Ode to the West Wind

Ode to the West Wind

(Canto – I)

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Stanza-wise Summary

In this poem, Ode to the West Wind, Percy Shelley creates a speaker that seems to worship the wind. He always refers to the wind as “Wind” using the capital letter, suggesting that he sees it as his god. He praises the wind, referring to its strength and might in tones similar to the Biblical Psalms which worship God. He also refers to the Greek God, Dionysus. The speaker continues to praise the wind, and to beseech it to hear him. When he is satisfied that the wind hears him, he begs the wind to take him away in death, in hopes that there will be a new life waiting for him on the other side.

(Ode to the West Wind) Stanza 1

“O Wild West Wind, thou breathe of Autumn’s being,

Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead

Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,”

In the opening stanza of Ode to the West Wind, the speaker appeals to the Wild West Wind. The use of capital letters for “West” and “Wind” immediately suggests that he is speaking to the Wind as though it were a person. He calls the wind the “breath of Autumn’s being”, thereby further personifying the wind and giving it the human quality of having breath. He describes the wind as having “unseen presence” which makes it seem as though he views the wind as a sort of god or spiritual being. The last line of this stanza specifically refers to the wind as a spiritual being that drives away death and ghosts.

(Ode to the West Wind) Stanza 2

“Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,

Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,

Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed”

In this Stanza we find the poet to be rather uncertain and concerned with the violence and terror of air storms. This would also be the tone of this stanza. Shelley seeks to emphasize the terrifying darkness of the storm scene, with its darkness and associations with death. The clouds are described as being dark, stormy, foreshadowing a bad, ill-tempered mood or aura. This stanza also describes the dead Autumn leaves. They are not described as colorful and beautiful, but rather as a symbol of death and even disease. The speaker describes the deathly colors “yellow” “black” and “pale”. Even “hectic red” reminds one of blood and sickness. He describes the dead and dying leaves as “Pestilence stricken multitudes”. This is neither a peaceful nor beautiful description of the fall leaves. Rather, the speaker seems to see the fall leaves as a symbol of the dead, the sick, and the dying. The wind then comes along like a chariot and carries the leaves “to their dark wintry bed”, which is clearly a symbol of a grave.

(Ode to the West Wind) Stanza 3

“The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low,

Each like a corpse within its grave, until

Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow”

The speaker continues the metaphor of the leaves as the dead by explaining that the wind carries them and “winged seeds” to their graves, “where they lie cold and low”. The then uses a simile to compare each leaf to “a corpse within its grave”. But then, part way through the second line, a shift occurs. The speaker says that each is like a corpse “until” the wind comes through, taking away the dead, but bringing new life. The use of the word “azure” or blue, to describe the wind is in sharp contrast to the colors used to describe the leaves.

(Ode to the West Wind) Stanza 4

“Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill

(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)

With living hues and odours plain and hill:”

In this stanza, Shelley likes himself, to a leaf, a cloud, and a wave, subject to the force of the West Wind, and asks to be borne aloft with it. He is asking, in effect, for a return to the raw power and energy he felt and knew as a child. In other words, Shelley is asking the force that gives inspiration to act through him. Here, the speaker describes the wind as something which drives away death, burying the dead, and bringing new life. It brings “living hues” and “ordours” which are filled with new life.

(Ode to the West Wind) Stanza 5

“Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;

Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!”

At this point Shelley makes the direct connection with his need to be inspired by seeing the wind’s force, and the impact made by the wind on forests, creating harmonies in his own mind and verse. Here, the speaker again appeals to the wind, calling it a “wild spirit” and viewing it as a spiritual being that destroys and yet also preserves life. He is asking this spirit to hear his pleas. He has not yet made a specific request of the wind, but it is clear that he views it as a powerful spiritual being which can hear him. The wind as a form of inspiration will enable him to spread his message across the universe. He hopes that radical social change or rebirth of personal inspiration could be accomplished without violence.

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👉 Ode to the West Wind (Canto 2 & 3)

👉 Ode to the West Wind (Canto 4 & 5)

👉 Short Questions & Answers (Ode to the West Wind)

👉 Ode to Autumn - Aspects of Autumn