Ode to the West Wind,Essay Example

Shelley’s famous line from “Ode to the West Wind”, line 70, which references the transition from Winter to Spring, expresses the archetypal ideal of death and rebirth. As such, it is a deeply affirmative line which seems to assert an essential optimism while simultaneously uniting Pagan or pantheistic ideas with the Christian notion of resurrection. The line is very similar in tone and emotion to lines written in Shelley’s unfinished poem “The Triumph of Life.” In the latter poem, the opening lines read “Swift as a spirit hastening to his task / Of glory and of good, the Sun sprang forth / Rejoicing in his splendour, and the mask / Of darkness fell from the awakened Earth.” (Shelley, p.6, 1-4). These lines also show an evocation of an animistic vision where nature is viewed as a manifestation of eternal spirits.

One of the reasons that line 70 from “Ode to the West Wind” remains vibrant to modern generations is because it speaks to the underlying hope that times of misery, desolation, and even death give way to times of birth, plentitude, and life. The line evokes the always present but seldom articulated hope that humanity places in the cycle of life and death. The line lends itself to many associations, ranging from actual death, to times of personal stress and loss. The line can easily be used to comfort one’s self or another by recalling the seasonal nature not only of the natural world but of life-experiences.

The poem is still very relevant today and continues to speak to people and resonate. However, there are subtle aspects to the poem, as mentioned by King-Heale in the study Shelley: The Man and the Poet. In this work, the author mentions that “The verse technique and structure of the Ode to the West Wind could scarcely be improved […] The ever-fluctuating tempo and the artfully random pauses in the long lines reflect the lawless surging of the wind” (King-Hele, 218). This “hidden” aspect of the poem helps to intensify the resonance of line 70 due to its proclamation of optimism.

Works Cited
Greenblatt, Stephan. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. W. W. Norton and Company. New York and London. 9th Edition, Volume 2.

King-Hele, Desmond. Shelley: The Man and the Poet. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1960.