Imagination in Percey Shelley Ode to West Wind

In the first stanza, the speaker expresses the domain of the West Wind, and characterizes the effect of it on the land. It scatters the dead leaves and seeds on the forest soil, where they eventually fertilize the earth and take root as new growth. This concept of rebirth and the interconnectedness of life and death also plays as crucial role in the poem. The personified West Wind is characterized as being both "Destroyer and Preserver." This duality in nature is also an as

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" At the same time however, he also can recall when he too, like the wind was,"tame less, and swift, and proud," but is now "chained and bowed. However, the speaker also comprehends the fact that he too is part of a cycle, and recognizes that he feels "Sweet though in sadness," because he realizes that he will again have a chance to be inspired and renewed. The imagination, as the supreme metal synthesizing faculty, allows a reconciliation of these differences and opposing forces in the world of appearance. This metaphor is advanced by describing the colors of the leaves as "Yellow, black, pale, and red," which can be said to be describing all the races and creeds of humanity. Shelley believes that without destruction, life can not continue. " The recollections enable the speaker to call upon the wind for aid, suggesting that just as land, air, and sea experience seasonal and cyclical change, so too do humans, in respect to their expressive and creative capacity. The leaves, or the sickened humanity, is then personified as people within their graves: "Each as a corpse with their own grave," until the wind again, a representation of poetic inspiration, "shall blow / Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill (Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) With living hues and odors plain and hill;" thereby allowing creative expression to be fully articulated, thus giving life, where there was previously death.

Lines 2-3, in the first stanza suggest that like how a sorcerer might scatter spirits, the wind scatters the leaves. Pleading to be made an instrument of the wind "Make me thy lyre," the speaker envisions himself as a medium of the wind. It is clear, that these first three stanza's, as they relate to imagination, are metaphorically implying that much like the wind, which is inextricably linked with sudden change and the cyclical seasons, so too do our imaginations vehemently take action, allowing for a burst of creative thought and expression when we were once otherwise imaginatively impotent. Parallels between the two stanzas are numerous, as the leaves in the previous stanza were shed from boughs; these clouds were shed from heavier boughs, as "boughs from Heaven and Ocean. Unlike the previous two parts, this scene is introduced as being calm, serene, and peaceful.

The concluding stanza, is the final invocation of the west wind. He so hungers for imagination he is willing to be embodied by a force that he himself describes as unpredictable and dangerous at times, in order to be able to use his creative powers.

Common topics in this essay:
Mediterranean Sea, Destroyer Preserver, Wind Shelley, Ocean Moreover, West Wind, Spring Shelley, west wind, Ode West, ode west wind, ode west, stanza speaker, creative expression, dead leaves, wind speaker, invoke wind, seasonal change, colors leaves, west wind shelley, human condition,

Approximate Word count = 1513
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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