Ode to the West Wind BY: Percy Bysshe Shelly Rosemary Shafack And Selene Ramerez

1. Ode to the West Wind BY: Percy Bysshe Shelly Rosemary Shafack And Selene Ramerez

2. Percy Bysshe Shelly • Where is this poet from?Field Place, Sussex, England • How long did he live? 29 years Born August 4 1792 Died: July 8 1822 • How do the poet’s life experiences affect his poetry? He received inspiration for this poem when he was sitting on his porch Tuscan, Italy, one storming autumn day, after the death of his son Charles, when suddenly observed a strong wind from the west; sweep across the Atlantic Ocean. Historical events: French Revolution Louisiana territory purchased Missouri Compromise Marriages: Harriett Westbrook – 2 children Elizabeth lanthe Shelly and Charles Shelly Mary Wollstonecraft

3. O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou, Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, Each like a corpse within its grave, until Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow 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: Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear! II Thou on whose stream, mid the steep sky's commotion, Loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed, Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean, Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread On the blue surface of thineaëry surge, Like the bright hair uplifted from the head Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge Of the horizon to the zenith's height, The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge Of the dying year, to which this closing night Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre, Vaulted with all thy congregated might Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: oh hear! III Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams The blue Mediterranean, where he lay, Lull'd by the coil of his cryst� lline streams, Beside a pumice isle in Baiae's bay, And saw in sleep old palaces and towers Quivering within the wave's intenser day, All overgrown with azure moss and flowers So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou For whose path the Atlantic's level powers Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear The sapless foliage of the ocean, know Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear, And tremble and despoil themselves: oh hear! V Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is: What if my leaves are falling like its own! The tumult of thy mighty harmonies Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone, Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce, My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one! Drive my dead thoughts over the universe Like wither'd leaves to quicken a new birth! And, by the incantation of this verse, Scatter, as from an unextinguish'd hearth Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! Be through my lips to unawaken'd earth The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? IV If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear; If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee; A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share The impulse of thy strength, only less free Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even 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 seem'd a vision; I would ne'er have striven As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need. Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed! A heavy weight of hours has chain'd and bow'd One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud. Poem

4. Stanza 1 (S1)O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, Pestilence-stricken multitudes: (S1)Meaning: It is basically explaining, in description, of the winds power. It is also saying that it’s great strength can kill the bright autumn leaves and make them dead as simply stated in the description of the colors “Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red. (S2) O thou, Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed 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 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: (S2) Meaning: This sentence is basically describing the winds effects on property. “The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low” means that its cold grips of the plant seeds are carried from one destination to another. (S3) Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear! (S3) Meaning: That it can destroy and stabilize some places.

5. Stanza 2 (S1) Thou on whose stream, 'mid the steep sky's commotion, Loose clouds like Earth's decaying leaves are shed, Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean, Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread On the blue surface of thine airy surge, Like the bright hair uplifted from the head Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge Of the horizon to the zenith's height, The locks of the approaching storm. (S1) Meaning: It is still describing the winds effects on the sky and the land. “Angels of rain and lightning ” meaning that he thinks thunderstorms sound like angles of rain and lightning. (S2) Thou dirge Of the dying year, to which this closing night Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre Vaulted with all thy congregated might Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: O hear! (S2) Meaning: It is towards the end of the year, almost winter time. The air is so thick is the meaning of “to whose solid atmosphere.”

6. Stanza 3 • (S1)Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams • Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams • The blue Mediterranean, where he lay, • Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams, • Beside a pumice isle in Baiæ's bay, • And saw in sleep old palaces and towers • Quivering within the wave's intenser day, (S1) Meaning: This section describes the setting in which he wrote this poem. He wrote this poem in Italy, on this porch. So he is reflecting on the scenery of when he first his inspiration, from the Mediterranean sea. • (S2) All overgrown with azure moss and flowers • So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou • For whose path the Atlantic's level powers • Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below • The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear • The sapless foliage of the ocean, know • Thy voice, and suddenly grow grey with fear, • And tremble and despoil themselves: O, hear! (S2) Meaning: He is basically describing the scenery of his house in Italy. He also talks about how scared he became due to the wind creating storms in the Atlantic Ocean.

7. If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear; If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee; A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share Meaning: He is saying that if he was a leaf, a cloud, or a wave he could have felt the power of the wind. The impulse of thy strength, only less free Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even I were as in my boyhood, and could be Meaning: His strength is not comparable to the wind’s. The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven, As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed Scarce seem'd a vision; I would ne'er have striven Meaning: If he was in heaven then he would never have to pray to the wind and take its strength. As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need. Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed! Meaning: He wants the wind to carry him and drop him as it would carry a wave, leaf or a cloud. A heavy weight of hours has chain'd and bow'd One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud Meaning: He is now chained and bow’d with the hours he still has on earth.

8. Stanza 4 • If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear; • If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee; • A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share • The impulse of thy strength, only less free • Than thou, O, uncontroulable! Meaning: If he was poor or weak he would still be strong. He wished he was a cloud to move with the wind. He is basically describing strength in different forms. • 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. • O! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! • I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed! • A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed • One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud. Meaning: He talks about his friends in heaven. He states it would seem rare to see light, if he were to see them if he striped the clouds in the sky.

9. Meaning: Drive my dead thoughts over the universe Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth! And, by the incantation of this verse, Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! Be through my lips to unawakened earth The trumpet of a prophecy! O, wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? Meaning: He talks about how the wind has scattered his thoughts they are all over the place, like leaves in the fall. Then he begins to compare his thoughts with other things. At the end he begins to question, if how long it would take for spring to come and fix autumn’s damages. Stanza 5 Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is: What if my leaves are falling like its own! The tumult of thy mighty harmonies Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone, Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, spirit fierce, My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one! Meaning: He ask the wind to make him a lyre and he is comparing its strings to the leaves in a forest. He talks about the sweet however somber sounds of the lyre.

10. Does it create vivid expressions or innovative ideas by manipulating syntax (word order), or semantics (word meaning)? YES; “Breath of Autumn's being, Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, “ . I see myself breathing in a swift of wind on an gray autumn day, by the position of the words on this line. Diction LANGUAGE: Formal, Abstract and vivid • Do any words have other connotations: associations beyond the standard denotation, or definition? • Withered- Dead, Sadness, deiced etc. • Odors- Smelly, stinky, reeking • Vision- prophetic, psychic, foreshadowing Leaves-Came from the latin root Leup "to peel off, break off" Foliage – Frech origin feuille :”leaf” Pale- O.Fr. paile, from L. pallidus "pale, pallid, wan," frompallere "be pale, grow pale," from PIE *pol-/*pel- Prophet- Greek prophēteía. d. Is the etymology (the history of a word's meaning) of any word or words important to the meaning of the poem? (You may use dictionary.com for help with this).

11. Tone and Mood Tone- Autumn season is a period of beauty as well as death. IT sets a tone of sadness, calmness, darkness, extreme in some aspects, sorrow grief etc Mood: Sad, hopeful, sorrowful etc. Atmospheric development: it makes the seem quite sad and depressing because of the repetition of certain words such as, sadness, death, beneath power etc. Irony: He starts the poem with sweet thoughts of the earth, then suddenly transforms from calm tone to devastating. The title is also an irony in the poem because when I think of wind only has an essential to nature, rather than something that brings about change. Emotions- Happy and serene in the beginning then it starts to get very sad and dark. He wanted us as readers to be in his shoes and feel what he felt the same day he found out his sons death.

12. Who:PeryByshee shell • To whom: The wind • What occasion:A sad period in his life ( The loss of his son, Charles) • Purpose: Change brought on by wind • What is the speaker's relationship to you, the reader? • Not communicative • Are you being spoken to directly? No • Are you being ignored? Yes • Are you overhearing the speaker? Rhetorical Situation

13. Fugitive language A majority of this poem consist of Similes, alliteration and Metaphors. However it also has Alliteration, Symbolism, repetition and personification. Simile: “The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, Each likea corpse within its grave” Metaphors: “Angels of rain and lightning” Alliteration: “wild West Wind” Repetition: “ hear, oh hear! “ Personification: “ I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed! “ Irony: “Angels of rain and lightning” Rhyme: “sore need…I bleed! ” No assonance, onomatopoetic words and puns Device Effect: Cacophony, harsh or discordant sounds.

14. Imagery Mental pictures: A dark windy stormy day. I see leaves, tresses, flowers and seeds being blown by the hectic wind. I can see a white beach house on a hill overlooking the Atlantic ocean. There is no sun in the sky, only clouds of gray. • What do you see, hear, taste, smell, touch in your imagination through the words of the poem? I can the movement of the wind swaying the trees while the leaves fall. I can hear thunder from distance and the luminous light of lightening, lighting the sky. I can feel the colorful leaves and water blowing towards the direction. I smell the sweet aroma of rain and ocean breeze • Does the poem use symbolism: an image that has a meaning beyond what it literally represents? • Autumn(a time of death and beauty), • Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red: Represents different people who change do to the motion of the wind. • Winged Seeds: Spring, growth, rebirth

15. Structure Form: Sicilian Sestet…. (a.b.ab.a.b) -15 lines per stanza in groups of 3 -rhyme pattern: a repeated order of rhyme at the ends of lines