SHELLEY

Wordsworth in the Preface attending that the language of poetry must be the everyday language, but the
language used in the “Ode to the West Wind” isn’t the everyday language, it’s a complicate language. The
Romantic poets had in common some characteristics like: concern for the feelings, love for nature and
overall love for poetry; but they used them in a personal and original way. The preface to the second
edition of Lyrical Ballads is regarded as the Manifesto of the English romantic movement but not every poet
followed most things established in the Preface. The best way to express feelings is poetry but during the
romantic period novels were written.

Three types of novels developed:

- The gothic novel with Mary Shelley who wrote “Frankenstein”;

- The novel of manners with Jane Austen who wrote “ Pride and prejudice” and “Clueless”
- The historical novel with Walter Scott who wrote “Ivanhoe”, and Manzoni who wrote “ The
Betrothed”.

Ode to the West Wind

The “ Ode to the West Wind” was composed by Shelley while he was in a wood near Florence during a
stormy day because for Shelley poetry must express feelings.

The ode is made up of five stanzas and every stanza is made up of four triplets and a final couplet, it’s
similar to the sonnet poem but the English sonnet is made up of three quatrains and a final couplet.
Shelley uses the “ Dante’s Terza rima” ( scheme ABA-BCB-CDC-DED-EE).
The ode is a strange combination between the sonnet and the “Dante’s terza rima”.

1° STANZA: Shelley says that the wind with its strength destroys everything but at the same time the wind
spreads the seeds everywhere which give life to other plants. In the first stanza the poet is describing the
effects of the wind on the land. The symbols are the deadly leaves. In the first stanza Shelley expresses the
moral function of the poetry because thanks to poetry and thanks to his lines he wants change the society
of his time; he didn’t accept the society of his time that in his opinion it was dominated by tyranny,
oppression, etc.
2° STANZA: In the second stanza the poet describes the effects of the wind in the sky and the symbols are
the clouds.
3° STANZA: In the third stanza the poet describes the effect of the wind on the sea, in particular on the
Mediterranean sea and on the Atlantic ocean. The symbols of this stanza are the waves.
4° STANZA: In the fourth stanza the poet moves his attention from the wind to his person with a pessimistic
tone. The poet says he was falling under the sorrow of his life, he suffered, he lost blood (symbol of pain)
because the poet lost his first wife who committed a suicide and his two children; so it’s a negative period,
the poet felt weak because of these sad events.
5° STANZA: in the last line of the fifth stanza Shelley expresses his optimism, his hope in a better future and
in progress. “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” : first of all this line refers to the seasonal change
but this line has also a symbolic meaning. The Winter represents Shelley’s society dominated by oppression
and tyranny while Spring represents the future society advocated by the poet and dominated by love and
liberty.