This document provides context about the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and analyzes his poem "Ode to the West Wind". It defines what a poem and an ode are. It discusses how Shelley was invested in influencing society and the role of the poet. The poem appeals to the West Wind to infuse the speaker with power to spread ideas. It describes how the wind drives leaves and brings storms, and how the speaker wants it to play him like an instrument to send his ideas worldwide. The symbols, themes, and autobiographical elements are also summarized.

1. Ode to the West Wind
- Percy Bysshe Shelley

2. Romantic Poet P. B. Shelley
• Born on 4 August 1792—the year of the Terror in France—
Percy Bysshe Shelley was the son of Timothy and Elizabeth
Shelley.
• Prometheus unbound -1820
• classic anthology verse works:
Ode to the West Wind
The Masque of Anarchy

3. What is a poem?
• A poem is a piece of writing in which the words are
chosen for their beauty and sound and are carefully
arranged, often in short lines which rhyme.

4. What is a ode?
• A lyric poem, typically one in the form of an address to a
particular subject, written in varied or irregular metre.

5. ODE TO THE WEST WIND
• Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote "Ode
to the West Wind" in 1819.
• As a political, religious, and
literary radical, Shelley was
heavily invested in his own
ability to influence society.
• Some poets need solitude and
privacy and a retreat in the
woods to do their best work, but
Shelley needed stimulating
arguments and social action.

6. Introduction of the poem
• "Ode to the West Wind" is one of the poems in which he
considers the role and power of the poet or philosopher to
spread new ideas and effect change.
• Its brevity, smooth tone, and straightforward use of natural
imagery present his abstract ideas about philosophy and
poetry in a compact way.

7. • The speaker of the poem appeals to the West Wind to infuse
him with a new spirit and a new power to spread his ideas.
• In order to invoke the West Wind, he lists a series of things
the wind has done that illustrate its power: driving away the
autumn leaves, placing seeds in the earth, bringing
thunderstorms and the cyclical "death" of the natural world,
and stirring up the seas and oceans.

8. • He speaker wishes that the wind could affect him the way
it does leaves and clouds and waves.
• Because it can’t, he asks the wind to play him like an
instrument, bringing out his sadness in its own musical
lament.
• Maybe the wind can even help him to send his ideas all
over the world; even if they’re not powerful in their own
right, his ideas might inspire others.
• The sad music that the wind will play on him will become a
prophecy. The West Wind of autumn brings on a cold,
barren period of winter.

9. • Symbols: The West Wind. Dead Leaves, Funeral song
• Form of the poem: Ode, Terza rima
• Themes: Man and the Natural World,
Transformation,
Morality.
•Mortality
•Language and Communication

10. Message of the Poem
• Shelley prays the west wind to spread his words among
mankind, like the ashes and sparks from a hearth where the
fire has not died out. likewise the worst days will be
followed by happy days.

11. Autobiographical touch
• The poet preserved the dreams and ideals of his
boyhood. It seemed possible to sweep over heaven
as the companion of the wild west wind.

12. Thank you