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OdeRomantic · 18205 min · 2 passagesDemanding

Ode to the West Wind

Percy Bysshe Shelley →

Shelley addresses a wind he cannot see and asks it to scatter his words the way it scatters leaves — a request that is also an offer of the whole self.

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Canto I
Apostrophe

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an fleeing, Yellow, and black, and pale, and 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!

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Plain English

O wild West Wind, you breath of autumn, whose unseen presence drives the dead leaves like ghosts fleeing a magician — yellow, black, pale, feverish red, like crowds struck by plague. O you who carry the winged seeds to their cold winter bed, where they lie like corpses in graves until your blue sister Spring blows her trumpet over the dreaming earth and fills hill and plain with living colours and scents. Wild spirit, moving everywhere, destroyer and preserver: hear me, hear me!

Canto V, the request
Metaphor

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 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?

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Plain English

Make me your instrument, as the forest is. What if my leaves are falling too? Your harmonies will draw a deep autumn note from both of us — sweet, though sad. Fierce spirit, be my spirit; be me. Drive my dead thoughts across the universe like withered leaves, to bring about a new birth. With the spell of this verse, scatter my words among people like sparks from an unquenched fire. Be, through my lips, the trumpet of a prophecy to an unawakened earth. O wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?

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The Fire · Romantic poetry

One self, one landscape, one enormous feeling. Every answer comes with the reason and the line that proves it.

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