Ode to the West Wind: For spring is not far behind that even the seasoned literary connoisseur is overwhelmed. Boasting seventy noble lines, this masterpiece is no pushover to digest. Digging deeper into Percy Bysshe Shelley's 1819 composition, one can see the old cliché "when one door closes, another opens." This theme is abundant throughout the work and also reaches its peak in the final line of the poem, "If winter comes, may spring be far behind." Through composition, “Ode to the West Wind” is an intense combination of figurative elements. language, sentence structure, chants, sonnets, rhymes, and the list goes on. To start, take a look at Shelley's use of punctuation. The first “sonnet” of the poem is a single sentence. This is a great example of how overwhelming and intoxicating the west wind is to the speaker. The speaker begins to speak, then continues, calling upon the powers and wonders of the West Wind. In a sense, the speaker of this poem is West Wind's biggest fan. After this, the second canto sees the speaker calm down slightly, or at least that seems to be the case, as there are two amazing phrases this time! The speaker finally breathes in his admiration for the powerful wind of this song, and the trend continues throughout the piece as the songs gain more and more phrases as the ode progresses. This can be interpreted by looking at how one might move forward to persuade someone - or something in this case - to do something for that person. You always begin with politeness, with flattery, by describing the “breath of autumn” (line 1). Butter them and do it carefully. Then you start getting straight to the point, such...... middle of paper ...... because there was a storm, and spring wasn't far behind. He packed his bags, got up and moved on with his life. He saw the door to his past close behind him. He moved forward into his future with a new outlook on life. Just as the west wind ends the year and the youth of nature, so life brings death and decay. Without it, there would be no generation of the next big thing…appreciation. The Complete Works of Keats and Shelley with notes by Mary Shelley. New York: The Modern Library, 616. Print. Coleman, Elliot, ed. Selected poems by Byron, Keats and Shelley. The programmed classics, 1967. 454. Print.Nims, John Frederick, comp. The Harper Poetry Anthology. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1981. 764. Print. Reiger, James, comp. Modern Critical Views: Percy Bysshe Shelley. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985. 57-72. Print.

Essay / Ode to the West Wind: For spring is not far behind that even the seasoned literary connoisseur is overwhelmed. Boasting seventy noble lines, this masterpiece is no pushover to digest. Digging deeper into Percy Bysshe Shelley's 1819 composition, one can see the old cliché "when one door closes, another opens." This theme is abundant throughout the work and also reaches its peak in the final line of the poem, "If winter comes, may spring be far behind." Through composition, “Ode to the West Wind” is an intense combination of figurative elements. language, sentence structure, chants, sonnets, rhymes, and the list goes on. To start, take a look at Shelley's use of punctuation. The first “sonnet” of the poem is a single sentence. This is a great example of how overwhelming and intoxicating the west wind is to the speaker. The speaker begins to speak, then continues, calling upon the powers and wonders of the West Wind. In a sense, the speaker of this poem is West Wind's biggest fan. After this, the second canto sees the speaker calm down slightly, or at least that seems to be the case, as there are two amazing phrases this time! The speaker finally breathes in his admiration for the powerful wind of this song, and the trend continues throughout the piece as the songs gain more and more phrases as the ode progresses. This can be interpreted by looking at how one might move forward to persuade someone - or something in this case - to do something for that person. You always begin with politeness, with flattery, by describing the “breath of autumn” (line 1). Butter them and do it carefully. Then you start getting straight to the point, such...... middle of paper ...... because there was a storm, and spring wasn't far behind. He packed his bags, got up and moved on with his life. He saw the door to his past close behind him. He moved forward into his future with a new outlook on life. Just as the west wind ends the year and the youth of nature, so life brings death and decay. Without it, there would be no generation of the next big thing…appreciation. The Complete Works of Keats and Shelley with notes by Mary Shelley. New York: The Modern Library, 616. Print. Coleman, Elliot, ed. Selected poems by Byron, Keats and Shelley. The programmed classics, 1967. 454. Print.Nims, John Frederick, comp. The Harper Poetry Anthology. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1981. 764. Print. Reiger, James, comp. Modern Critical Views: Percy Bysshe Shelley. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985. 57-72. Print.

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