Ode to the West Wind - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Ode to the West Windby: Percy Bysshe Shelley

Kwesi

Abakah

Errol AllenSlide2

Ode to the west wind

#

O

WILD West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being 

Thou

from whose unseen presence the leaves

dead

Are

driven like ghosts from an enchanter

fleeing,

#Yellow

, and black, and pale, and hectic red, 

Pestilence-stricken multitudes! O thou

         5

Who

chariotest

to their dark wintry bed 

#The

wingèd

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

  10

(

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, O hear! 

  Slide3

# Thou

on whose stream, 'mid the steep sky's commotion,

  15

Loose

clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed, 

Shook

from the tangled boughs of heaven and ocean,      

#Angels

of rain and lightning! there are spread 

On

the blue surface of

thine

airy surge,   

 Like the bright hair uplifted from the head

  20

#Of

some fierce

Mænad

, even from the dim verge    

Of

the horizon to the zenith's height, 

The

locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge   

#Of

the dying year, to which this closing night 

Will

be the dome of a vast

sepulchre

,

  25

Vaulted

with all thy congregated might   

#Of

vapours

, from whose solid atmosphere 

Black rain, and fire, and hail, will burst: O hear!    Slide4

#Thou

who didst waken from his summer dreams 

 The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,

  30

Lull'd

by the coil of his

crystàlline

streams,   

#Beside

a pumice isle in

Baiæ's

bay, 

And

saw in sleep old palaces and towers 

 Quivering within the wave's

intenser

day, 

#All

overgrown with azure moss, and flowers

  35

 So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou 

For whose path the Atlantic's level powers   

#Cleave

themselves into chasms, while far below 

The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear 

  The sapless foliage of the ocean, know

  40

#Thy

voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear, 

And

tremble and despoil themselves: O hear!    Slide5

#

If

I were a dead leaf thou

mightest

bear;   

If

I were a swift cloud to fly with thee; 

A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share

  45

#The

impulse of thy strength, only less free 

Than thou, O uncontrollable! if even    

I

were as in my boyhood, and could be   

#The

comrade of thy wanderings over heaven,    

As

then, when to outstrip thy

skiey

speed

  50

Scarce

seem'd

a vision—I would ne'er have striven   

#As

thus with thee in prayer in my sore need

.

  O! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! 

 I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!   

#

A heavy weight of hours has

chain'd

and

bow'd

  55

One

too like thee—

tameless

, and swift, and proud.  Slide6

#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,

60

Sweet

though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce, 

My

spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one! 

#Drive

my dead thoughts over the universe,   

Like

wither'd

leaves, to quicken a new birth; 

And

, by the incantation of this verse,

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#Scatter

, as from an

unextinguish'd

hearth 

Ashes

and sparks, my words among mankind!   

Be

through my lips to

unawaken'd

earth 

#The

trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind, 

If

Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

  70Slide7

Literal sense of the poem

Ode to the West Wind is a poem

that is literally addressed

to the west wind. It is

personified

both

as

a "Destroyer" and a "Preserver". It is seen as a great power of

nature

that

destroys

in order to create, that kills the unhealthy and the decaying to

make

way

for

the new and the fresh

.Slide8

Canto I

“The

poet addresses the west wind as "Wild" and the "Breath of Autumn's Being." It is a powerful force which drives the dead leaves which are yellow, black, pale and hectic red, to distant places like ghosts from an enchanter. The west wind carries winged seeds to their dark wintery beds underground which remain there till the west winds sister in the spring season blows and these seeds then blossom into sweet, scented flowers. The earth then will be alive with these living lives or

colours

and scents or fragrances. In this way the west wind acts both as a Destroyer and Preserver.

“Slide9

Canto II

“The

Shelley describes the powerful effect of the west wind in the sky. The west wind brakes away the "Clouds" like earth's decaying leaves from the boughs of Heaven. After being plucked, these assume the fierce posture of black rain and hail. These rain clouds are compared to the outspread hair covering the sky from its horizon to its zenith. The wildness and confusion in the sky is compared to some fierce Maenad, the worshipper of Bacchus, the Greek God of wine. Maenad worships god in a frenzied fashion, uplifting her hair like tangled clouds. These indicate the approaching storm.

The West Wind becomes a dirge (funeral song) which is being sung for the dying year. The night becomes a vast tomb where

vapours

have been built like arches and will soon come down as rain and

hail”Slide10

Canto III

“The

west wind blows over the blue Mediterranean sea which has been described as a vast sleepy snake, which dreams of old civilization (palaces and towers) rich in flowers and vegetation. The sea sees "old palaces and towers" in sleep, which quiver when the west wind blows. Both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic seas are affected by the West Wind. The Atlantic's surface gets cut into chasms to make way for the West Wind and the vegetation below the surface trembles in fear at the force of the west wind

.”Slide11

Canto IV

“The

West Wind now becomes a personal force. The poet says that if he were a dead leaf, a swift cloud, a wave, he could experience the West Wind's power and its strength. In his childhood, the poet had the power and strength and could probably out speed the west wind, but now he (the poet) no longer has the strength as he has been weakened by the problem, and burdens of life and he is no longer "tame less,", "swift" and "proud" as he used to be in his childhood. He is blushing as he has fallen on the thorns of life - meaning he is facing many problems/crisis in his life which has drawn away all his strength and power; and he is now looking up to the west wind, requesting him for his help

.”Slide12

Canto V

“Despair

and trauma which the poet is experiencing now gives way to a new hope. Shelly offers himself to the west wind in the same way as the sky, the ocean and the forests do. He asks the west wind to be the musician who can take out a deep autumnal tone from him and maker harmoniums music from him in the forest. The poet offers himself to the west wind to be used as a "lyre" for this purpose. The music thus produced may be sad but sweet. The poet then goes on to compare himself to an

unextinguished

fireplace with ashes and sparks - meaning that the poet still has some

unburnt

power in him. He requests the west wind to spread this power like it spreads 'ashes' and 'sparks' among mankind.

The poet ends with the hope that the west wind will carry the poet's words over the entire universe and be the trumpet of his prophecy. Winter is symbolic of despair, coldness and death; but spring gives hope to new life, birth beauty and

colour

. If there is despair now, hope is very close by so the poet says - if winter comes, can spring be far behind. If there is despair and hopelessness now, there is hope and optimism close at hand

.”Slide13

What is the diction

This poem is written in iambic pentameter and use a sort of old

E

nglish dialect. I’d say the language is formal.

Percy stresses and

un-

stresses

some words to make them sound different for a loose fitting rhyme.

He also tries to manipulate the meter so that the actual flow of the poem stays consistent since it is a lyric after all.Slide14

What are the tone and mood

The poem as interpreted by the reader would at first come off as down trotted lyric, but towards the end change to an optimistic piece of literature.

Using darker words, the poet attempts to portray an atmospheres that is more seriousSlide15

Rhetorical situation

For the first 3 cantos, Percy is speaking to the earth, air, and ocean. The last two cantos, he speaks directly to the wind asking it to lift him like a leaf, cloud, and wave to make him their companions in wandering.

Although he is not speaking to the reader directly his main goal is to reach the ear of the reader. He literally wanted his message to be carried by the west wind to those in England to give them hope.Slide16

Figurative language

The first line of the poem “Wild West Wind” is an alliteration.

Throughout the poem the poet addresses the Wind as a person. This is an example of an apostrophe and a personification.

There is a paradox in line 14 when Percy calls the wild spirit of the wind a “destroyer and preserver”

In lines 2 and 3 he uses a simile to compare dead leaves to a ghost. “the leaves dead are driven like ghost from an enchanter fleeing”Slide17

Imagery within the poem

The dead leaves represent the remnants of previous seasons that the wind clears up.

From some of the descriptions on the poem, you can get the image of a funeral. Dirges, corpses, the “dying year”, sepulcher, ashes.Slide18

Sound

Has a rhyme scheme of aba

bcb

cdc

ded

The poem is arranged into 5 cantos(parts of a poem)

In line 14 the repetition of the phrase “Hear! O Hear” is not only an alliteration but it puts emphases on the fact that Percy was trying to reach the West Wind with his voice.Slide19

Poem structure

This poem is a collection of 14 line poems composed of 4 triplets and a couplet

It is written in stanzas and has a rhyme pattern of aba

bcb

cdc

ded