Ode to the west wind西风颂英文读后感.doc

Ode to the west wind Ode to the west wind was an ode written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. He was an English Romantic poet who rebelled against English politics and conservative values. Shelley drew no essential distinction between poetry and politics, and his work reflected the radical ideas and revolutionary optimism of the era. Shelley's joy, his magnanimity, his faith in humanity, and his optimism are unique among the Romantics; his expression of those feelings makes him one of the early nineteenth century's most significant writers in English. Throughout all the life of Shelly, he wrote a number of allegorical poems. They are Alastor, The Revolt of Islam, The Mask of Anarchy. He also wrote some lyrical dramas among which are Prometheus Unbound, Hlllas and The Cenci, a tragedy in verse form. His lyrics are the best known among the English poets. The most well known is the Ode To The West Wind.In the turbulent year of 1819, Shelly wrote many political lyrics. Ode To The West Wind is the most representative of Shelley's feelings and thoughts at that time. It was in the autumn of that year. He met with the storm. It was said by Shelly that the day was warm originally, but suddenly the west wind became turbulent and the sky was covered with dark clouds. At dusk, the rainstorm and hail were all over the place. So he got the inspiration from this theme and wrote this popular poem. May be due to this, his poem can be so real and grand. He related natural phenomena with the politics and his whole life. He wanted to encourage those struggles for freedom. At the same time, he expressed the hope that its words will inspire and influence those who read or hear it.He wanted his message of reform and revolution spread, and the wind became the trope for spreading the word of change through the poet-prophet figure.The poem was a lyric poem that addressed the west wind as a powerful force and asked it to scatter the poet's words throughout the world.In Ode to the West Wind, Shelley used the wind to represent driving change and a carrier for his ideas.It consists of five cantos. And it can be divided into two parts: the first three cantos and the last two cantos. The former part is an objective description. The dynamic force of the west wind is manifested in its power on the land. In the air, and in the season in a different season. It is the destroyer and the preserver. It will destroy the old world and heard in a new one. The latter canto of the poem is much more fluid than the former one. He begins to realize himself again. Shelly wishes that he was a leaf, a cloud, a wave, so that he could feel the power of the west wind; but he is aware of his age and his sufferings in life which have bent himself down. Finally, he appeals to the wind, the wind of aspiration and change, to reinvigorate him and to give force and persuasiveness to his poetry.In the first canto, the poem begins with "O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's." It impresses us with a passionate tone, and then describes the appearance of the west wind quickly. After that, it tells the effect of west wind to the land: "from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing", "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", "Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air With living hues and odours plain and hill".In the second canto, Shelly changes his perspective. He begins to describe the changes of sky in the wind: the sky is noisy because of you; "loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed" "Angles of rain and lightning: there are spread on the blue surface of thine aery surge , like the bright hair uplifted from the head" "A vast sepulchre halted with all thy congregated might", finally, "Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst". In the third canto, Shelly begins to write the ocean. The blue Mediterranean didst waken from his summer dreams. But it is you that disturb his sweet dream. "Thou for whose path the Atlantic's level power", "cleave themselves into chasms, while far below", "the sea and the oozy woods hear your voice, then suddenly grow grey with fear". It is the storm of nature, and it is also the storm of revolution. Shelly predicts the storm of nature, and he also predicts the storm of revolution. Thus, he expresses his ambition of revolution in the last cantos. The view of his is changed. In the fourth canto, he begins with "If I were a dead leaf thou mightiest bear". And then, he uses several hypothesis in series. It conveys his hatred for the society and himself. "I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!" "A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud". These are what he wants to say about his deepest expectation. In the fifth canto, the emotion is stronger. He hates the society and himself, so he prays for the wind "Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is". Please give me the spirit,"Be thou me, impetuous one". "Drive my dead thoughts over the universe Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth". So, if winter comes, can spring be far behind. He expects the new life born in the revolution. The wind is very important in the whole poem. At the beginning of the poem, the 'wind' is only capable of blowing the leaves from the trees. In the previous canto, the poet identifies himself with the leaves. In the last canto, 'wind' is now capable of using both of these things mentioned before. This poem is a highly controlled text about the role of the poet as the agent of political and moral change. This was a subject Shelley wrote a great deal about, especially around 1819, of this strongest version of it articulated the famous last lines of his "Defence of Poetry". In Ode To The West Wind, shelly wants to show his desire for transcendence. They need an act just like the west wind, in order to change and improve the natural and human world. And I am strongly shocked by his thoughts and ambitions.