Ode to the West Wind

by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

Type of Work and Year of Publication

“Ode to the West Wind" is a lyric poem that addresses the west wind as a powerful force and asks it to
scatter the poet's words throughout the world. (A lyric poem presents the deep feelings and emotions of the
poet rather than telling a story or presenting a witty observation. An ode is a lyric poem that uses lofty,
dignified language to address a person or thing.) Charles and Edmund Ollier published the poem in London
in 1820 in a volume entitled Prometheus Unbound: a Lyrical Drama in Four Acts With Other
Poems. Prometheus Unbound is a four-act play (intended to be read but not performed) that was the
featured work in the volume.
Setting and Background Information
The time is autumn of 1819. The place is western Italy, from the Mediterranean coast inland to Florence.
Shelley makes a specific reference in the poem to the city of Baiae (Italian, Baia), called Aqua Cumanae
by ancient Romans. Its favorable climate attracted vacationing Roman dignitaries to the city, including
Julius Caesar and Nero, who constructed villas there. Volcanic eruptions plunged part of the ancient site
into the sea, as alluded to in the poem in lines 32 and 33. Shelley wrote the poem inland, in a forest on the
Arno River near Florence. His notes on the the poem explain that he received the inspiration for it one fall
day when the strong west wind swept down from the Atlantic and through the Tuscan landscape of west-
central Italy:
This poem was conceived and chiefly written in a wood that skirts the Arno, near Florence, on a day when
that tempestuous wind, whose temperature is at once mild and animating, was collecting the vapors which
pour down the autumnal rains. They begin, as I foresaw, at sunset, with a violent tempest of hail and rain,
attended by that magnificent thunder and lightning peculiar to the Cisalpine regions. (Shelley 239)

Ode to the West Wind

By Percy Bysshe Shelley
Text, Summaries, and Notes
1
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 5
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The wingèd1 seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
 Her clarion2 o'er the dreaming earth, and fill 10
(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, O hear!
Summary, Stanza 1
Addressing the west wind as a human, the poet describes its activities: It drives dead leaves away as if
they were ghosts fleeing a wizard. The leaves are yellow and black, pale and red, as if they had died of
an infectious disease. The west wind carries seeds in its chariot and deposits them in the earth, where
they lie until the spring wind awakens them by blowing on a trumpet (clarion). When they form buds,
the spring wind spreads them over plains and on hills. In a paradox, the poet addresses the west wind as
a destroyer and a preserver, then asks it to listen to what he says.
Notes, Stanza 1
1. The accent over the e in wingèd (line 7) causes the word to be pronounced in two syllables—the first
stressed ....and the second unstressed—enabling the poet to maintain the metric scheme (iambic
pentameter).
2. clarion: Trumpet.

2
Thou on whose stream, 'mid the steep sky's commotion, 15
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 20
Of some fierce Mænad3, even from the dim verge
Of the horizon to the zenith's height,
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge4
Of the dying year, to which this closing night
Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre, 25
Vaulted with all thy congregated5 might
Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain, and fire, and hail, will burst: O hear!
Summary, Stanza 2
The poet says the west wind drives clouds along just as it does dead leaves after it shakes the clouds
free of the sky and the oceans. These clouds erupt with rain and lightning. Against the sky, the
lightning appears as a bright shaft of hair from the head of a Mænad. The poet compares the west wind
to a funeral song sung at the death of a year and says the night will become a dome erected over the
year's tomb with all of the wind's gathered might. From that dome will come black rain, fire, and hail.
Again the poet asks the west wind to continue to listen to what he has to say.
Notes, Stanza 2
3. Mænad: Wildly emotional woman who took part in the orgies of ....Dionysus, the Greek god of wine
and revelry.
4. dirge: Funeral song.
5. congregated: Gathered, mustered.

3
Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay, 30
Lull'd by the coil of his crystàlline6 streams,
Beside a pumice isle in Baiæ's bay,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave's intenser day,
All overgrown with azure moss, and flowers 35
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 40
Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear,
And tremble and despoil themselves:7 O hear!
Summary, Stanza 3
At the beginning of autumn, the poet says, the the west wind awakened the Mediterranean Sea—lulled
by the sound of the clear streams flowing into it—from summer slumber near an island formed from
pumice (hardened lava). The island is in a bay at Baiae, a city in western Italy about ten miles west of
Naples. While sleeping at this locale, the Mediterranean saw old palaces and towers that had collapsed
into the sea during an earthquake and became overgrown with moss and flowers. To create a path for the
west wind, the powers of the mighty Atlantic Ocean divide (cleave) themselves and flow through chasms.
Deep beneath the ocean surface, flowers and foliage, upon hearing the west wind, quake in fear and
despoil themselves. (In autumn, ocean plants decay like land plants. See Shelley's note on this subject.)
Once more, the poet asks the west wind to continue to listen to what he has to say.
Notes, Stanza 3
6. The accent over the a in crystàlline shifts the stress to the second syllable, making crystàl an iamb.
7. In his notes, Shelley commented on lines 38-42:
The phenomenon alluded to at the end of the third stanza is well known to naturalists. The vegetation at
the bottom of the sea, of rivers, and of lakes, sympathizes with that of the land in the change of seasons,
and is consequently influenced by the winds announce it.(Shelley 239)

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 45
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 skiey8 speed 50
Scarce seem'd 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 chain'd and bow'd 55
One too like thee—tameless, and swift, and proud.
Summary, Stanza 4
The poet says that if he were a dead leaf (like the ones in the first stanza) or a cloud (like the ones in the
second stanza) or an ocean wave that rides the power of the Atlantic but is less free than the
uncontrollable west wind—or if even he were as strong and vigorous as he was when he was a boy and
could accompany the wandering wind in the heavens and could only dream of traveling faster—well,
then, he would never have prayed to the west wind as he is doing now in his hour of need.
.......Referring again to imagery in the first three stanzas, the poet asks the wind to lift him as it would a
wave, a leaf, or a cloud; for here on earth he is experiencing troubles that prick him like thorns and cause
him to bleed. He is now carrying a heavy burden that—though he is proud and tameless and swift like
the west wind—has immobilized him in chains and bowed him down.
Notes, Stanza 4
8. Skiey is a neologism (coined word) whose two syllables maintain iambic pentameter.
The s in skieyalliterates with the s in speed, ....scarce, seem'd, and striven.

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, 60
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, 65
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? 70
Summary, Stanza 5
The poet asks the west wind to turn him into a lyre (a stringed instrument) in the same way that the west
wind's mighty currents turn the forest into a lyre. And if the poet's leaves blow in the wind like those
from the forest trees, there will be heard a deep autumnal tone that is both sweet and sad. Be "my spirit,"
the poet implores the wind. "Be thou me" and drive my dead thoughts (like the dead leaves) across the
universe in order to prepare the way for new birth in the spring. The poet asks the wind to scatter his
words around the world, as if they were ashes from a burning fire. To the unawakened earth, they will
become blasts from a trumpet of prophecy. In other words, the poet wants the wind to help him
disseminate his views on politics, philosophy, literature, and so on. The poet is encouraged that, although
winter will soon arrive, spring and rebirth will follow it.

Examples of Figures of Speech and Rhetorical Devices

Stanza 1
Alliteration: wild West Wind (line 1).
Apostrophe, Personification: Throughout the poem, the poet addresses the west wind as if it were a
person.
Metaphor: Comparison of the west wind to breath of Autumn's being (line 1).
Metaphor: Comparison of autumn to a living, breathing creature (line 1).
Anastrophe: leaves dead (line 2). Anastrophe is inversion of the normal word order, as in a man
forgotten(instead of a forgotten man) or as in the opening lines of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Kubla
Kahn": In Xanada did Kubla Kahn / A stately pleasure dome decree (instead of In Xanadu, Kubla Kahn
decreed a stately pleasure dome). Here is another example, made up to demonstrate the inverted word
order of anastrophe:
In the garden green and dewy
A rose I plucked for Huey
Simile: Comparison of dead leaves to ghosts.
Anastrophe: enchanter fleeing (line 3).
Alliteration: Pestilence-stricken multitudes (line 5).
Alliteration: Pestilence-stricken multitudes (line 5).
Alliteration: chariotest to (line 6).
Alliteration: The wingèd seeds, where they (line 7).
Metaphor: Comparison of seeds to flying creatures (line 7).
Simile: Comparison of each seed to a corpse (lines 7-8).
Alliteration: sister of the Spring (line 9).
Personification: Comparison of spring wind to a person (lines 9-10).
Metaphor, Personification: Comparison of earth to a dreamer (line 10).
Alliteration: flocks to feed
Simile: Comparison of buds to flocks (line 11).
Anastrophe: fill / . . . With living hues and odours plain and hill (lines 10, 12).
Alliteration: Wild Spirit, which (line 13).
Paradox: Destroyer and preserver (line 14).
Alliteration: hear, O hear (line 14).
Stanza 8
Apostrophe, Personification: The poet addresses the west wind as if it were a person.
Metaphor: Comparison of the poet and the forest to a lyre, a stringed musical instrument (line 57).
Metaphor: Comparison of the poet to a forest (line 58).
Alliteration: The tumult of thy mighty harmonies (line 59).
Alliteration: Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce, (line 61).
Metaphor: Comparison of the poet to the wind (line 62).
Alliteration: Drive my dead thoughts over the universe (line 63).
Simile: Comparison of thoughts to withered leaves (lines 63-64).
Alliteration: the incantation of this (line 65).
Simile: Comparison of words to ashes and sparks (66-67).
Alliteration: my words among mankind (67).
Metaphor: Comparison of the poet's voice to the wind as a trumpet of a prophecy (lines 68-69).
Alliteration: trumpet of a prophecy (lines 68-69).
Alliteration: O Wind, / If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
.......
Structure and Rhyme Scheme
The poem contains five stanzas of fourteen lines each. Each stanza has three tercets and a closing couplet.
In poetry, a tercet is a unit of three lines that usually contain end rhyme; a couplet is a two-line unit that
usually contains end rhyme. Shelley wrote the tercets in a verse form called terza rima, invented by Dante
Alighieri. In this format, line 2 of one tercet rhymes with lines 1 and 3 of the next tercet. In regard to the
latter, consider the first three tercets of the second stanza of "Ode to the West Wind." Notice
that shed(second line, first tercet) rhymes with spread and head (first and third lines, second tercet) and
that surge(second line, second tercet) rhymes with verge and dirge (first and third lines, third tercet).
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 20
Of some fierce Mænad, even from the dim verge
Of the horizon to the zenith's height,
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge
All of the couplets in the poem rhyme, but the last couplet (lines 69-70) is an imperfect rhyme called eye
rhyme. Eye rhyme occurs when the pronunciation of the last syllable of one line is different from the
pronunciation of the last syllable of another line even though both syllables are identical in spelling except
for a preceding consonant. For example, the following end-of-line word pairs would constitute eye rhyme:
cough, rough; cow, mow; daughter, laughter; rummaging, raging. In Shelley's poem, wind and behind form
eye rhyme.
Shelley unifies the content of the poem by focusing the first three stanzas on the powers of the wind and
the last two stanzas on the poet's desire to use these powers to spread his words throughout the world.

Meter
Most of the lines in the poem are in iambic pentameter, although some of the pentameter lines have an extra
syllable (catalexis). The following tercet from the first stanza demonstrates the iambic-pentameter format,
with the stressed syllables in capitals:
..........1................2..................3.................4.............5
The WING.|.èd SEEDS,.|.where THEY.|.lie COLD.|.and LOW,
..........1................2..............3..............4.............5
Each LIKE.|.a CORPSE.|.with IN.|.its GRAVE,.|.un TIL
.......1............2..........3..............4..................5
Thine AZ.|.ure SIS.|.ter OF.|.the SPRING.|.shall BLOW
Here is a line with catalexis:
........1...............2.............3..............4.............5............
Of SOME.|.fierce MAE.|.nad, E.|.ven FROM.|.the DIM.|.verge
.......
And here is a line that does not follow the format. It is in iambic hexameter:
..........1................2..................3.................4.............5............6
Shook FROM.|.the TANG.|.gled BOUGHS.|.of HEA.|.ven AND.|.o CEAN
Theme and Historical Background
Irresistible Power
The poet desires the irresistible power of the wind to scatter the words he has written about his ideals and
causes, one of which was opposition to Britain’s monarchical government as a form of tyranny. Believing
firmly in democracy and individual rights, he supported movements to reform government. In 1819,
England’s nobility feared that working-class citizens—besieged by economic problems, including high
food prices—would imitate the rebels of the French Revolution and attempt to overthrow the established
order. On August 16, agitators attracted tens of thousands of people to a rally in St. Peter’s Field,
Manchester, to urge parliamentary reform and to protest laws designed to inflate the cost of corn and wheat.
Nervous public officials mismanaged the unarmed crowd and ended up killing 11 protesters and injuring
more than 500 others. In reaction to this incident, Shelley wrote The Masque of Anarchy in the fall of 1819
to urge further nonviolent action against the government. This work was not published during his lifetime.
However, "Ode to the West Wind," also written in the fall of 1819, was published a year later. The poem
obliquely refers to his desire to spread his reformist ideas when it says, "Scatter, as from an unextinguish'd
hearth / Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!" Shelley believed that the poetry he wrote had the
power bring about political reform: "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the World," he wrote in
another work, A Defence of Poetry.