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Ode to the West Wind is considered as one of Shelley’s finest lyrics and among the supreme achievements of his rhetorical art. Through the vivid description of the west wind, Shelley shows his indomitable revolutionary spirit and his confidence of the ultimate victory of the freedom. He had never make compromise with the reactionary forces, even though he was criticized maliciously and mistaken as a mad. Shelley stands out bravely to fight with the autocratic government, intending to waken the indifferent society and calling for freedom. Accompanied with the blowing of the Wild West wind, we once again approach Shelley, a poet who fights with the indifferent age for a bright future.
Ⅰ. Percy Bysshe Shelley, One of the Greatest Romantic Poets
Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in a wealthy family, the first son of a prosperous squire. Shelley as a boy felt persecuted by his hardheaded and practical-minded father, and this abuse may have first sparked the flame of protest which, during his Eton years (1804-1810), earned him the name of “Mad Shelley” In Eton, he refused to obey the tradition and was seen as a mad by the others. He would rather to be treated as a mad than to make any compromise with others. His rebellious spirit always supports himself to fight against all of the feelings of hostility.
In 1811, Shelley entered into Oxford University. But less than one year, he was expelled from the University when he published The Necessity of Atheism. Since then, he determined to fight alone for the people he loved, with his pen and indomitable revolutionary spirit. In the same year, he eloped to Scotland with Harriet Westbrook, a schoolmate of his sister. In the next three years, they moved around England to avoid creditors. At the same time Shelley involved actively in political and social reform in Ireland and Wales, writing radical pamphlets in which Shelley set forth his views on liberty, equality, and justice, but little effect.
The poet’s marriage to Harriet was a failure. Harriet drowned herself in the Serpentine in 1816. Shelley married Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, the daughter of the philosopher and anarchist William Godwin, and his favorite son William was born in 1816. In the summer of 1816, while travelling in Europe, Shelley met Lord Byron and developed an enduring friendship that proved an important influence on the works of both men. And Shelley composed the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty and Mont Blanc. In 1817 Shelley published The Revolt of Islam and the much anthologized Ozymandias appeared in 1818. Among Shelley’s popular poems are Ode to the West Wind and To a Skylark and Adonais, an elegy for Keats.
Because of the gloomy climate and suppression in political and social background in England, Shelley moved to Italy in 1818, where Byron was residing. In 1819 they went to Rome and in 1820 to Pisa. Shelley’s works from this period include Julian and Maddalo, an exploration of his relations with Byron and Prometheus Unbound, a lyrical drama. The Cenci was a five-act tragedy based on the history of a 16th-century Roman family, and The Mask of Anarchy was a political protest which was written after the Peterloo massacre. In 1822 the Shelley household moved to the Bay of Lerici, where Shelley began to write The Triumph of Life.
To welcome his friend Leigh Hunt, he sailed to Leghorn. During the stormy return voyage to Lerici, his small schooner sank and Shelley drowned with Edward Williams on July 8, 1822. The bodies were washed ashore at Viareggio, where, in the presence of Lord Byron and Leigh Hunt, Shelley was burned on the beach and later buried in Rome.
Ⅱ. Appreciation of Ode to the West Wind
2.1 Writing Background
Ode to the West Wind was first published in 1820, in Shelley’s collection Prometheus Unbound: Lyrical Drama in Four Acts, with Other Poems. In his prefatory note to the poem, Shelley wrote: “This poem was conceived and chiefly written in a wood that skirts the Arno, near Florence [Italy], and on a day when that tempestuous wind, whose temperature is at once mild and animating, was collecting the vapors which pour down the autumnal rains.” This annotation helps us to know the place and the feeling for a certain kind of atmosphere when the poem was written. Shelley made this note to show that the landscape, the weather and the atmosphere have an influence on him while writing the poem. But Shelley hasn’t talked about his own emotional circumstances, which undoubtedly impose strong effect on the creating of this poem.
Just four months before Shelley began writing Ode to the West Wind in October 1819, his dearest son William had died; the year before, he had lost his daughter Clara. His wife Mary had consequently suffered a nervous breakdown, and he himself was plagued by ill health, creditors, rumors of illegitimate children, and the failure of his political hopes. The public had been largely indifferent to or critical of his writings. And Shelley couldn’t forget the Peterloo Massacre of August in 1819. The cruel oppression on the working class makes Shelley very angry. He wants to do something reacting to the ruling class, but felt helpless to do much on what was happening in England while he was in Italy. Meantime, the European revolutionary movement was in deep depression after the failure of the French Revolutionary War. The cruel suppression imposed on the newly emerging light of freedom has shadowed the coming of the bright future. Shelley was one of those who are not defeated by the depressive revolutionary situation. He still trusted that the ultimate victory for the oppressed people will come definitely, although the revolution is in a crucial time.
Facing with the dangerous revolutionary situation and all of his painful memories, Shelley was in sore need of a kind of power which can provides the people hopes, encouraging them to fight confidently.
2.2 Writing Style
When we read through this poem, we will highly appreciate the exquisite design of the structure. An ode is written to praise and glorify someone or to eulogize something which inspires the the poet. It is usually serious in subject and treatment. But the form of Ode to the West Wind can be diagramed as Shelley’s own invention which peculiarly combines elements of the sonnet with the Italian three-line rhyme scheme known as terza rima. Shelley breaks through the old tradition in which the sonnet is usually used to praise love, creating many encouraging political lyrics. His invention devotes the new contents into the ancient poem form, and makes them contained with new meanings. Most lines of Ode to the West Wind contain ten syllables and the meter is generally iambic — one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
The terza rima rhyme pattern employed in the poem utilizes end-rhymes that create an interlocking scheme that can be diagrammed as aba bcb cdc ded ee. The creative invention of the rhyming scheme tightly connects the lines in the poem, and takes the effect to push on the floating west wind in the poem. Together with the utility of the end-rhymes, Shelley makes the image of the west wind more vivid. The interlocking scheme in the poem expresses vividly the proud and overbearing character of the west wind and echo the blowing of the west wind. The interlocking end-rhymes can also act in cooperation with the uninhibited image of the west wind, which makes the poem more magnificent and encouraging to read. Shelley uses the highly controlled structure to reflect the uncontrolled spirit of the wind which he is dreaming of. In the poem, we can experience intensively the whirling of the west wind through the many run-on lines — phrases that begin on one line and extend to the next, for example, lines 2-3, 6-7, 8-9, 9-10, and 10-11. The explicit design makes the whole poem move forward fluently and the plot more tight.
To keep the difficult rhyme scheme of terza rima moving, Shelley also use some other designs, for example several slant or near rhymes, such as “everywhere” and “here” (lines 13 and 14) and “sepulchre” and “atmosphere” (lines 25 and 27). In order to show the uncontrollable spirit and the strong power of the west wind, some violent words with the use of consecutive accented syllables, are added in the poem, such as in the four accents of “O wild West Wind” (line 1) or the two in “leaves dead” (line 2). The sweep and power of the wind is also evoked by Shelley’s use of alliteration and assonance, even through the run-on lines. “Dark wintry bed / The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low” (lines 6-7), for example, utilizes alliteration in the repeated “w” sounds; assonance moves the reader quickly from “wintry” to “winged,” “cold” to “low.” And the personification is also frequently applied in the poem which makes the poem more vivid. Through the explicit design used in the poem, Shelley successfully show the wild sprit and the unrestrained image of the west wind.
In the poem Ode to the West Wind: The first three stanzas are devoted to a formal invocation. The wind is characterized and praised for its strong power on earth, in the sky, and under the sea. Humanity only enters the picture in stanza IV, in which the speaker begins what he calls a “prayer” to the wind, asking to be mastered by it. In stanza V, the speaker increases his demands: he moves from wanting to be struck by the wind’s force (like a lyre), to desiring to be the wind’s force itself (“be thou me”).
2.3 The Strong Power of the West Wind
In the first three stanzas, we can get the impression of the strong power of the west wind whirling on earth, in the sky and under the sea. The power of the west wind is uncontrollable, and the west wind has the absolute freedom in changing the world. When whirling on earth, the west wind drove the dead leaves. When crossing the sky, “Loss clouds like earth’s decaying leaves are shed”. And the west wind woke the blue Mediterranean from his summer dreams. To make its way to the west wind, the Atlantic’s level powers cleave themselves into chasms. The sea-blooms and the oozy woods, suddenly grow gray with fear, and tremble and despoil themselves when they know the coming of the west wind.#p#分页标题#e#
As the poem makes clear, the west wind is a destructive force, driving off the remaining leaves and darkening the sky with torrential rains, but it is ultimately beneficial and an important part of Nature’s regenerative cycle. And it teaches a lesson: as life is resurrected from death, revolution arises from stagnation, and creative power is revived from artistic sterility.
2.3.1 The West Wind on earth
Ⅰ
O WILD West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s 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 winged 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 over the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill;
Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and Preserver: hear, O hear! （Abrams,2004:1147）
The wind is, of course, more than simply a current of air. In Greek and Latin languages with which Shelley was familiar — the words for “wind,” “inspiration,” “soul,” and “spirit” are all related. Shelley’s “West Wind” seems to symbolize an inspiring spiritual power that moves everywhere, and affects everything. In this stanza, the west wind can be taken as unknown power which can inspire new life. The existing of the power can be observed more obviously when it carries out its power on the outsides. The power has infinite great strength which dominant myriad things in the world. For example, in this poem, the west wind is granted with the infinite power. Shelley highly appreciates the west wind moving everywhere, and performing its strong power to give birth to a new world. In Shelley’s opinion, the wild spirit of the west wind is uncontrollable, and the west wind has the absolute freedom in changing the world. The west wind is depicted as destroyer and preserver, scatter dead leaves and seeds on the forest soil, where they eventually fertilize the earth and take root as new growth. And the theme of regeneration runs throughout this stanza.
Through the vivid description, the poet shows us a picture the West Wind carrying out his strong power on the land. In the first few lines is the wind call “wild”, which is a personification of the “west wind”, together with the alliteration “O wild West Wind” make the “wind” sound more invigorating. We can get the impression that the wind is something that lives, who “art moving everywhere” to perform his power in the world. The west wind blows like “the breath of autumn” being. The “leaves dead” are driven from the “unseen presence” of west wind, like “ghosts driven from an enchanter fleeing”. The “dead leaves” symbolize the English autocratic government, which are “Pestilence-stricken multitudes”. Yellow, black, pale and hectic red all indicated that the English autocratic government has rotted and degenerated. Like the “Pestilence-stricken multitudes” was buried in the wintry bed, the English autocratic government would be crushed under the wheel of the history. The reactionary forces are programmed to be destroyed by their own device. And the “leaves” can also remind us the leaf in a book. Shelley wants the west wind can disperse the dead thoughts in his mind, and brings something new into his works. He is dreaming of the power with which he can waken up the indifferent society. Meantime, “the winged seeds” which symbolize the seeds of freedom have been preserved and distributed to the whole world. When the clarion to battle is sending out on the “dreaming world”, there must be a violent storm pursuing for freedom sweep across the entire autocratic society, just like sweet buds springing up everywhere with “living hues and odours plain and hill”.
The west wind is personified as both the destroyer and preserver. The west wind is considered the “Destroyer” because it drives the last signs of life from the trees. He is also considered the “Preserver” for scattering the seeds which will come to life in the spring. He destroys the entire rotten and degenerated things which are lingering breath of life to oppress the world rapaciously, and preserved the hopes and dreams which will support the people to strive for new age continuously.
2.3.2The West Wind in the Sky
Ⅱ
Thou on whose stream, “mid the steep sky’s commotion,
Loose clouds like earth’s decaying leaves are shed,
Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,
Angels of rain and lightning! they are spread
On the blue surface of thine airy surge,
Like the bright hair uplifted from the head
Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge
Of the horizon to the zenith’s 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! （Abrams,2004:1147）
In this stanza, Shelley “expands his vision from the earthly scene with the leaves to the vaster commotion of the skies”. In the last stanza, the west wind drove the dead leaves from the trees and chariots the seeds to the wintry bed. In the next year, the dead leaves will fertilize the earth in which the seeds were preserved. At this time, the clouds now reflect the image of the swirling leaves. Along with the blowing of the west wind, Shelley leads us to the sky where the west wind is shaking the clouds. The west wind helps the clouds shed rain. The sky’s “clouds” are like “earth’s decaying leaves”, and they are a reference to the image in the first stanza (“leaves dead”). The landscape is recalled again and reminds us the strong image of the west wind on the land. The explicit design in plot also approximately acts in coordination with the terza rima.
The clouds have implied meanings in this section. In the last stanza, the west wind imposed his strong power on earth. At this time, the wind again came into the sky to disperse the old things. The west wind is now whirling in the sky and shaking the clouds from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean. The “clouds” has been quoted as “Angels of rain and lighting”. They may be the messengers that bring a message from heaven down to earth through rain and lightning, to show the coming of the change brought by the wind. The fertilizing and illuminating power of the west wind brings a change to the world. The new age is coming, and the power of the reformation would overcome the entire obstacles. This is undoubtedly a messages delivered to the ruling class, telling them that the time for reformation has come, and There are no reactionary forces can stop the coming of the new age. The storm of reformation is capable of destroying any stubborn resistance. The west wind’s coming symbolizes the end of the autocratic system. He is “dirge/Of the dying year” and also the dirge of the ending of the tyranny. And the west wind brings “black rain, and fire, and hail”. “Dirge”, “the closing night” and “a vast sepulcher” in the poem all used to symbolize the end of the old world.
2.3.3The West Wind under the Sea
Ⅲ
Thou who didst waken from his summer-dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lull’d by the coil of his crystalline streams,
Beside a pumice isle in Baiaelig’s bay,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave’s intenser day,
All overgrown with azure moss, and flowers
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou
For whose path the Atlantic’s level powers
Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below
The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear
The sapless foliage of the ocean, know
Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear
And tremble and despoil themselves; O hear! （Abrams,2004:1148）
Shelley in this canto “expands his vision from the vast commotion of the skies to the world in the sea, where the “old palace and towers” in the tranquil sea world will soon encounter the very rough wave performed by the west wind, and “all the overgrown with azure moss, and flowers” in the sea would bow their necks to the west wind. Here “the blue Mediterranean” used to symbolize the ruler，who is now sleeping soundly，would soon be “waken from his summer dreams”. The ruler lay with “crystalline streams”, the “azure moss and flowers”, but all of his possession would be received by the people again. Their “old palace and towers” is “Quivering within the wave’s intenser day”, all of these forebode the end of their autocracy. Through the description associated with activity and quiet, Shelley uses the strong contrast to imply that the ruling-class is now in a critical situation. Big waves surge on the sea, and the west wind carries out his power to destroy the old things. Facing the strong power of the west wind, “the Atlantic level powers cleave themselves into chasms”. Just like the reactionary classes, who are frightened to do anything except to surrender, facing the strong revolutionary strength. The coward and weakened ruling-classes make their way for the freedom which has been restrained years. And under the power of the change and reform, the ruling-class turn pale with fear, just like the sea-blooms and the oozy woods “suddenly grow gray with fear/And tremble and despoil themselves”.#p#分页标题#e#
In the three stanzas, Shelley gave a vivid description of the strong power of the west wind, which is the destroyer, and also the preserver. We are shocked to see the west wind’s destructive power in the world. Whirling on earth, in the sky and under the see, the wind drove the dead leaves from the tree and regrouped the clouds into an approaching storm which would wake up the quiet ocean in the third stanza. It seems that the wind blows the life of all things in world into dead. But the dead things leaving implies the new life will come in the future, just like the dead leaves make its way to the new life. It’s a cycle of life, in which the new life relives again when something died. The regeneration in the natural world has deeply affected Shelley when he wrote the poem. Now that the cycle of life exists in the nature universally, it will definitely take effects in the human society. In the cycle of human society, the newly emerging forces are bound to defeat what is corrupt and degenerate. Although the revolutionary situation was depressive now, Shelley still trusted that the cold political climate was just a part of the cycle of the human society. He was optimistically waiting the rebirth of the freedom when the wind of change coming. He bore in mind that the awakening of the general people was in the process of the cycle, and following the revolutionary storm, that the old rotten autocracy would collapse spontaneously because the strong power of the general people. What he should do as a poet is to speed up the coming of the revolution, and to spread the seeds of freedom to the people’s heart where the freedom will regenerate someday. Strongly believing in that, Shelley makes the west wind blow across the world with the strong power, which will bring the freedom into the indifferent society .Together with the west wind, Shelley will change the world.
2.4 The Prayer and Confession of the Poet
Ⅳ
If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share
The impulse of thy strength, only less free
Than thou, O uncontrollable!;if even
I were as in my boyhood, and could be
The comrade of thy wanderings over heaven,
As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
Scarce seem’d a vision,;I would ne’er have striven
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
O lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!
A heavy weight of hours has chain’d and bow’d
One too like thee;tameless, and swift, and proud. （Abrams,2004:1148）
Having described the strong power of the west wind imposed on the nature in the last three stanzas, Shelley himself demands that the “wild spirit” of the west wind could become one part of his life in this stanza. The focus is no more on the “wind”, but on the speaker himself who says “If I were...”. The speaker asks to be moved by this spirit, and then he could be granted with the power of the west wind to change the surroundings like the west wind changing the world in nature.
At that time, Shelley is no longer an idealistic young man. He has experienced sorrow, pain and limitations too much. In the conservative age, Shelley could never be tolerated, because his radical thoughts are constantly weakening the tyranny of the rotten ruling class. His efforts were taken as innocence, ridiculed and mocked by others. For those who have been long-time slaved people, they have lost their yearning for freedom but to submit to the reality. But Shelley was still in an optimistic view of bright future of humanity, although he is not sure about how much pain the common people would have to suffer, and how long the autocracy will last. He is worrying whether the common people are brave and firm enough to fight with the unknown difficulties. On his own part, Shelley feels over-torn by the time. And he recalled the old times when he was young, “tameless, and swift, and proud” like the west wind. In his boyhood, “to outstrip thy skiey speed Scarce seem’d a vision” for Shelley. As an idealistic youth, he used to “race” the wind — and win, with his imagination. But now, as an older man, he could never imagine challenging the wind’s power. He stumbles when he asks to be spiritually uplifted. He was in sore need of some power which can help him escape from those obstacles.
So Shelley calls on the wind to inspire him and share the wild spirit the west wind. The images in the previous three cantos, such as “leaf”, “cloud” and “wave” have existed only together with the “wind”, but now they are combining with Shelley. He identifies himself with the wind, together to change the world. Although it is impossible for someone to put all the tortures happened in the past aside and return to his young times, but he can still contribute his experience and thoughts which are beneficial to world. “A heavy weight of hours has chain’d and bow’d” referred to the years that have passed, when the hopes of the people are “chained and bowed”, and Shelley himself were also imprisoned by the indifferent society. Although Shelley knows that the wild spirit is something impossible to achieve, but he does not stop praying for it. There he says “Oh, lift me up as a wave, a leaf, a cloud”. In Shelley’s mind, the only chance to make his prayer and wish come true is by pain or death, as death leads to rebirth. He dares not to “fall upon the thorns of life” and “bleed”, because he knows that the natural cycle would quicken a new birth. Shelley would like to be the one dying for the new birth. And in the society, the revolution would be the only way to liberate the society. On the road to the bright future must be full of difficulties, we have to struggle persistently to obtain the victory, even though we fall upon the thorns of life and bleed.
2.5 The Demand of the Poet
Ⅴ.
Make me thy lyre, ev’n as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own!
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies
Will take from both a deep autumnal tone,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! be thou me, impetuous one!
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe,
Like wither’d leaves, to quicken a new birth;
And, by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguish’d hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawaken’d earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? （Abrams,2004:1148）
This stanza is no more a request or a prayer as it had been in the fourth stanza – it is a demand of Shelley’s. The poet becomes the wind’s instrument – the “lyre” which can send out Shelley’s words with the power of the west wind. Instead of asking to be moved by the wind, Shelley here asks further to become one with this wild spirit. He asks for the wind to breathe new life into him and his poetic art. In the sentence, “Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is”, Shelley used the instrument as a symbol for the human imagination that is played upon by a greater power. Through the lyre, “The tumult of they mighty harmonies will take from a deep autumnal tone”. And now the wind’s breath becomes Shelley’s breath, and Shelley shares the wild spirit with the west wind. With the wild spirit, Shelley can display his talents in the society.
This is a reference to Shelley’s long-cherished wish. Shelley trusts that he can acquire new life in the personal, artistic of political power with the instrumental performance of the west wind. “What if my leaves are falling like its own” tell us that Shelley would like to sacrifice himself for the revolution, even if he has to suffer all pains. He is willing to take on all the sorrows and sufferings to welcome the coming of freedom. He recognizes the sweetness in his pain: he is part of a natural cycle, and will have a chance to relive again both as man and poet. “Be thou me, Spirit fierce, My Spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one”, with his indomitable spirit, Shelley once again expresses his strong wish to obtain the wild spirit of the west wind.
“Driven my dead thoughts over the universe/Like wither’d leaves, to quicken a new birth”, Shelley knows that the pure fantasy can’t obtain revolutionary victory. As a poet, he has the responsibility to waken the common people with his thoughts and shout as a sign of support in political or social movement. Just the west wind, in the first stanza, drove the dead leaves over the forest and fertilized the soil. Now Shelley asks the wind to scatter his ideas and writings among the people in hopes of wakening the indifferent people. Shelley once wrote that “the mind in creation is as a fading coal, which some invisible influence, like an inconstant wind, awakens to transitory brightness.” In this thought, Shelley asks the west wind to arouse the dying embers of his words among mankind. The ashes and sparks of his words would definitely awaken the common people to a new life.
In the last two sentences, Shelley recalls the angel’s clarion, which awaken the earth from wintry slumber in the first canto. Now, Shelley here sends out his poet-prophecy “If winter comes, can spring be far behind?” The sentence is phrased as a question, ending with a sense of expectancy rather than affirmation. In his mind Shelley firmly believes that rebirth will come definitely in the process of nature. Winter never fails to come, so would the spring come too. Observing the change of season-changing in the nature, Shelley believes that the English autocratic system was also experiencing the circle of changing. The new age would come to make an end of the rotten autocratic system in the process of society. Shelley hopes that all the people can stand firmly with him fighting for the new age. And he made the declaration of the new age — now, he breathlessly waits the answer “yes” which will come from the people all around the world soon.#p#分页标题#e#
Ⅲ. Indomitable Spirit of Shelley
Ode to the west wind is not only Shelley’s own meditation, but also is dedicated to the people all around the world. Poetically, Shelley wants to draw support from the west wind and share the power to change the world; socially, Shelley was in sore need of the support from all the people for whom he is fighting. Shelley firmly believes that the oppressed people will rise soon in revolution wave upon wave. Together with the power of people, Shelley would be as strong as the west wind to change the society.
However, for the long-time slaved people, they have lost their yearning for freedom but to submit to the reality. The process to the ultimate victory of freedom needs the efforts from all spheres in the society. Shelley, as a poet, determinedly takes the task which the times entrusted to him. He would spread his thoughts among people even though he was criticized and mocked maliciously in the indifferent society. He suffers the pain of indifference and mourns the extinguishing of a heart. Although Envy, calumny, hate, and pain torture him in his life time, Shelley still feels the sweetness in his pain when he knows that his words can be scattered among mankind. Giving up his own happiness, Shelley withstands willingly the misunderstandings and ridicules in the conservative age.
With the time passing by, Shelley’s work gained the understanding gradually, and his indomitable spirit encouraged innumerable readers to fight for freedom and their rights. Facing the obstruction, he resolutely left the country land; facing the social oppression, Shelley stood out bravely to fight with the autocratic government; facing the indifferent age, he sent out the best wishes for the coming of perfectibility and ultimate progress of humanity. Shelley, with his indomitable spirit, fought for future.
Bibliography
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[3]Abrams,M.H. The Norton Anthology of English literature. New York: W.W. Norton and Company. 2005.
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