“Ode to The West Wind” took me on
quite the whirlwind. Get it? I understand it was corny, but I tried
all right? As a biology major for three years I understand wind from
a scientific perspective, but I may be totally lost on my
interpretation and analysis here. Please forgive me if I am off base
or completely wrong. Split into 5 different sections, there is
distinct analysis of the West Wind and its purpose along with the
narrator's thoughts on it. I found the ode intriguing and will
provide some analysis into the sections and an overall
interpretation.
In the first part, the wind is seen as
a preserver and destroyer in description as it mentions the spread of
disease, but also the pollinator of plants. Therefore we see the two
dichotomous natures of wind in that sense. In the second part wind
in the sense of the heavens, bringing about storms and over the
atmosphere is shown where precipitation an thunder commence
(specifically in line 28). In the third part he speaks of its effect
upon the sea and even there it's power is recognized. Like the first
two sections “O hear” is mentioned. In the fourth and fifth pars
the perspective and writing changes. Here the narrator asks to
specifically be brought along with the winds and see what it sees and
be used by it. In line 57 requesting to be used as a “lyre.” As
Shelley progresses from season to season and the wind's purpose, it
points towards that of the divine and sublime. The wind is a breath
of life and is characterized to that of God. It's strength is vast
and all spreading throughout the world and the seasons represents
different times in life where God has a part in it. Spring as life, fall and summer as growth and slow decline, and then winter which he references in the last line as the end but also the prequel to a new cycle. As the wind can control that of death,
spread life, and brings empowerment, the Wind is something Shelley calls upon to empower himself.
Wind also does this:
Not really relevant, but I thought it was cute. 
I found your analysis of Ode to West Winds to be quite accurate. Considering the different canto’s of the poem I have found that my favorite (and in my opinion the most important one to be) canto IV, and more specifically, lines 48-51. Line 48-52 reads “I were as in my boyhood, and could be/The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven/As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed/Scarce seemed a vision; I would ne’er have striven/As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need”. To summarize, this means that the speaker, who originally pleas to be like a lead or a cloud (referenced earlier on) than he is willing to compromise if it means he is able to have the same relationship he once has with the wind when he was a young boy—the wind was like his friend or “comrade”. When the speaker was younger he felt like the wind made him feel more powerful than he does in the present. This is something he feels he has lost over time—the idea of feeling free and fast and powerful. The speaker says that if he didn’t feel this sense of loss, he wouldn’t be asking to feel this way again. I felt a connection to these lines, as I’m sure most of my peers would. I think as a child we all felt a greater sense of freedom, similar to how the wind blows at its own leisure. When we were younger we all moved at the beat of our own drum, if you will, and were considerably more carefree, much like the wind. Naturally, as we get older, we long to feel such feelings of ease much like the speaker of the poem.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis of the poem. I find the wind in the piece to represent transformation in some ways. The speaker in the poem is deteriorating and begs the wind to use him as an instrument, occupy him, scatter his thoughts and ideas, and help him speak. The speaker wishes to unite himself with the wind and nature in general. As you stated the wind is used as power, and the speaker hopes to gain this power and transform his life. He wishes to feel as he did at another point in his life. For man the wind and nature is bigger and more powerful than what could be hoped for. For this reason the speaker can attempt to elevate himself into a higher standing of life and become empowered.
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