English Literature

The Ode to the West Wind was written by Percy Blythe Shelley.  Percy wrote this poem while traveling to Italy in 1819 during the autumn at the time the west wind blew and this experience inspired him out of admiration of the power of the wind as it blew away the dead leaves. What makes this poem unique was the way Shelley wrote it because it was in a style that was different from the standard way of writing poems.

Besides being used as a medium for communication, Shelley had shown how English could also be used creatively in an artful manner.  This can be done by the skillful use of what is called figurative language or figures of speech.  One particular characteristic that indicates the use of English as an art is their background.  Words are used to represent objects and it is up to the reader or listener to try and create these pictures in their minds.  Imagination is very vital to appreciate the artful use of English for without it, the art in English would be missed or overlooked.  Poems provide the best proof on how English can be artfully employed such as Shelleys poem.

In terms of stylistics, Shelley made use of various figures of speech to make his poem anything but dull. One style Shelley used was foregrounding.  Foregrounding is a technique where the writer would deviate from the standard writing norms.  The result of this would be a less than aesthetic use of words.  One example is his oft-repeated use of the preposition of in some lines such as in the second stanza (Ogidefa, 2008)
Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge
Of the horizon to the zeniths 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
Vaulted with all thy congregated might
Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst O hear

Shelley made use of alliteration where the first letters of the consistently follow in succession.  One example is from the first line, Wild West Wind.  At the start, Shelley sets the tone by making the poem sound invigorating the moment it is uttered.   Because (based on Shelleys experience or anyone for that matter), the wind is a living force of nature and it can also be strong if it wants to, hence, he wanted to capture the powerful essence of the wind.  The alliteration then helps put the readerspeaker in the right perspective and mood especially when these words are spoken vigorously.

With rhyme, where the last words of the lines tend to sound identical, Shelly applied a number of it all throughout.  The first stanza serves as an example of Shelleys liberal use of rhymes which often occurs between the words of the first and third lines
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumns 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,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The wingd 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 oer the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill
For similes, words that are used to describe something of a similar quality or characteristic, Shelley made use these as well such as the following
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

In this case, Shelley describes the movement of the leaves swept away by the wind by comparing it to a ghost pursued by an enchanter that is trying to exorcise it.  Ghosts are often depicted as ethereal, swirling flowing beings and the wind-blown leaves tend to resemble that kind of dynamic movement.  Another use of simile can be found here
The wingd seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow

    In this case, Shelley likened the seeds blown by the wind (hence winged as the wind carries them wherever it blows) and when it settles, the soil, also blown by the wind would cover it up and bury it and in time and with the help of the elements, it will grow like a corpse rising from its grave on the day of reckoning or when the spirit would rise out of it upon germination.  Another  use of simile can be found in these lines
Thou on whose stream, mid the steep skys commotion,
Loose clouds like Earths 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.

    Here, Shelley compares the clouds being detached or torn off a larger mass as if it is being shed off by the larger clouds.  He compares it to the leaves falling off the trees when they change color, a sign of autumn and the detachment of clouds indicate that the west wind is at work, the way Shelley must have observed it.  As for the rains, he must have observed them as they fell to the earth, straight and true in a fine straight as if it were hair rising from the head and made brighter through the illumination provided by lightning.

    Collocation entails the proper and appropriate use of a combination of words.  Such examples would be, Each like a corpse within its grave where corpse and grave go together and are often associated with each other.  Another would be Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere. A spirit is often associated as a dynamic entity, it is never static and always moving.

    In metaphor, certain words are used to symbolize or represent the subjects Shelley mentioned earlier.  These words are used because they possess similar characteristics and attributes to the one being referred to.  Such examples are the following (Zheng, 2009) the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from and enchanter fleeing

In this case, the enchanter represents the west wind as it blows away the leaves the same way the enchanter drives away ghosts.  In addition, the west wind is also referred to as a wild spirit.  Another metaphor can be found here Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven an Ocean In here, a large tree represents that heaven in an ocean.  The giveaway or hint that Shelley was referring to a tree is the word bough(s). Another one, The locks of an approaching storm represents the clouds in the sky when blown, tend to swirl like locks of hair.  Will be the dome of a vast sepulcher represents the night as it creeps in as the daytime gives way.  The night would blanket the sky like a dome and the word sepulcher or tomb adds emphasis that the night is often quiet like a tomb. A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed. Here the hours symbolize the chains that hold or restrain something.  In this case, the heaviness of the hours tends to slow things down (Zheng, 2009)

    With regards to grammar, Shelley deliberately went against the rules of grammar in order to create an attention-grabbing effect.  Nothing gets the attention of the reader and listener like noticing something out of place or out of the ordinary.
On the blue surface of thine airy surge,

Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
In these lines, Shelley deliberately used thine instead of thy. Thine is roughly the equivalent of mine and thy is equivalent to my or your.  The purpose for the intentional deviation from the grammatical norms was aimed at getting peoples attention and helps make the poem anything but dull.

All in all, Shelley made use of various stylistics not only to capture the attention of the readerlistener but also provoke them into using their imagination to better appreciate the beauty and the power of the west wind the same way he saw it.  Through stylistics, he made the wind a living being people could feel even though it is unseen.