Percy Bysshe Shelley's 'Ode to the West Wind' - A discussion

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Seminar für Englische Philologie, Abteilung Anglistik), course: English Romanticism, language: English, abstract: This seminar paper will discuss Percy Bysshe Shelley's poems 'Ode to the West Wind'. The ode written in 1819 is probably '... the best known of his poems, ...' Among the English romantic poets Shelley (1792- 1822) occupies the role of a revolutionary. He was a political visionary committed to social change and progress. During his whole life he defended an ideal and extreme political position towards institutions, Christianity, state, marriage, trade etc. This attitude also influenced his poetry: it was visionary, too. Its aim was to show the people the way to freedom and happiness. The task of this paper is to show the important features of the 'Ode to the West Wind' and to demonstrate in which way the 'Ode to the West Wind' supports Shelley's image of a visionary. First the formal aspects of the poem will be discussed in detail. Then the poem is going to be interpreted. After the conclusion it will be explained how Shelley renewed the English ode and why the poem falls under the category of romantic literature.