What is the summary of parts IV and V in Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind"?

In the 4th section, he says that if her were a leaf, or a cloud, or a wave, he could be blown by, flown to, or participate in, the power of the west wind.  He could "share the impulse of they strength, only less free than Thou, O uncontrollable!"  Even when he was a boy free to wander wherever with the wind, when being as fast as the wind "scarce seemed a vision" but a reality, he wouldn't have come to the wind with his prayers as now.  He longs to be a leaf or a cloud, and not be "chained and bowed" but "tameless, and swift, and proud."

In the 5th section, he wishes he could sing the wind's song, just like the forest does; if he were, he could have "a deep, Autumnal tone, sweet though in sadness."  He tells the wind to be his spirit, to be him, to "drive my dead thoughts over the universe" and to "scatter...my words among mankind."  He wants to, through his lips, just like the wind, be "the trumpet of prophecy" just like the wind heralds the coming of spring.

I hope that helps!  I provided links to the poem below, for a more thorough discussion of it, that should also help.

What is the poet expressing in the last stanza of "Ode to the West Wind"?

In these last lines of "Ode to the West Wind," Shelley expresses his hope that his poetry will affect social and/or personal change in the future.

The lyre is a reference to the Eolian lyre which plays rising and falling chords when affected by the wind. If he, the poet, is the lyre, then the West Wind will play/carry his poetry to new places and times.

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe

Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!

Even if his poetry is forgotten, during his own lifetime or after his death, Shelley hopes that this forgotten phase (compared with Winter) will be followed by a "Spring" during which his poetry will again be appreciated.

The wind is a natural phenomenon to be compared with creativity, untamed forces, and the movement of time/history. The poet sees the wind as the vehicle of time and ideas. He hopes not just to be remembered as a great poet, but also to affect social change in order to improve humankind:

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!

One of the messages the poet hopes to convey, in terms of the themes in this poem, is the idea of rebirth (Spring). Such a notion ties in with the idea of awakening humankind and improving the human condition with a kind of "new birth" (64).

What does the wind symbolize in "Ode to the West Wind"?

Leaves, particularly dead leaves, are mentioned multiple times throughout the five cantos of "Ode to the West Wind." These leaves are imbued with heavy symbolism. Throughout the poem, the speaker asks the West Wind to provide him the inspiration and energy to produce new works and ideas.

In a literal sense, the dead leaves are the vestiges of a previous season of growth. Taken figuratively, they are the pages of writing that the speaker had previously produced. The speaker appeals to the West Wind to blow them away so that change and fresh ideas may come in springtime.

These leaves have been tainted. In the second stanza, they are assigned the same colors as the four horsemen of the apocalypse. This allusion is meant to make the reader think that the old writings of the speaker are infected or cursed in a certain sense. Thus, they must be removed: "Like wither'd leaves to quicken a new birth!"

Over the course of this poem, the speaker mentions how it is time for these leaves to depart. We are meant to imagine pages of writing when we think of these dead leaves. When reading the poem, we can imagine the rustling sound of these dead leaves in the wind, much the same way we might imagine the sound of pages being turned, crumpled, and discarded.

What does the wind symbolize in "Ode to the West Wind"?

"Ode to the West Wind" is about the power of nature to influence change, particularly in light of mankind's limited control.

As the speaker begins the poem, he uses apostrophe to address the West Wind directly—and even demands that it "hear" his pleas. The wind, unlike the speaker, has unbelievable power. It rips dead leaves, hanging like "ghosts," from their branches and buries them within the "grave" of the earth. These similes reflecting death are replaced by life-giving imagery when the winds of spring (the seasons are personified) blow over the "dreaming earth" and bring new "hues and odours" from those "graves." The winds of autumn are necessary to complete the rebirth of spring; thus, the West Wind is both "destroyer and preserver."

The West Wind has the power to transcend earthly limits, reaching into the sky and influencing the paths of clouds. It has the strength to form tall waves in the midst of the Atlantic Ocean. The speaker longs to be more connected to these feelings of power and influence. He recalls his connection to nature, and thus to the wind, when he was a child; during this time, he felt that the wind was his "comrade" and that they wandered together through life.

The speaker begs the West Wind to once again lift him up and to scatter his "dead thoughts" all over the earth, much like the leaves in the fall. By doing so, the speaker believes that perhaps his own ideas will be given new life. The poem thus acknowledges the way natural forces eternally shape the earth, while humans struggle to make even a minor impact in one lifetime.

Can you paraphrase the poem "Ode to the West Wind" by Percy Bysshe Shelley?

In this poem the speaker sees in the force and majesty of the West Wind a power that is to be admired and a power that is capable of bringing massive change. He therefore finds an apt link between the way that the wind ushers in new weather conditions and what he desires to do with his poetry, which is to foment revolutionary thought.

Can you paraphrase the poem "Ode to the West Wind" by Percy Bysshe Shelley?

In the first section, the poet asks the west wind to listen to him. He sees the west wind as both a destroyer and preserver of aspects of autumn, and he looks forward to the springtime as a time when life is renewed. In this section, he focuses mainly on the effects of the wind on the land.

In the second section he focuses mainly on the effects of the wind on the ocean. Once again he emphasizes the enormous power of the wind.

In section three the emphasis on the effects of the wind on the sea continues. Here, though, the imagery is much less threatening than the imagery in the second section, except in the final two lines.

In section four the poet imagines what might happen if he were moved by as mighty a source of inspiration as the wind. He regrets that he has lost the vitality he enjoyed when he was young.

In stanza five he calls upon the wind to inspire him and revive him so that he can spread his prophetic ideas far and wide; in the final lines he looks forward to the arrival of spring and symbolic renewal.

http://www.enotes.com/ode-west-wind-salem/ode-west-wind

http://www.enotes.com/ode-west-wind-salem/ode-west-wind-681756

What is the theme of the first stanza in "Ode to the West Wind"?

The first stanza describes the effects of the west wind upon the landscape in autumn, as it tears down the old leaves and scatters them. In the first eight lines the theme of death and decay is prominent; the leaves are not only dead but are actually described as ‘ghosts’ (3)and the seeds are ‘each like a corpse in its grave’(8). Images of sickness are effectively developed with reference to the leaves’ appearance; in their vast numbers and livid colours they are likened to ‘pestilence-stricken multitudes’(5).

And through it all, the west wind appears as some sinister supernatural force, the ‘unseen presence’(2), the ‘enchanter’(3) who conveys the dead leaves to their ‘wintry bed’(6). Shelley thus evinces the usual Romantic tendency to personify elements of nature, portraying the west wind as a powerful, living entity; and continues to do so throughout the poem.

However, it is not only death that is present in this first stanza, but also the promise of resurrection with the reference to springtime, when the seeds of life will sprout again. Now the earth is seen as not dead but merely ‘dreaming’(10), and it will re-awaken.

In the concluding couplet of this stanza, Shelley appeals directly to the wind:

 Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;

Destroyer and preserver, hear , oh hear! (13-14)

The wind performs a double function; it tears down the old but also helps prepare the ground for the new. It is, in other words, an essential part of the whole natural cycle of life and death. Death is only part of the theme; it is inextricably linked with life and the west wind in its utter power and majesty is depicted as the central moving and transforming force.

In later stanzas Shelley goes on to describe the west wind’s impact upon sky and ocean and finally upon himself and his poetry. He ends by calling on this mighty force to revitalize his energies and also to sweep his poetry over the world as it scattered the dead leaves, so that his work may in the future gain new life and influence.

What is the theme of the first stanza in "Ode to the West Wind"?

In this final section, as he has throughout the poem, Shelley puns on the word "leaves" as meaning both the leaves that fall off trees in autumn and the leaves (pages) of a book or poetic work. In this finale, Shelley wishes that the leaves of his work could blow around the earth the way leaves do that fall from trees. He writes:

What if my leaves are falling like its [the forest's] own!

He reinforces this association of tree leaves and page leaves by stating:

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe

Like wither'd leaves to quicken a new birth!

Describe the third stanza of "Ode to the West Wind."

As a Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote about many natural phenomena.  His "Ode to the West Wind" was inspired by an autumn storm that caused the poet to consider the linkage between the outer world of nature and the inner world of the human intellect.

In each stanza, the poet speaks to the West Wind, personifying it; he perceives the wind as having driven the "Pestilence-stricken multitudes" of leaves to their "wintry bed" where they will die.  The seeds of these leaves, "The winged seeds," will lie as corpses do in a grave.  However, the wind, the "harbinger of the dying year" signifies that the year comes to an end.

In stanza III, the poet describes the impact of the wind upon the Mediterranean coast line as well as the Atlantic ocean.  In apostrophe, the poet, in awe, addresses this puissant wind that moves the water and undersea vegetation in a similar way to its movement of the landscape:

...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....

It is this puissance of the natural force of the wind, then, that Shelley calls upon to, like the dead leaves, drive his "dead thoughts over the universe" in order to "quicken a new birth" of fresh thoughts, renewing his intellect as nature is renewed.

Describe the third stanza of "Ode to the West Wind."

The theme of the second stanza of this powerful poem very much supports the first in the way that it seeks to present the awful and awesome power of the West Wind as a force to be reckoned with. This is conveyed through the description of the storm being ushered in by the West Wind. A complex simile is used to compare the thunderclouds blown by the wind to the hair of a Maenad, which represents a classical allusion to one of the crazed women who accompanied Dionysus, the god of wine, in his maddened and debauched orgies, throwing their hair around:

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.

The impact of this simile is therefore to focus on the way that the West Wind is a chaotic and powerful force of nature that rips through its environment with strength. In the final lines of the stanza, this image is accompanied by a metaphor that describes the wind as the "dirge" of the "dying year," which focuses on the way that the wind is linked to death and destruction. Thematically, the power of the Wind to not only give life but to take it away is therefore very important in this stanza.

Describe the second stanza of the poem "Ode to the West Wind" by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

The second stanza of "Ode to the West Wind" must really be understood and described in context of the first and third stanzas. This is because the punctuation divides stanzas one from two by a comma, indicating a continuing thought, and two from three by enjambment, or the absence of punctuation, indicating a spatially separated thought (one complete thought).

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! O thou             5
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

That which is "Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red," is identified in line 2 and its function is identified in 6-9 of the third stanza. "Yellow..." refers to the dead leaves of autumn. In line 5, Shelly says thy "chariotest," or carry, the seeds of spring to their resting places to await the coming of spring, as is described in stanza three.

Can you summarize the poem "Ode to the West Wind"?

Shelley is trying to invoke the wind to do as he asks.  He asks at the end of each stanza to hear him.  He wants the wind to sweep him off "as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!" He needs inspiration.  So the wind is a metaphor here to give him creativity. 

The wind is thought of as both a "destroyer and preserver."  Although it can destroy--like it would in large storms, it can help him to express himself. He wants the wind to play him like he's an instrument, just like it strums through the tree's leaves.  He and his generation view nature as beauty and inspiration.  Nature is powerful and important, and Shelley wishes to express that in this poem.

The symbols can be found throughout.  The leaves are the dead or uninspired left behind.  The spring represents renewal, and the wind is the catalyst that gets the seasons to change.

What is the summary and main theme of Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind"?

This poem, overladen as it is with Classical allusions, begins with a recognition of the dual nature of the wild, stormy, autumnal west wind and an appeal for it to hear the verses of the poet. It ends with the metaphoric appeal made by the poetic persona--or, in this case, the poet--that the wind's dual nature serve him. He asks that the wind drive out his "dead thoughts" in order to give "rebirth" to new thoughts just as seeds driven in the west wind give rebirth in the spring to new vegetation. He also asks that the wind drive his poetic words abroad to the world as words of inspired prophecy to an as yet "unawakened" (unenlightened) humanity.

The theme is that the tumultuous times and seasons of life have a dual nature since they enlivened poetic words that in turn, when spread throughout humanity, yield enlightenment and enlivened inspiration in those who read them.

In between, the persona describes the wind and its relationship of to "the dying year" while begging that the wind list to him: "O hear!" He compares the west wind to "locks of the approaching storm" and as the power that awakens the sleeping Mediterranean and makes it "grow grey with fear." Finally the poet says what he wants the wind to hear, which is that the wind bear him up like a "wave, a leaf, a cloud" because life has battered and because he has fallen on the "thorns of life!" He beseeches the wind to make him the wind's lyre, like the leaves are, and to imbue him with the "deep, Autumnal tone" so that the wind will be the poet's own spirit,

Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

and in so being, drive out his "dead thoughts" so he can be renewed. All the way through, Shelley plays upon the dual nature of the wind (stormy destruction and scattering seeds of renewal) while he seeks to be cleansed then renewed: rid of his "dead" thoughts and the author of the "trumpet of prophecy."

What message does the wind convey in Ode to the West Wind?

In Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “Ode to the West Wind,” the West Wind is a powerful force. Consider how the speaker compares the wind to the fierce, wild Maenad and calls it a prophecy. To the speaker, the wind is a sign of the changing of the seasons and therefore a symbol of the intense forces of the natural world. The West Wind can be destructive, but it can also be helpful. The speaker is in awe of this and wants to harness the wind’s strength so that his words can spread all over the world.

In this poem, Shelley is using the idea of the wind and the changing of the seasons to represent the political climate of his times. Note how the poem is focused on the West Wind. In this context, west is a symbol of America, which had recently had a revolution. As if fueled by a destructive wind, the colonies in America were able to destroy the political structure that oppressed them.

Shelley was in favor of revolutionary change and thus looked to the “wind” as a sign that there is hope at home, too. Although the speaker feels despair at the coming cold weather, the wind reminds him that the seasons change and therefore, spring, the season of rebirth and beauty, will eventually come. This is summed up in the memorable last line:

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

What type of poem is "Ode to the West Wind"?

"Ode to the West Wind" is an ode, or a kind of lyric poem that is meant to address a particular person or object, usually in an elevated way. A lyric is a relatively short poem that expresses a state of mind or way of perceiving the world. Shelley's poem is an ode because it addresses a thing, the West Wind; in effect, this wind is the audience for the speaker's thoughts.

Shelley's poem begins by exhorting the West Wind to listen to his poem. His poem is addressed to the West wind itself. The first three parts describe the wind in heroic terms. The wind is like an "enchanter" from which the dead autumn leaves flee; it is a "fierce Maenad," or female follower of Bacchus, the god of wine; it is what causes storms in the Mediterranean or Atlantic. In short, the West Wind is addressed as the personified primal force of nature. Each of the first three parts end with the speaker imploring the wind to "hear" him.

In part 4, the speaker wishes he could be ruled by the West Wind like the dead leaves. It's clear that he is in some emotional distress. Though he senses a kinship with the "tameless" West Wind, he is nevertheless "chain'd and bow'd" by the "heavy weight of hours," or his mortal existence.

In the final part of the poem, the speaker finally makes his request to West Wind: he asks it, "be thou me," and he asks that it "drive [his] dead thoughts over the universe," reflecting a desire to have his ideas spread like "ashes and sparks" throughout the world.

What is a brief description of "Ode to the West Wind" by Percy Shelley?

"Ode to the West Wind" is Shelley's romantic tribute to Dante Aligheiri, in the style of a Greek ode, written in Italy on a windy day near the Arno River, according to Shelley's own notes. He uses Dante's terza rima rhyme scheme aba-bcb-cbc, etc. in his poem praising the wind of autumn that blows the leaves and seeds, brings the storms, and announces the winter season to come. He describes the Wind's journey from the "blue Mediterranean" in summer to the ocean and the effect of the change of seasons on the wind. Shelley compares himself to a leaf blown by that wind through his life, and ends on a hopeful note, with the famous line,"If Winter comes can Spring be far behind?"