Ode to the West Wind

In class on Tuesday, we briefly discussed how the readings for Thursday were Shelley's political poems. Upon my initial reading, I didn't quite understand how this poem represented Shelley's involvement in politics. The footnotes gave some suggestions, but I think ultimately this poem is about the helplessness that Shelley was feeling. Because he was in Italy when he wrote this poem, he most likely felt disconnected from the political happenings in his native Britain. The footnotes mention that "the spirit of liberty was said to have deserted Europe." It goes on to talk about how the West Wind would bring this spirit back to Europe, but I think this West Wind is actually pushing him further away from his native country. In the first stanza, Shelley is feeling extremely disconnected. The West Wind drives up dead leaves "like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing" (3). This is Shelley claiming that the political figures who may have once been activists and causing some upheaval, have now given up on the cause, and are also being moved out of England. As one of the political figures, Shelley felt helpless in his position. The wind, another invisible force, is something he cannot fight.

Another thing I found interesting about this poem is Shelley's use of comparisons over metaphors. As in "To a Sky-Lark," Shelley again uses similes which I think makes the poem stronger. As we discussed, Coleridge and Wordsworth had a tendency to create really grand images that could be difficult to grasp. Although Shelley still manages to make the unseen forces seem out of reach, he still allows for more footholds for his audience because he uses several similes that create images that are relatively easy to conceptualize.