Ode to the West Wind
(1) the situation portrayed in the poem,
Overall it is the poet asking the wind to scatter his words throughout the world
Asking the wind to hear him
First three cantos - decribtion of the powers of the wind
First Canto
Explains the purpose of the wind during the seasons
Shows that the ode to the wind is not only optimistic. Dark element(leaves dead, Ghosts)
The wind is considered the destroyer because of the way it sweeps life from the trees
The wind id considered the preserver because it helps spark spring
Second Canto
On the verge of a storm (the clouds show signs of a severe storm)
The wind is represented again - it is what creates the storm
Describes the power of the wind, it can create black rain, fire and hail
Third Canto
The wind is what wakens the ocean
The ocean has ocean has seen palaces and towers
In the ocean plants and blossoms quiver with fear over the dominant power
Once again, the poet says: O hear
Forth Canto
The wind is uncontrollable
The poet says that if were a leaf or a cloud (from the first and second stanza) he would have never prayed to the wind as he does now (l. 51-52)
He wishes for the wind to carry him away
Fifth Canto
Here the message becomes clear
He is begging the wind directly
Asking him: (line 63-67)
Scatter his words to mankind, and over the universe
(2) an analysis of the lyrical I in the poem,
(3) an analysis of key imagery and dominant semantic fields,
Semantic fields:
1: Dead, ghosts, black, pale, red, pestilence-stricken (diseased), dark, cold and low, corpse, grave = gloomy atmosphere, everything is scary and dead-ish. It's like in the autumn, life dies along with the blooming summer.
2: Stream, sky, cloud, heaven, rain and lightning, storm, rain = some sort of weather-theme. Lines 27-28 - still a gloomy atmosphere?
3: Blue Mediterranean, bay, wave, Atlantic, sea-blooms, ocean = water theme
(4) major themes
Mortality and death - the wind is describes as a funeral song, and the strong
Overall it is the poet asking the wind to scatter his words throughout the world
Asking the wind to hear him
First three cantos - decribtion of the powers of the wind
First Canto
Explains the purpose of the wind during the seasons
Shows that the ode to the wind is not only optimistic. Dark element(leaves dead, Ghosts)
The wind is considered the destroyer because of the way it sweeps life from the trees
The wind id considered the preserver because it helps spark spring
Second Canto
On the verge of a storm (the clouds show signs of a severe storm)
The wind is represented again - it is what creates the storm
Describes the power of the wind, it can create black rain, fire and hail
Third Canto
The wind is what wakens the ocean
The ocean has ocean has seen palaces and towers
In the ocean plants and blossoms quiver with fear over the dominant power
Once again, the poet says: O hear
Forth Canto
The wind is uncontrollable
The poet says that if were a leaf or a cloud (from the first and second stanza) he would have never prayed to the wind as he does now (l. 51-52)
He wishes for the wind to carry him away
Fifth Canto
Here the message becomes clear
He is begging the wind directly
Asking him: (line 63-67)
Scatter his words to mankind, and over the universe
(2) an analysis of the lyrical I in the poem,
(3) an analysis of key imagery and dominant semantic fields,
Semantic fields:
1: Dead, ghosts, black, pale, red, pestilence-stricken (diseased), dark, cold and low, corpse, grave = gloomy atmosphere, everything is scary and dead-ish. It's like in the autumn, life dies along with the blooming summer.
2: Stream, sky, cloud, heaven, rain and lightning, storm, rain = some sort of weather-theme. Lines 27-28 - still a gloomy atmosphere?
3: Blue Mediterranean, bay, wave, Atlantic, sea-blooms, ocean = water theme
(4) major themes
Mortality and death - the wind is describes as a funeral song, and the strong