Transcript Document

•Where is this poet from?
Field Place, Sussex, England
•How long did he live?
29 years
Born August 4 1792 Died: July 8 1822
•How do the poet’s life experiences affect his poetry?
He received inspiration for this poem when he was sitting on his porch Tuscan, Italy, one storming autumn
day, after the death of his son Charles, when suddenly observed a strong wind from the west;
sweep across the Atlantic Ocean.
Historical events:
French Revolution
Louisiana territory purchased
Missouri Compromise
Marriages:
Harriett Westbrook – 2 children Elizabeth lanthe Shelly and Charles Shelly
Mary Wollstonecraft
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,
III
Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lull'd by the coil of his cryst� lline streams,
V
Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own!
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
Beside a pumice isle in Baiae's bay,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave's intenser day,
Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!
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
All overgrown with azure moss and flowers
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou
For whose path the Atlantic's level powers
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like wither'd leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,
Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill:
Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below Scatter, as from an unextinguish'd hearth
The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
The sapless foliage of the ocean, know
Be through my lips to unawaken'd earth
Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear!
Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear,
And tremble and despoil themselves: oh hear!
IV
If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
II
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
Thou on whose stream, mid the steep sky's commotion, A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share
Loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed,
Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,
Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread
On the blue surface of thine aëry 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: oh hear!
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.
Oh, 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.
The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
Stanza 1
(S1)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:
(S1)Meaning: It is basically explaining, in description, of the winds power.
It is also saying that it’s great strength can kill the bright autumn leaves and make
them dead as simply stated in the description of the colors “Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red.
(S2) O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The wingèd 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 o'er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill:
(S2) Meaning: This sentence is basically describing the winds effects on property. “The
wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low” means that its cold grips of the plant seeds are carried from one
destination to another.
(S3) Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!
(S3) Meaning: That it can destroy and stabilize some places.
Stanza 2
(S1) 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: there 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.
(S1) Meaning: It is still describing the winds effects on the sky and the land. “Angels of rain
and lightning
” meaning that he thinks thunderstorms sound like angles of rain and lightning.
(S2) 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!
(S2) Meaning: It is towards the end of the year, almost winter time. The air is so thick is the
meaning of “to whose solid atmosphere.”
Stanza 3
(S1) Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams,
Beside a pumice isle in Baiæ's bay,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave's intenser day,
(S1) Meaning: This section describes the setting in which he wrote this poem.
He wrote this poem in Italy, on this porch. So he is reflecting on the scenery of when he first his
inspiration, from the Mediterranean sea.
(S2) 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 grey with fear,
And tremble and despoil themselves: O, hear!
(S2) Meaning: He is basically describing the scenery of his house in Italy. He also talks about how scared he
became due to the wind creating storms in the Atlantic Ocean.
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 Meaning: He is saying that if he was a leaf, a
cloud, or a wave he could have felt the power of the wind.
The impulse of thy strength, only less free
Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even
I were as in my boyhood, and could be
Meaning: His strength is not comparable to the wind’s.
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
Meaning: If he was in heaven then he would never have to pray to the wind and take its
strength.
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!
Meaning: He wants the wind to carry him and drop him as it would carry a wave, leaf or a cloud.
A heavy weight of hours has chain'd and bow'd
One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud
Meaning: He is now chained and bow’d with the hours he still has on earth.
Stanza 4
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, uncontroulable!
Meaning: If he was poor or weak he would still be strong. He wished he was a cloud to move with the
wind. He is basically describing strength in different forms.
The comrade of thy wanderings over heaven,
As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
Scarce seemed 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 chained and bowed
One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.
Meaning: He talks about his friends in heaven. He states it would seem rare to see light, if he were to
see them if he striped the clouds in the sky.
Stanza 5
Make me thy lyre, even 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!
Meaning: He ask the wind to make him a lyre
and he is comparing its strings to the leaves in
a forest. He talks about the sweet however
somber sounds of the lyre.
Meaning:
Drive my dead thoughts over the
universe
Like withered leaves to quicken a new
birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguished
hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among
mankind!
Be through my lips to unawakened
earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O, wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far
behind?
Meaning: He talks about how the wind has
scattered his thoughts they are all over the
place, like leaves in the fall. Then he begins to
compare his thoughts with other things. At the
end he begins to question, if how long it would
take for spring to come and fix autumn’s
damages.
Does it create vivid expressions or innovative
ideas by manipulating syntax (word order), or
semantics (word meaning)? YES;
“Breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves
dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter
fleeing, “ . I see myself breathing in a swift of
wind on an gray autumn day, by the position
of the words on this line.
Do any words have other connotations: associations beyond the standard
denotation, or definition?
Withered- Dead, Sadness, deiced etc.
Odors- Smelly, stinky, reeking
Vision- prophetic, psychic, foreshadowing
Leaves-Came from the latin root Leup "to peel off, break off"
Foliage – Frech origin feuille :”leaf”
PaleO.Fr. paile, from L. pallidus "pale, pallid, wan," frompallere "be pale, grow pale,"
from PIE *pol-/*pelProphet- Greek prophēteía.
d. Is the etymology (the history of a word's meaning) of any word or words important to the
meaning of the poem? (You may use dictionary.com for help with this).
Tone- Autumn season is a period of beauty as well
as death. IT sets a tone of sadness, calmness,
darkness, extreme in some aspects, sorrow grief
etc
Mood: Sad, hopeful, sorrowful etc.
Atmospheric development: it makes the seem
quite sad and depressing because of the repetition
of certain words such as, sadness, death, beneath
power etc.
Irony: He starts the poem with sweet thoughts of
the earth, then suddenly transforms from calm
tone to devastating. The title is also an irony in the
poem because when I think of wind only has an
essential to nature, rather than something that
brings about change.
Emotions- Happy and serene in the beginning then
it starts to get very sad and dark. He wanted us as
readers to be in his shoes and feel what he felt the
same day he found out his sons death.
Who: Pery Byshee shell
To whom: The wind
What occasion: A sad period in his life ( The loss of his son, Charles)
Purpose: Change brought on by wind
b.What is the speaker's relationship to you, the reader?
Not communicative
Are you being spoken to directly? No
Are you being ignored? Yes
Are you overhearing the speaker?
A majority of this poem consist of Similes, alliteration and Metaphors.
However it also has Alliteration, Symbolism, repetition and personification.
Simile: “The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave”
Metaphors: “Angels of rain and lightning”
Alliteration: “wild West Wind”
Repetition: “ hear, oh hear! “
Personification: “ I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed! “
Irony: “Angels of rain and lightning”
Rhyme: “sore need…I bleed! ”
No assonance, onomatopoetic words and puns
Device Effect: Cacophony, harsh or discordant sounds.
Mental pictures: A dark windy stormy day. I see leaves, tresses, flowers
and seeds being blown by the hectic wind. I can see a white beach house
on a hill overlooking the Atlantic ocean. There is no sun in the sky, only
clouds of gray.
b. What do you see, hear, taste, smell, touch in your imagination through
the words of the poem? I can the movement of the wind swaying the
trees while the leaves fall. I can hear thunder from distance and the
luminous light of lightening, lighting the sky. I can feel the colorful
leaves and water blowing towards the direction. I smell the sweet aroma
of rain and ocean breeze
c. Does the poem use symbolism: an image that has a meaning beyond
what it literally represents?
Autumn(a time of death and beauty),
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red: Represents different
people who change do to the motion of the wind.
Winged Seeds: Spring, growth, rebirth
Form: Sicilian Sestet…. (a.b.ab.a.b)
-15 lines per stanza in groups of 3
- rhyme pattern: a repeated order of
rhyme at the ends of lines