1. "lyre," or voice.

To describe the poem in a bit more detail, the first three sections are an appeal to the West Wind to hear the words of the poet. This is a well-known trope in classical poetry, and it allows Shelley an opportunity to engage in some description of the West Wind, which he calls both "destroyer and preserver." The wind drives the dead leaves before it, and "chariotest" (drives in a chariot) the "winged seeds" into the ground, paving the way for renewal in the spring.

In the second section, the power of the West Wind over the clouds and weather is described. The clouds are the "bright hair" of a "fierce Maenad," or of an approaching storm. A maenad, in classical literature, was a female follower of Dionysus, the god of wine, fertility, and festivity. The maenads were often portrayed as being in a state of ecstatic frenzy, so Shelley's point is to suggest that the West Wind is akin to the wild spirit of Dionysus, singing a dirge (lament) for the dying year.

In the third section, the West Wind is described as waking the Mediterranean Sea from its summer rest "in Baiae's bay" or "cleaving chasms" in the Atlantic, causing the "sapless foliage" in the ocean to "grow gray with fear." The Baiae is a reference to a place near Naples that was a well-known Roman resort; the "old palaces" are a reference to the Roman villas that can still be seen there.

All of this description is a kind of flattery, or an attempt to get the West Wind to pay attention to the poet and his troubles. His trouble, expressed in the fourth section, is time. "A heavy weight of hours" is oppressing him; he is no longer as he was "in boyhood," when he could be the "comrade" of the West Wind and its wanderings over the world.

In section 5, he makes his plea: he asks the West Wind to make him its "lyre" (harp) like the forest, a reference to the beginning of the poem. This can have several meanings. As the West Wind's lyre, Shelley's poetry becomes the "voice," or music, of the West Wind. The reference to Shelley's "leaves" falling like the leaves of the forest is a pun—Shelley's "leaves" are the pages of his poetry. He asks the wind to drive these dead leaves ("dead thoughts") "over the universe" to "quicken a new birth."

This request can be understood in several ways. Shelley feels that his poetry has grown old and stale, and he asks the Wind to inspire him; the "new birth" is the renewed vigor of his art.

Another popular reading is to understand the West Wind as a symbol of popular revolution. Shelley supported the French Revolution but found the radical spirit diminishing in Britain. His appeal here can be understood as an attempt to rededicate his verse to revolutionary ends. The "spring" that follows winter in the final line is both an artistic and political rebirth.

In “Ode to the West Wind,” Percy Bysshe Shelley appeals to the senses in images related to the wind’s movement, the seasons and natural phenomena, and mortality. Shelley uses apostrophe, or direct address, to the wind, rather than speaking about it. He combines this with personification, as the speaker entreats the wind to behave in specific ways. For example, he equates the wind's blowing with breath. As the West Wind brings in the cold weather, much of the imagery relates to the transition between autumn and winter. The speaker also holds onto the hope of spring’s arrival and reminisces about the pleasantness of summer.

Shelley’s images are primarily visual, as he describes the autumnal colors of the “Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red” leaves. Other colors are associated with weather and natural phenomena, such as “Black rain” of wintry storms and the “blue Mediterranean” associated with summer.

The poet also incorporates the sense of touch, in references to tactile sensations and motion. The wind’s breath sends seeds to earth, "where they lie cold and low," and the speaker describes bleeding after falling "upon the thorns of life!" Auditory imagery plays a role as well, such as in the description of the spring wind blowing "Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth." The wind's aural quality bears an emotional tone, as hearing the wind’s “voice” causes “fear”:

The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear

The sapless foliage of the ocean, know

Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear….

The wind’s aural power is further associated with music, as the speaker demands, “Make me thy lyre.”

Mortality, both in natural phenomena and humans, is evoked through numerous images. The speaker connects the idea of dormancy with death and budding and blooming with birth and renewal. Related images include the “dying year” and a “dead leaf.” In the poem's final section, the imagery of life and death is combined with the leaf motif as the speaker beseeches the wind,

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe

Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!