odetothewestwind赏析

o d e t o t h e w e s t
w i n d赏析
-CAL-FENGHAI.-(YICAI)-Company One1
Luna Shen
Jim Fairchild
Literature of the Romantic Period
10/01/12
Transforming image in Shelley 's poetry
--See through Ode to the West Wind
The west wind was widely adopted in Shelley 's poetry. In his poems, the west wind is always embedded with strong and violent power, which can cause the leaves to fall down onto the floor and tears the clouds high in the sky. Moreover, it can also cause panic of the sea plants and wake up the sleeping ocean. The west wind, according to Shelley, can be regarded as strong power in the revolutionary movement. Also, the poet's eagerness and courage to be integrated with west wind also indicate that she is willing to contribute hisself to the revolutionary movement. The poet believes that positive power will definitely overwhelm the evil and the darkness. Righteousness is surely to win in the revolutionary movement.
In the first stanza, the poet adopted the color contrast tactic and described the scene when west wind swept autumn--"Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red", indicating that turbulent west wind blew down leaves and spread the seeds into land again, waiting for the arrival of spring. In the sentence, people could imagine a fading scene full of fallen leaves. However, when the spring comes, colors will turn soft and bright-- "colors and fragrance will be spread over mountains and plains". The poet proved himself to be "color" player, in several
lines of whose poems, the changing process of the nature, from dull to prosperous, was perfectly presented. Finally, the poet names the ubiquitous west wind as both "destroyer and protector," which includes certain understanding that west wind break the old world and create a completely new world. According to Maharishi, "The nature of life is to grow," west wind is the power of developing.
In the second stanza, the perspective of the poet switched to the sky and described how west wind blew burst the clouds and formed the storm. The poet adopted bolder imagination and regarded the air in the sky to be "waving hair of a madwoman". The so-called "madwoman" or "Maenad", is a character in Greece mythology. She was used to be drawn in an furious image in ancient painting. It is the furious appearance and scattering hair that perfectly portray natural wonders with random floating clouds. This also indicates that nature is both mysterious and dangerous.
In the third stanza, the view was switched from the high sky to the ocean. Shelley mainly described how the west wind woke up the ocean and caused panic among sea pants. Prior to the arrival of the west wind, the sea was as calm as if it has slept for a whole summer. Moreover, it also saw the "ancient palace and pavilions" in its dream. The readers were also able to see reflection of the pavilions the clear water and the ripples formed a scene with full-bodiedly beauty. Then, the sea was also embedded with also personality, who, prior to the arrival of west wind, actively split itself and exposed the sea plants which hid deeply at the bottom of the sea. This peculiar description seems to be completely broad imagination of the
poet, while also complies with the law of nature.
In the above three stanzas, the poet described how the west wind swept from the sky to the sea. However, in the fourth stanza, the poet focused on himself and wished that the wester wind could took him away, like the way it did to leaves, clouds and ripples in the sea. The poet was eager to float in the world freely. In order to demonstrate speed of the west wind and the poet's eagerness, the poet used a series of the same sentence pattern and formed a clanging and floating rhythm of the poetry.
In fifth stanza, such kind of rhythm becomes more vehement and increasingly strong. The poet switched to a series of invocatory sentences, expressing his determination and courage to be integrated with the west wind. A famous aphorism was illustrated in a form of rhetorical questions , which seems as if the poet is asking the readers questions. The west wind seems to have stopped all of a sudden and poetry connotation of the poem suddenly becomes meaningful.
Ode to the west wind is a poem to think high praise of west wind and a song of Shelley's. Shelley is a warm romantic poet, who is also a brave revolutionary soldier. He armed himself with poetries and took an active part in revolutionary movement. In spite of failures and setbacks, he still maintained at a high fighting spirit.
Ode to the west wind is also the voice of the time. In the early 19th century, prior to emerging of scientific socialism and workers' movement in European countries was still in a
spontaneous stage, Ode to the west wind inevitably contained a "mild, indirect and sorrow" tone. However, as pioneer socialist, Shelley held a firm and optimistic belief upon future of the revolutions and fate of the human beings. He firmly believed that justice would surely overwhelmed evil and light would definitely take place of the darkness. The poet, as a"talented prophet" announced that, "If winter comes, can spring be far behind"。