SUBSTANCE OF THE POEM ODE TO THE WEST WIND

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SUBSTANCE OF THE POEM ODE TO THE WEST WIND

Shelley addresses the west wind as the spirit of autumn. It is called the destroyer because it drives away the decayed leaves. It is also called the preserver because it also drives the seeds underground where they will germinate at the advent of the spring.

The poet also narrates its activities in the sky. There it drives away the loose clouds like decayed leaves. These loose clouds are the harbinger of rain and storm. The whistling sound of the west wind seems to be the death-knell of the passing year.

The west wind has some activities on the sea. It disturbs the happy summer dreams of the Mediterranean by its wild commotion. It terribly agitates the Mediterranean and lashes it into waves. It also makes a passage through the Atlantic Ocean and the trees at the bottom tremble and shed leaves.

The poet then realizes his feeble condition. He is now weak for social conventions and political circumstances. He wishes to share the wild impetuosity of the west wind like a leaf, cloud or a wave. He invokes the west wind to make him his lyre so that his revolutionary ideas may bring out the note of coming millennium.