The Notable Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley is a very influential Romantic poet, who is part of what is the second generation of Romantic poets, the “young hellions”. He is catagorized with Lord Byron and John Keats, who are also important poets during their times. Shelley, like his other two comrades, died at a young age, as they lived fast and hard. He had died in a boating accident, when he was 29 years old. Shelley had a few notable poems, such as Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, and To a Skylark. As a Romantic poet, Shelley often used connected nature to spirit, and did that using examples of personification in his poems Ode to the West Wind and To a Skylark.

In section IV of Ode to the West Wind, Shelley uses three comparisons to nature to connect himself to the wind. “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”. Shelley here expresses how he wishes to join the West Wind; by having it carry him, when he is a leaf, to fly with it, as a cloud, and to move as a wave, under its great power. His spirit is with Nature, and by giving these example of what he wishes to do we can see just how deep that connection goes.

In section V, Shelley’s wishes to join the West Wind become more desperate, when he begs it to renew his spirit, by spreading him across the Universe. “Be thou, Spirit fierce, My Spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one! Drive my dead thought over the universe like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!”. “By the end of the canto, he identifies himself with the West Wind's inspirational force, saying that he is "one too like thee"” (Mooney) He wants to be more and more like the Wind, like when he says “Make me thy lyre”. By connecting more with the West Wind, h...

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...they did or not is shown through the works of art from this time.

Works Cited

Mooney, Patrick. "Temporal Dislocations and Visions of Interpretation in

Shelley's 'Ode to the West Wind.'" 2003. Temporal Dislocations and Visions

of Interpretation in Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind." N.p.: n.p., 2003. N.

pag. Temporal Dislocations and Visions of Interpretation in Shelley's "Ode

to the West Wind." Web. 24 Mar. 2014.

Notari, Debbie, ed. To a Skylark by Shelley: Summary, Theme & Analysis.

Education Portal, 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.

Ode to the West Wind. Cummings Study Guide, 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.

StudyMode, ed. Apostrophe & Personification: Poetic Comparison. StudyMode, 2001.

Web. 24 Mar. 2014.

Text, Critical Interpretation, Summary and Analysis of Shelley’s to a Skylark.
BlogSpot, 27 Oct. 2008. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.