Romantic

Movement
Jemimah S. Zanoria
Rene Wellek
“In a sense, Romanticism is the
revival of something old, but it is a
revival with a difference; these ideas
were translated into terms acceptable
to men who had undergone the
experience of the Enlightenment.”
lyrical ballads
“Poetry should express, in
genuine language, experience as
filtered through personal emotion
and imagination; the truest
experience was to be found in
nature.”
 Birth of English
Romanticism

The publication of the NATURE and

Lyrical Ballads (1798) IMAGINATION are
by Wordsworth and key-words in any
Coleridge. approach of
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

He dealt with
fantastic themes of
legends and
romances.
William Wordsworth

He treated subjects
of common homely
life.
 Most Important Tenets of Romanticism
1. Belief in the importance of the individual, imagination, and
intuition.
2. Shift from:
• faith in reason to faith in the senses, feelings, and
imagination;
• from interest in urban society and its sophistication to an
interest in the rural and natural;
• from public, impersonal poetry to subjective poetry; and
• from concern with the scientific and mundane to interest
in the mysterious and infinite.
 A Rise in INTEREST
Many writers started to give more play to their senses and to their imagination.

They loved to describe rural scenes, graveyards, majestic mountains, and

roaring waterfalls.

They also liked to write poems and stories of such eerie or supernatural things
as ghosts, haunted castles, fairies, and mad folk.
ROMANTIC
WRITERS
William Blake

Jane Austen

John Keats
 (1792-1822) Together with John Keats, he
established the romantic verse as a poetic
tradition.
 Many of his works are meditative like
Prometheus Unbound; others are
exquisitely like The Cloud, To a
Skylark, and Ode to the West Wind.
Adonais, an elegy he wrote for his best
friend John Keats, ranks among the
greatest elegies.
 In Ode to the West Wind, Shelley
shows an evocation of nature wilder
and more spectacular than
Percy Bysshe Shelly
Wordsworth described it.
William Blake (1757-1827)

 poet and artist

 He not only wrote books, but he
also illustrated and printed them.
 He devoted his life to freedom
and universal love.
 He was interested in children and
animals - the most innocent of
God's creatures.
http://www.johnmitchell.org/art_gallery.htm
 Blake’s Art
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/blake
/

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/blake/
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/William_Blake/15.R.htm
 Miscellaneous Blake Facts
• Claimed to see visions of angels, spirits, and ghosts of kings and queens

• First vision seen at

• age 4 (God at the window)
• age 9 (tree filled with angels)

• Favorite brother Robert died and came back to William in a vision to teach him an
engraving technique

• Saw visions until his death; on his deathbed, burst into song about the things he
saw in Heaven
“I must create a system or be enslaved by another
man’s.”
• Illustrated most of his poems as well as those of
other writers
• Printed most of his poetry himself

http://wiredforbooks.org/blake/milton2a.jpg http://4umi.com/image/art/blake/introduction.jpg http://colophon.com/gallery/minsky/jpegs/blakemh2.jpg

 Blake’s “Romantic” Tendencies
• If we see with our imaginations, we see the infinite; if we see
with our reason, we see only ourselves
• Believed everything in life (every object, every event) was a
symbol with a mystical or spiritual meaning
• His poems spoke out against social injustice
• His poetry and art reflect his struggles with the big spiritual
questions:
• Why is there evil?
• Why do evil people sometimes prosper?
• Why do the innocent suffer?
 Songs of Innocence and Experience
(1794)
• Subtitle: “The Contrary States of the Human Soul”

• Innocence: genuine love, trust toward humankind, unquestioned belief

in Christianity

• Experience: disillusionment with human nature and society

• Poems in either “Innocence” or “Experience” are colored by the

speaker’s state
“The Lamb” Little lamb, who made thee?
   Does thou know who made thee,
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
   Little lamb, who made thee?
   Does thou know who made thee?
   Little lamb, I'll tell thee;
   Little lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and He is mild,
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.
   Little lamb, God bless thee!
http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t010
/T010668A.jpg
   Little lamb, God bless thee!
“The Lamb” Explication
• Companion piece to “The Tyger”
• Connotations of innocence
• Symbolism:
• Lamb = Jesus (“Lamb of God”)
• Jesus is also known as a shepherd who leads stray sheep (sinners) back to the flock
(humanity)

• Tone: joyful, bright, happy (contrast with “The

Tyger”
“The Tyger”
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? and what dread
feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
“The Tyger” Explication
• Companion piece to “The Lamb”
• “Did he who made the Lamb
make thee?”
• Questions the reason for the
existence of evil in the world; did
God create evil? Blake can’t
answer that question.
• Symbolism:
• Blacksmith = God/Creator
• Tyger = evil/violence
• Tone: dark, fearful, questioning

http://www.pathguy.com/tyger.jpg
“A Poison Tree”
I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe;
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
And I water'd it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with my smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright;
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,
And into my garden stole
When the night had veil'd the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree.
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/William_Blake/10.r.htm
 “A Poison Tree” Explication
Stanza 1:
• Innocence (friend)
• Imagery • Experience (foe)
– tree bearing poisonous fruit • Don’t hold a grudge
• Letting go of frustrations or problems prevents future
• Metaphor problems
– hatred or wrath Stanza 2:
– apple or plant • Fear, sadness, deceit all allow anger and hatred to
“grow”
Stanza 3:
• Allusion • Apple = wrath
– Garden of Eden • Apple is irresistible to foe
– Adam and Eve Stanza 4:
• “stole” has two meanings: “snuck in” or “took without
• Tone permission”; both are applicable
– confessional • “pole” probably the North Star, indicates a foggy,
especially dark night
• Actual murder not mentioned (speaker doesn’t want to
dwell on it?
PRI D E A N D
PRE JU DI C E
Ja n e A us ten
JANE AUSTEN (1775-1817)
a writer of realistic novels about English middle-class people.

Pride and Prejudice is her best-known work.

Her other novels include: Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Mansfield Park,

Emma, and Sense and Sensibility.
PLOT OF THE
STORY
• Mr Bingley leases Netherfield Park.
• Mr Darcy slights Elizabeth at a local ball.
• Party at Sir William Lucas', Elizabeth refuses to dance with
Mr Darcy.
• Jane goes to Netherfield and catches cold.
• Elizabeth goes to Netherfield to help; mother and sisters visit;
Jane and Elizabeth leave a few days later.

• Mr Collins' letter and arrival.

• They all walk to Meryton and meet Mr Wickham. Darcy and
Bingley meet the group.

• Evening at Phillips'; Elizabeth dances with Darcy, mentions

Wickham; Darcy becomes aware of family expectations for
• Jane and
Collins Bingley;
bores Darcy; Mrs Bennet talks unwisely; Mary shows
off; Bennet family last to leave.
Collins proposes to Elizabeth, rejected.
Netherfield party returns to London.
Collins proposes to Charlotte Lucas, accepted.
Mr and Mrs Gardiner visit and take Jane to London.
Wickham courts Miss King, an heiress.
Elizabeth, Sir William and Maria Lucas go to Hunsford via
London to visit Charlotte.
Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam arrive at Rosings.
Lady Catherine deBourgh rude and condescending to everyone,
especially Elizabeth.
Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, rejected.

Darcy's letter of explanation.

Darcy and Fitzwilliam leave.
Elizabeth, Maria and Jane return to Longbourne, meeting Kitty
and Lydia on the way.
Elizabeth does not reveal what she has learned about Wickham.
Lydia invited by Mrs Forster to go with regiment to Brighton;
Elizabeth advises against it but is ignored.
Elizabeth and Wickham talk of Darcy; Elizabeth hints that she
knows the truth.
Elizabeth and Gardiners go to Derbyshire on holiday.
They visit Pemberley; housekeeper's positive report; Darcy
appears.
Visit with Bingleys, introduced to Georgiana Darcy.

Letters from Jane about Lydia and Wickham's elopement.

Return to Longbourne; marriage of Lydia and Wickham
arranged; Elizabeth learns of Darcy's involvement in
this.
Bingley and Darcy return to Netherfield; Bingley proposes
to Jane.
Lady Catherine arrives to threaten Elizabeth not to
marry Darcy; letter from Collins warning against the
same
Darcything.
returns from London, proposes marriage,
accepted.
Reactions of family to news.
Marriages of Charles Bingley to Jane and Darcy to
Elizabeth.

The End
 REGENCY PERIOD
• MIDDLE CLASS GAINED SOCIAL STATUS; KNOWN AS LANDED
GENTRY
• PROFITS FROM INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND EXPANDING
COLONIAL SYSTEM
• STRIVED TO ALIGN THEMSELVES WITH ENGLAND’S LANDED
ARISTOCRACY
• PURCHASED ESTATES AND COUNTRY HOMES TO RIVAL
ARISTOCRATIC MANSIONS
• NEWLY ACQUIRED WEALTH AND POSSESSIONS
 MR. DARCY
• DARCY IS REPRESENTATIVE OF HEREDITARY
ARISTOCRACY
• WEALTHY LANDOWNER WHO DOES NOT HAVE TO
WORK FOR A LIVING
• EMPLOYS WORKERS TO FARM HIS LAND,
SURROUNDING FAMILIES DEPEND ON HIS PATRONAGE
 THE
• BINGLEYS
BINGLEYS REPRESENT THE NEW LANDED
GENTRY
• BINGLEY’S FATHER ACQUIRED WEALTH
THROUGH TRADE, GAVE UP HIS BUSINESS,
AND MOVED HIS FAMILY TO THE COUNTRY
• HE AND HIS SISTERS ARE NOW
CONSIDERED UPPER CLASS
• BENNETS OWN LAND, BUT THEY ARE A
THE BENNETS
MIDDLE-CLASS FAMILY
• LONGBOURN HOUSE IN
HERTFORDSHIRE – 2,000 PER YEAR
• MUST WORK TO CULTIVATE LAND

• FEW SERVANTS AND LIMITED

FINANCIAL RESOURCES
WOMEN, PATRIARCHY &
PROPERTY RIGHTS
• WOMEN HAD FEW LEGAL RIGHTS
• DEPEND ON MEN FOR PROTECTION AND SURVIVAL
• WOMEN COULD NOT OWN PROPERTY (THEY WERE
CONSIDERED PROPERTY)
• DEPENDED ON FATHERS TO “GIVE THEM AWAY” TO
A LUCRATIVE MARRIAGE
• AT DEATH, PROPERTY WENT TO ANOTHER MALE
HEIR
• FINDING A HUSBAND WAS A NECESSITY NOT A
SOCIAL PREOCCUPATION
 THEME OF SOCIAL CLASS &
LACK OF MOBILITY
• Conflict that arises when members of
middle class, such as Bennets, mingle
socially with members of the upper
classes, represented by Mr. Darcy and
Mr. Bingley.
• Austen was critical of the social barrier
between middle and upper class (while
remaining silent about members of lower
class).
• Elizabeth bennet breaks class barrier.
 THEME OF
MARRIAGE AND
• FAMILY
FUTURE OF BENNET’S DAUGHTERS DEPENDS ON
SUCCESSFUL UNION WITH SUITABLE HUSBANDS
• WOMEN OFTEN FORCED INTO MARITAL UNIONS
PURELY OUT OF FINANCIAL NECESSITY
• NEW IDEAL OF MARRIAGE AND PARTNERSHIP BASED
ON MUTUAL RESPECT AND LOVE
• EXPECTATION OF SOCIAL NETWORK ABOVE
INDIVIDUAL DESIRE FOR PRIVACY
• FAMILY’S REPUTATION WAS TIED TO REPUTATION OF
EACH INDIVIDUAL MEMBER
 THEME OF PROPRIETY, SOCIAL
DECORUM, & REPUTATION
• Person’s value depends on respect of friends
and neighbors.
• Woman who engaged in inappropriate
behavior with a man prior to marriage was
morally corrupt.
• No virtue = social outcast
• Elizabeth values personal worth and
individual character over reputation and status.
• Standards of proper social etiquette
 COMEDY OF
MANNERS
• USES ELEMENTS OF SATIRE TO RIDICULE OR
EXPOSE BEHAVIORS, MANNERS, FLAWS, AND
MORALS OF MEMBERS OF THE MIDDLE OR
UPPER CLASSES.
• INCORPORATE LOVE AFFAIRS, WITTY AND
COMICAL EXCHANGES BETWEEN CHARACTERS,
AND THE HUMOROUS REVELATION OF SOCIETAL
SCANDALS AND INTRIGUES
• WITTY BANTER BETWEEN CHARACTERS
ON A GRECIAN URN
Stanza 1
Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
Stanza 2
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal--yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
Stanza 3
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.              
Stanza 4
Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.
Stanza 5
O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,"--that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
 The Eternal Beauty

Multiple sides of the urn

First stanza - pondering

• 3 possible images are created
• the bride of quietness, the foster-child of silence and slow time, and a Sylvan historian

Second stanza- a couple, again “unheard”, and “never, never”

 The Eternal Beauty

Third stanza- repetition of “happy” “forever”

Fourth stanza- another picture, “forever” but “silent”, unable to tell

Last stanza- speaking to the urn, leaving us with the puzzle “Beauty is truth, truth
beauty,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

2 possible interpretations
ODE TO THE
WEST WIND
 ODE TO THE WEST
WIND
Born August 4, 1792, at Field Place, a place near Horsham,
Sussex, England.
BY PERCY BYSSHE
One brother and four sisters
SHELLEY
Went to Oxford University

First publication was a Gothic novel, Zastrozzi

He loped to Scotland with Harriet Westbrook, sixteen

The family line can be traced back to one of the followers

of William of Normandy.

he challenged the authorities of Oxford, and for his

publication of “ The Necessity of Atheism he was expelled "Percy Bysshe Shelley." Poets.org - Poetry,
from Oxford University. Poems, Bios & More. Web. 07 Feb. 2011.
<http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/179>.
 THE POEM like a sorcerer might frighten away spirits, the wind
I
scatters leaves.
O WILD West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being  
the winds of inspiration make way for new talent and
Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead  ideas by driving away the memories of the old
Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,    The colors named here might simply indicate the
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, 
different shades of the leaves, but it is also possible
to interpret the leaves as symbols of humanity's
Pestilence-stricken multitudes! O thou     dying masses
5  Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed the wind is a chariot that carries leaves and seeds to
The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low,  the cold earth
Each like a corpse within its grave, until  The leaves are people within their graves
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow     The spring wind is feminine
Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill   the wind is the powerful spirit of nature that
incorporates both destruction and continuing life
10(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)   
without destruction, life cannot continue
With living hues and odours plain and hill; 

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;  Gupta, Prasoon. "Ode to the West Wind." Creativeteensclub.org. Prasoon Gupta, 12 Mar.
2008. Web. 08 Feb. 2011. <http://www.creativeteensclub.org/ctc/node/37>.
Destroyer and preserver; hear, O hear! "610. Ode to the West Wind. Percy Bysshe Shelley. The Oxford Book of English Verse."
Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More.
Web. 08 Feb. 2011. <http://www.bartleby.com/101/610.html>.
 II

Thou on whose stream, 'mid the steep sky's commotion

Paraphrase
Loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed,  The wind blows around the clouds
Shook from the tangled boughs of heaven and ocean, and shakes rain from the heavens
Angels of rain and lightning! there are spread and the oceans.
On the blue surface of thine airy surge,   

Like the bright hair uplifted from the head The wail of the wind is a song of
Of some fierce Mænad, even from the dim verge grief
Of the horizon to the zenith's height, 
As the year draws to a close, Nature
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge 
prepares for the funeral
Of the dying year, to which this closing night 

Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,   This last day ends in darkness,
Vaulted with all thy congregated might   under storm clouds.
Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere 

Black rain, and fire, and hail, will burst: O hear!  

Gupta, Prasoon. "Ode to the West Wind." Creativeteensclub.org. Prasoon Gupta, 12 Mar.
2008. Web. 08 Feb. 2011. <http://www.creativeteensclub.org/ctc/node/37>.
"610. Ode to the West Wind. Percy Bysshe Shelley. The Oxford Book of English Verse."
Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More.
Web. 08 Feb. 2011. <http://www.bartleby.com/101/610.html>.
 III
Paraphrase
Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The Mediterranean Sea is smooth and tranquil,
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,  sleeping alongside the old Italian town of Baiae
 Lull'd by the coil of his crystàlline streams,   the peace of the seascape reminds the West Wind
 Beside a pumice isle in Baiæ's bay,  of its power to churn up wild, whitecapped surf.
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers   The lush sea foliage is aware of the wind's ability to
destroy; remembering the havoc of cold weather
Quivering within the wave's intenser day,  
storms, the vegetation is drained of color, as a
All overgrown with azure moss, and flowers   person turns pale with fear, or as plant life on Earth
fades in the fall
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou 
For whose path the Atlantic's level powers    
The natural cycles of death and regeneration
continue underwater, with the aid of the West
Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below  Wind.
The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear   
The sapless foliage of the ocean, know  
Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear, 
Gupta, Prasoon. "Ode to the West Wind." Creativeteensclub.org. Prasoon Gupta, 12 Mar.
And tremble and despoil themselves: O hear!   2008. Web. 08 Feb. 2011. <http://www.creativeteensclub.org/ctc/node/37>.
"610. Ode to the West Wind. Percy Bysshe Shelley. The Oxford Book of English Verse."
Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds
More. Web. 08 Feb. 2011. <http://www.bartleby.com/101/610.html>.
 IV

If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;   Paraphrase

If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;  If he were a dead leaf or a swift cloud, he would fly with
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share  the wind and share its power.
The impulse of thy strength, only less free He would have more strength, like he was in his boyhood.
Than thou, O uncontrollable! if even  he used to "race" the wind and win, in his own mind. But
now, as an older man, he could never imagine
I were as in my boyhood, and could be
challenging the wind's power.
The comrade of thy wanderings over heaven, 
the patterns of sea, earth, and sky are recalled as he asks
As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed   to be raised from his sorrows by the inspirational West
Scarce seem'd a vision—I would ne'er have Wind
striven  his life experiences have been heavy crosses for him to
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need bear and have weighed him down. And yet there still
seem to be sparks of life and hope within him. He can still
O! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! 
recall when he possessed many of the wind's powers and
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!  qualities.
A heavy weight of hours has chain'd and bow'd Gupta, Prasoon. "Ode to the West Wind." Creativeteensclub.org. Prasoon Gupta, 12 Mar.
2008. Web. 08 Feb. 2011. <http://www.creativeteensclub.org/ctc/node/37>.
One too like thee—tameless, and swift, and "610. Ode to the West Wind. Percy Bysshe Shelley. The Oxford Book of English Verse."
proud. Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds
More. Web. 08 Feb. 2011. <http://www.bartleby.com/101/610.html>.
 V
Paraphrase
Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:  
he seems to accept his sorrows and sufferings; he realizes
What if my leaves are falling like its own?  that the wind's power may allow him to add harmony to
autumn's music. He is still sad, but he recognizes a
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies     sweetness in his pain: he is part of a natural cycle, and will
have a chance to begin again as both man and poet.
Will take from both a deep autumnal tone,  
The wind blew leaves over the forest floor, fertilizing the soil;
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,  now, he asks the wind to scatter his timeworn ideas and
writings across the earth in hopes of inspiring new thoughts
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!  and works.
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe,   He is echoing the idea of the mind in creation is as a fading
coal, which some invisible influence, like an inconstant wind,
Like wither'd leaves, to quicken a new birth;  awakens to transitory brightness.

And, by the incantation of this verse,   He asks to become the poet-prophet of the new season of
renewal.
Scatter, as from an unextinguish'd hearth  he has made his case and plea to assist the wind in the
declaration of a new age but he has not yet received an
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! 
answer. he breathlessly awaits a "yes", delivered on the
Be through my lips to unawaken'd earth   wings of the wind.

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,  Gupta, Prasoon. "Ode to the West Wind." Creativeteensclub.org. Prasoon Gupta, 12 Mar.
2008. Web. 08 Feb. 2011. <http://www.creativeteensclub.org/ctc/node/37>.
"610. Ode to the West Wind. Percy Bysshe Shelley. The Oxford Book of English Verse."
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds
More. Web. 08 Feb. 2011. <http://www.bartleby.com/101/610.html>.
DICTION
The poem uses formal abstract vivid diction.
It does create vivid expressions by using semantics.

Tone and mood of poem

• The emotion of awe and astonishment at the wind is conveyed.
• The Author creates an atmosphere of awe at what the wind does.
• this poem is ecstatic
• the poem invokes happiness and peace in us

"275. Ode to the West Wind. P. B. Shelley. The Golden Treasury."

Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and
Hundreds More. Web. 14 Feb. 2011.
<http://www.bartleby.com/106/275.html>.
RHETORICAL SITUATION
Who is speaking? The speaker might be the author
himself.
To whom? He is trying to invoke the west wind to hear
him.
For what purpose? The author is intending to express his
ideas about the power, import, quality, and effect of
aesthetic expression.
Speaker’s relationship to us: We are being ignored by the
speaker.
"275. Ode to the West Wind. P. B. Shelley. The Golden Treasury."
Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels,
Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 14 Feb. 2011.
<http://www.bartleby.com/106/275.html>.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Similes - compares seeds to a corpse within its grave.
“The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low, Each like
a corpse within its grave”
Metaphor - compares the west wind to the breath of
autumn. “O WILD West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's
being”
Personification- the year is given the human quality of
death. “Thou dirge Of the dying year”

"275. Ode to the West Wind. P. B. Shelley. The Golden Treasury."

Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and
Hundreds More. Web. 14 Feb. 2011.
<http://www.bartleby.com/106/275.html>.
 IMAGERY
Creates a picture of leaves flowing in the wind
Hear: wind blowing, leaves crinkling, and the trumpet
Smell: rain, burning fire, and the ocean
Touch: wind and rain
Rhyme: it has approximate repetition of final sound
Repetition: Repetition of the letter “O” in context of “O
Wild West Wind” and “O Wind”
Alliteration: there is no repetition of consonant sound in
the beginning of the word, however there is in the
example: “Dead” and “Red”
Onomatopoeic: there is no onomatopoeia
 STRUCTURE
It has 5 stanzas
The way this sonnet is structured is with “ABAB CB DEDE FE FG” form.