Percy bysshe shelley - Research Paper Example

The discussion becomes easy if a look at his poetic ideas is done first. Shelley is of the opinion that a poet is a moral teacher. He does not agree that a poet is merely an imitator. At the same time, he asserts that a poet is a creator, who not only creates but also provides ideas to the society, guides the people, and in a way teaches what should be done to improve one’s life. He rejects Thomas Love peacock’s remark that a poet is a “semi-barbarian”. He not only counters this negative remark about the poet but also declares that “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world” (Defense).

In his essay defending poetry, he explains the true role of a poet in his society and states that”Poetry turns all things to loveliness; it exalts the beauty of that which is most beautiful, and it adds beauty to that which is most deformed; it marries exultation and horror, grief and pleasure, eternity and change; it subdues to union under its light yoke all irreconcilable things” (Defense). Unlike Keats for whom poetry means beauty, Shelley finds poetry as a form of intellectual beauty.

He treats politics, love, and nature on equal scale. He looks sometime melancholic, but his melancholy is closely related to his ideas. “Ode to West Wind” can be taken as an ideal poem to study Shelley as a poet and revolutionary. As a poem, it is very remarkable because in it the poet treats everything in nature as an instrument of melody. The poet becomes totally spellbound by the power of the wind, the cloud, the sun, the ocean, and all these in nature for him become the right subject for poetry.

He is so much inspired that he prays, “Be thou, Spirit fierce, / My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!” (Ode). The poem deals with the regenerative power of nature. It praises how everything that is old and dead in nature is driven out to leave space for the birth of new and beautiful. In other words, it speaks about the likely situation in which the world has to exist with everything unwanted and decayed, if regeneration does not take place. The poet feels that this unfortunate situation is avoided in nature because of the support of the sweeping powers of west wind: “Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead/ Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing” (Ode).

It is with similar spirit that the poet wants changes in the political situation in his society. However, he does not possess the sweeping powers seen in the west wind to drive out the old and conventional ideas in his society to pave the way for the new and creative ideas. That is how the poem becomes significant as an example of the poet’s political perspective. As Sydney Waterloo says, “He was a dreamer, but he never dreamed merely for the sake of dreaming; he always rushed to translate his dreams into acts” (Sydney).

“Ode to the West Wind” shows how Shelley tries to translate his poetical and political dreams into reality. The poem, “Ode to the West Wind”, is in the form of a prayer. It is addressed to West Wind, and not to any particular God, as Shelley finds in the invisible power in nature what man generally finds in God. The political idea with which he was obsessed is identified with the power of the wind. Though he tried to impress his philosophical ideas upon the people through many pamphlets he found very poor response coming from the people.

So he was disappointed.