Ode to The West Wind

Ode to The West Wind--an formal lyric poem Form

Each of the seven parts of “Ode to the West Wind” contains five stanzas—four three-line stanzas and a two-line couplet, all metered(Metrical pattern(格律): ) in iambic

pentameter. The rhyme scheme in each part follows a pattern known as terza rima, the three-line rhyme scheme employed by Dante in his Divine Comedy. In the three-line terza rima stanza, the first and third lines rhyme, and the middle line does not; then the end sound of that middle line is employed as the rhyme for the first and third lines in the next stanza. The final couplet rhymes with the middle line of the last three-line stanza. Thus each of the seven parts of “Ode to the West Wind” follows this scheme(Rhyme Scheme(韵脚)): ABA BCB CDC DED EE.

The poem contains five stanzas of fourteen lines each. Each stanza has three tiercets and a closing couplet.

Tiercets:a unit of two lines that usually contain end rhyme (三行押韵诗句)

Couplet:a stanza consisting of two successive lines of verse; usually rhymed(双韵，对句)

Rhetorical Divices

Simile, one of the important Lexical Stylistic Devices, is used to make language more colorful and vivid.

“Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing ?” ??

“ The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, Each like a corpse within its grave, until…”

In the first simile, the poet compares “the leaves dead” to “ghosts”, and in the next simile, “seeds” to “corpses”. By using simile, the poet shows us a more vivid picture after west wind blowed, and creates a powerful and magnificent image of the west wind.

Hyperbole, also one of the important Lexical Stylistic Devices, is often used to express people’s strong feeling or violent emotion by remarkable imagination and literary extravagance.

\

Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: O hear! \

In this hyperbole, the poet uses two adjectives \exaggeration. Atmosphere is so intensive that it looks like solid, and rain is so heavy that it seems black. With the hyperbole, the poet emphasizes the hard, depression chaos with turbid storm and wind, so suffocating that it strikes the reader’s vision receptor and impresses the reader deeply.

Parallelism, one of the important Syntactical Stylistic Devices, is used to emphasize the equal importance and weight of parallel parts.

\ Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven O Thou,

Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed The winged seeds \

In the parallelism, the reader learns clearly and impressively that one who is the \Autumn being\the seeds is still the west wind. The action, the manner and the role of the west wind are portrayed intactly, and the poet’s enthusiastic admiration towards the west wind is poured out like running water.

Alliteration, one of the important Phonetic Stylistic Devices, is used to make the language more vivid and impressive and increase the rhythm of the language.

“O wild West Wind ?” ??

“Thine azure sister of spring shall blow ?”

Both the two usage of alliteration not only increse the rhythm but also affect the mood of the poem. The immediate repeated \west wind, whereas the intermittent repeated \invigorating to communicate the breezing of the spring wind.

THEME

The cycle of the seasons West Wind:

Destroyer and preserver

sweeps across the land, sweeps across the sky, sweeps across the ocean Man and wind

Young (possessing the qualities of the wind): tameness, radical, brave, passionate, energetic, courageous, with strong imagination

Old (losing the qualities of the wind): tamed, conservative, inactive, indifferent, cold, loss of imagination

Cycles of death and rebirth

As a magician the wind works it’s magic throughout nature and it knows no bounds as the earth, water and air all feel its power. The imagery associated with this suggests that Shelley expected his work to also spread over the universe, like the wind, to destroy the old and to preserve the new

Image analysis

Stanza 1Destroyer------破坏者Preserver------保护者 Stanza 2The must and the coming of a revolution

Stanza 3The inevitability for the old world to be replaced Stanza 4Emotion: willing to be the revolution’s companion Stanza 5Determined to devote his whole life to the career

In the first stanza, the withered leaves and the west wind are the main images. It begins with the alliteration ‘Wild West Wind’, making the wind sound “invigorating” and living. In “Thou breath of Autumn’s being” autumn is personified, and the west wind is compared to the air

breathed out of autumn, a living being, where the wind is considered as the “Destroyer” because it drives the last sings of life from the trees. However, “Thine azure sister of the Spring” is thought as the “Preserver” for scattering the seeds which will come to life in the spring. Through the comparison, Shelley expressed his strong emotion towards revolution.

In the second stanza, the west wind sweeps the residual cloud in the air, and brings out the storm clouds. “Angels of rain and lighting” is rightly the storm of revolution brought by the west wind，and here by employing personification, it shows the majestic momentum of the west wind. He also used allusion”Maenad”---the god of wine, comparing the loose winds in the wind to the hair of Maenad, and suggested the demonic power of the approaching storm.

In the third stanza, the blue Mediterranean symbols the rulers of the time，but they are sleeping in the beautifully scenery, in the crystalline streams, in the azure moss and flowers. Nevertheless, old palaces and towers, symbolizing the aristocratic rule, quiver in the water. Through the comparison of the still laying seawater and trembling old palaces, the poet predicts that the old world must be replaced by he new world. From the last two rows, we can see the old power will perish.

In the forth stanza, with turning the point, Shelley turns from ode to the west wind to express emotions, to convey his willingness to mingle with the west wind. “One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud” meaning that Shelley was wild, swift and proud as the west wind. The poet expresses his yearning for meeting the windstorm as the flying leaves in the wind, floating clouds in the sky and tumbling waver in the sea. Above all, he presents implicitly the theme: longing for fighting, hoping for the future.

The last canto is the high tide of the poem; in it Shelley fatherly shows the wind will destroy everything. “What if my leaves are falling like its own” demonstrates the poet’s resolution to sacrifice for the revolution. “If Winter comes, can spring be far behind?” This is of course a rhetorical question because spring does come after winter, which does not only mean the change of seasons, but also is a reference to the circle of death and rebirth.

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