings autumn, and “black rain, and fire, and hail,” and it has a voice that is so powerful that it can make the plants at the bottom of the ocean “grow grey with fear / And tremble and despoil themselves.” To a speaker who felt less oppressed, the wind’s freedom might be appreciated as a magnificent, magical force, but here the very uses that the wind makes of its freedom are described in terms that equate freedom with power and destruction.

Topics for Further Study

• Write the West Wind’s response to Shelley, in the form of a letter. Should it be a business letter? A thank-you note? A postcard? Be sure to mention points Shelley brought up in his address to the West Wind.
• The speaker of this poem observes winter’s approach and wishes to become one with the powerful wind that brings it. Compare this poem to Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” also included in Poetry for Students. Explain what each narrator thinks about God and nature, and how this affects the tone of each poem.
• How does the speaker’s vast knowledge of meteorology and geography help convince you of his point?