How does the poet conclude the final stanzas of parts 1, 2, and 3 in Ode to the West Wind?

In the first stanza, the speaker personifies the west wind as the "breath of Autumn's being," and then proceeds to describe the power of the wind to scatter the autumn leaves. At the end of the stanza, the speaker addresses the west wind directly, as "Wild Spirit ... Destroyer and preserver." The way in which the speaker addresses the wind suggests that, from his perspective, the wind is omnipotent and awe-inspiring, like a god. In the final words of the stanza, the speaker implores the wind to "hear, oh hear!" This suggests that the speaker wants to ask something of the wind. The exclamation mark at the end implies that the speaker is desperate to be heard.

In the second stanza, the speaker continues to eulogize about the power of the wind. He says that the wind has the power to scatter "Loose clouds," and to precipitate "rain and lightning." Later in the stanza, the speaker also describes the wind as a "dirge / Of the dying year," meaning that the sound of the wind seems like a lament for the year that is about to end. At the end of the stanza, the speaker again emphasizes the wind's power when he says that it has the power to cause storms and bring "Black rain, and fire, and hail." The imagery here is rather apocalyptic, emphasizing the power of the wind. As at the end of the first stanza, the speaker also, at the end of the second, addresses the wind directly and implores it to "hear!"

The third stanza follows much the same pattern as the first and second stanzas. The speaker pays homage to the power of the west wind, which, he says, "waken(s) from his summer dreams / The blue Mediterranean." At the end of the stanza, the speaker says that the west wind's voice makes the "sapless foliage of the ocean ... grow gray with fear, / And tremble and despoil themselves." This description represents a climactic escalation of the wind's power through the first three stanzas of the poem. Finally, at the very end of the stanza, the speaker once again implores the wind to, "oh hear!"

What is the metaphor in lines 7-9 of "Ode to the West Wind"?

I can see why you're having problems. Because of Shelley's love of enjambment (continuing the sense of a line onto the next line) the poetic devices actually extend back further than line 7, and on further than line 9.

O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low...

That's the first sense unit. Shelley addresses the wind (O thou) who acts like a "chariot", taking the seeds to their "bed" (of soil, we assume) where they lie cold and low. Then he picks up the pun on bed (human bed / flowerbed) and takes it further:

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...

Each seed lies like a corpse in the grave, until the wind's blue ("azure") sister, "the Spring", blows her trumpet ("clarion") over the earth. This metaphorical trumpet fills both plain and hill full of living colours ("hues") and smells ("odours").

SO the simile compares the seed lying in a seedbed to a grave, until the trumpet of Spring (this is the metaphor!) fills the "corpse" full of life. It's basically a reference to Revelation in the Bible, when God is supposed to raise up the dead to redemption.

Identify three metaphors in "Ode to the West Wind."

Well, look no further than the first line for the first example of a metaphor in this excellent poem. Remember that a metaphor is a comparison, where one object is compared to something else, normally something that we wouldn't think of comparing it to. This is a direct comparison, in that no words such as "like" or "as" are used, as in the case of a simile.

Bearing this in mind, the first line compares the West Wind to Autumn:

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being...

Note how this metaphor gives the West Wind an almost spiritual significance, as it is compared to the "breath" or that which sustains Autumn. Certainly the speaker is suggesting that the West Wind is synonymous with Autumn.

In the second stanza an extended metaphor is used that compares the effect of the winds on the clouds to hair:

The locks of the approaching storm.

This is an impressive image because it presents the clouds as "locks" or hair of "some fierce Maenad" being blown around by the West Wind, ushering in the storm.

Lastly, at the beginning of the third stanza, the Mediterranean Sea is compared to somebody waking up from a deep sleep:

Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams

The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,

Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams...

Here the West Wind is pictured stirring up the huge waves as if rousing somebody from a long repose.

Here are three examples for you. Hopefully this will help you to find others in this excellent poem. Good luck!

Explain the last two lines of "Ode to the West Wind".

"The trumpet of a prophecy!  O, Wind/

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"

The closing lines of Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" highlights several themes of Romanticism as well.  One explanation behind the last two lines is that it speaks of hope and optimism.  Shelley seems to be saying that the wind carries with it the belief that something better lies ahead.  For example, if one feels the wind in winter, one knows that spring is nearby.  Shelley is saying that the movement of the wind and its freedom bring with it a spirit of limitless freedom.  There is a sense of unlimited potential with this wind, and the "trumpet" that sounds is the sound that indicates while things might be difficult or bad, there is something else that might lie ahead which can be hopeful and optimistic.

When you read these two lines, remember that the first line sets up the second line.  It is this closing line that becomes very powerful for Shelley.  Some say that he wrote these lines in the wake of the death of his son, while others say he wrote to expres his hopeful vision for political revolutions.  If we take both ideas at face value, we see that the explanation of meaning for both of these lines is one of hope and progress, the idea that change can happen despite what might be in front of us.  We can change what is to what can be when we know that "spring" cannot be far behind.

What is the central image in the first three cantos of Ode to the West Wind?

The central image of the first section of this poem is death.  The section talks about ghosts and graves and corpses and pestilence.  The wind is like death, sweeping away all life.  To me, at least, this evokes negative feelings -- disgust, and a bit of fear.

The second section or stanza is more supernatural.  It talks about angels and maenads (from Greek mythology).  This is less gruesome but more wild (that was the main characteristic of maenads).  It feels uncontrolled to me.

In the third section, the theme is of things being awakened.  It seems much more peaceful until the last couple of lines, which are much more fearful.

Which line from "Ode to the West Wind" contains a metaphor?

Metaphors are comparisons that do not use the words like or as. Shelley's "Ode to West Wind" is dense with metaphors. A few are described below.

Shelley speaks directly to the West Wind in this poem, using the archaic pronoun "thou," the intimate form of "you" that implies friendship. He is thus implying the West Wind is his close friend.

In the first stanza, he uses a metaphor when he states the West Wind is the "breath of Autumn's being." He is likening the way it blows to the way air or breath emits from the body of a human being or a living creature. (He is also employing a metaphor in comparing autumn to a living creature, a "being.")

O thou,

Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed.

Can you provide an analysis of "Ode to the West Wind"?

Essentially, this famous ode is an extended apostrophe to the powerful west wind, that Shelley refers to as "thou breath of Autumn's being." After addressing the wind and describing its effects, the speaker of the poem declares that the wind is both "Destroyer and preserver," and finally ends by imploring the wind to share its power with him so that his words may be spread throughout mankind and might spark new life in the world.

It is important to note that at the end of the very first stanza, the speaker makes the wind seem like a life force or divinity:

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;

Destroyer and preserver; hear, O, hear!

Consider to the way that the wind is presented in the first stanza and how the poem equally focuses on the wind's act of "destruction" and the role it plays in creating new life. This reinforces the personification of the wind as a kind of god that brings resurrection and annihilation in its wake.

It is these dual aspects of the West Wind that the speaker of the poem seizes upon as he closes his verse by asking to be the instrument of this powerful entity when he says "Make me thy lure, even as the forest is." His attempt to powerfully identify himself with the West Wind and to share these same characteristics are so that his verse can be used to impel a rebirth amongst humanity:

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 prophecy!

Note the paradox implicit when the speaker describes words as "ashes and sparks." Yet a smouldering hearth contains both dead ashes, the inert words of a poet, as well as the fiery sparks that represent the life in the poet's words and their ability to inspire and "ignite" others.

Thus the poem, whilst it is clearly a pageant to the power of nature as represented in the West Wind, can also be said to be about the nature of being a poet and also the desire to communicate Shelley's own experience of being a poet through his verse being read through generations, "blown" metaphorically by the West Wind.

What are some examples of personification in "Ode to the West Wind"?

I
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,(apostrophe)
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, (the four humours)
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: 0 thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed   (It drives.)

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  (It has a sibling.)

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:

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; (apostrophe again)
Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!

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: 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. Thou dirge (It performs
a ritual.)
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! (apostrophe)

III

Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams  (It sleeps.)
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams,

Beside a pumice isle in Baiae's bay,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers     (It can see.)
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 grey with fear,  (It has a voice.)
And tremble and despoil themselves: O hear!  (apostrophe)

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,     ( It knows
As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed              friendship.)
Scarce seemed 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!   (It has volition or will.)
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.   (It has
personality traits.)
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

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 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,                  (apostrophe)
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

What are some examples of personification in "Ode to the West Wind"?

eNotes' Guide to Literary Terms defines personification as "a figure of speech in which abstractions, animals, ideas, and inanimate objects are endowed with human form, character, traits, or sensibilities."

In "Ode to the West Wind," Shelley speaks to the west wind as though it were a human being. For example, in the first segment, he calls the wind a chariot driver. In the third segment, the west wind is described as a person who rouses the Mediterranean Sea from sleep (personifying also the sea as well as the wind). The wind is described as having a fearsome voice.

What is the meaning of the final line in "Ode to the West Wind"?

In the final line of the poem, the speaker asks, "O Wind, / If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" Generally, winter is the season of the year associated with death, while spring, which follows winter, is associated with life. In winter, everything in nature seems to die with the cold, but in spring, the flowers and grasses and trees appear to experience a rebirth of sorts when the sun grows warmer. The speaker seems to conceive of the West Wind as an agent of change, something that acts as both a "destroyer and preserver" as it ushers in both seasons: the one that kills and the one that brings new life. It is "moving everywhere," and it is "uncontrollable" and "tameless."

In driving away his "dead thoughts," like dead leaves, the speaker seems to believe that the West Wind could "quicken a new birth." In other words, the wind could help him to find new inspiration, a new kind of life by ushering in the new season of spring, literally, but also a new season for the speaker, a new era of creativity and increased imagination. The final line gives voice to the speaker's optimism for the future, that the period of creative decline in which he now finds himself will inevitably be followed by a period of inspiration and creative growth, just as spring inevitably follows winter.

In "Ode to the West Wind" give three examples of metaphors, and explain what each one means.

Shelley's poem is incredibly complex and there is much happening within the poem to connect both his description of this storm and how the process of nature embodies both creation and destruction and governs all human beings.

A metaphor to describe this is in the second stanza,  where Shelley describes and compares the gathering of the storm clouds moving across the sky as being similar to the movement and focus of the Greek Maidens, Maenads, who were known for their wild and intense nature. 

Another metaphoric comparison employed in the poem is when Shelley compares the changing of seasons to winter to a "vast sepulchre" (tomb), indicating that there is a certain level of death that is to accompany changing of seasons. 

Finally, Shelley strikes a note of comparison between the objects that endure winter and his own hopes for poetic immortality.  Shelley compares his own state of unappreciation as "dead thoughts", hoping for them to "scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth," and believes that as the Earth undergoes a rebirth in Spring, Shelley compares his own hopes for fame and immortality:  "Be through my lips to unawakened earth."  Just as Spring follows Winter, and the creative forces subsume those of destruction, Shelley hopes that poetic glory will follow a period of under appreciation.

I need an explanation of the 2nd and last sections of "Ode to the West Wind"

In the second section, here is a breakdown of each stanza:

1.  Here he declares that the wind breaks the clouds up "like earth's decaying leaves" that are shaken from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean"; in other words, the wind can break apart the clouds so that the scatter about just like leaves from trees in the wind do.  The leaves are the clouds, the trees heaven and the ocean.

2.  He compares rain and lightning to angels, and says the wind spreads them both through the sky "like the bright hair uplifted from the head."  So, the rain and lighting (angels) are spread across the sky like someone's hair that is lifted up and splayed in the wind.

3-5.  He compares the wind to a crazy, intense, wild-woman (Maenad) coming to indicate a coming storm.  He calls it an omen of a funeral (dirge) for the dying year, and that the wind will be the roof of a tomb yielding "black rain, and fire, and hail".  These stanzas describe the wind storming angrily, and a figure bringing death.

Last Section:

1-2.  He wants the wind to make him its voice; he wants to be able to be the wind, to know it and feel what it is.

3-4.  He wants the wind to drive out all of his dead thoughts, and spread his words around the world.

5.  He wants the wind's message to be heard through his lips, and calls it a prophecy hailing the coming of spring.

Sorry for the briefness of that last section; I ran out of space.  I hope that helps!

From Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind," choose three metaphors, giving their meaning and line number.

In "Ode to the West Wind" Shelley addresses (and personifies) the tempestuous wind of his Tuscan holiday as a force that would carry his words to the four corners of the earth. The poem is replete with metaphors. Here are three of them:

In the first stanza the poet addresses the west wind as if a living being who in the Autumn drives the dead leaves "like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing." At line 7 the poet compares "winged seeds" to flying creatures which repose in the earth, corpselike, until Spring reawakens them.

In the final stanza of the poem - entirely the poet's fervent plea to the wind to bear his lifegiving and liberating words across the universe - at line 57 he compares himself to a lyre, a stringed instrument played like the forest by the powerful wind. 

Finally, at lines 68-69 the poet compares his voice to the trumpet of prophecy "to unawaken'd earth." In other words, he wants the wind to be the chief agent in disseminating his words to an oppressed humanity.  Through these metaphors, and others not discussed, Shelley reveals the inner meaning of the west wind: It is a mighty current of the Spirit blowing where it wills to bring rebirth to the longings of humanity -  "O Wind,/If winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"