Shelley- Ode to the West Wind, Hymn to Intellectual Beauty

8/11/2019 Shelley- Ode to the West Wind, Hymn to Intellectual Beauty

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Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

Ode to the West Wind (1820)

I 1O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, 2Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves

dead 3Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

!ellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, "#estilence$stricken multitudes% O thou, &Who chariotest to their dark wintr bed

(The winged seeds, where the lie cold and low, )*ach like a corpse within its grave, until +Thine aure sister of the -pring shall blow

1./er clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill 110riving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air 12With living hues and odours plain and hill%

13Wild -pirit, which art moving everwhere 1estroer and preserver hear, oh hear4

II 1"Thou on whose stream, mid the steep sk'scommotion, 1&5oose clouds like earth's decaing leaves areshed, 1(-hook from the tangled boughs of /eaven andOcean,

1)Angels of rain and lightning% there are spread

1+On the blue surface of thine a6r surge, 2.5ike the bright hair uplifted from the head

21Of some fierce 7aenad, even from the dim verge 22Of the horion to the enith's height, 23The locks of the approaching storm8 Thou dirge

2Of the ding ear, to which this closing night 2"Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre, 2&9aulted with all th congregated might

2(Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere 2):lack rain, and fire, and hail will burst% oh hear4

III 2+Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams 3.The blue 7editerranean, where he la, 315ull'd b the coil of his crst;lline streams,

32:eside a pumice isle in :aiae's ba, 33And saw in sleep old palaces and towers

3<uivering within the wave's intenser da,

3"All overgrown with aure moss and flowers 3&-o sweet, the sense faints picturing them4 Tho

3(=or whose path the Atlantic's level powers

3)>leave themselves into chasms, while far belo 3+The sea$blooms and the oo woods which w .The sapless foliage of the ocean, know

1Th voice, and suddenl grow gra with fear, 2And tremble and despoil themselves% oh hear

IV 3?f ? were a dead leaf thou mightest bear ?f ? were a swift cloud to fl with thee "A wave to pant beneath th power, and share

&The impulse of th strength, onl less free (Than thou, O uncontrollable4 ?f even )? were as in m bohood, and could be

+The comrade of th wanderings over /eaven ".As then, when to outstrip th skie speed "1-carce seem'd a vision ? would ne'er have str

"2As thus with thee in praer in m sore need8 "3Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud4 "? fall upon the thorns of life4 ? bleed4

""A heav weight of hours has chain'd and bow

"&One too like thee% tameless, and swift, and pr

V "(7ake me th lre, even as the forest is% ")What if m leaves are falling like its own4 "+The tumult of th might harmonies

&.Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone, &1-weet though in sadness8 :e thou, -pirit fierc &27 spirit4 :e thou me, impetuous one4

&3rive m dead thoughts over the universe &5ike wither'd leaves to @uicken a new birth4

&"And, b the incantation of this verse,

&&-catter, as from an unetinguish'd hearth &(Ashes and sparks, m words among mankind &):e through m lips to unawaken'd earth

&+The trumpet of a prophec4 O Wind, (.?f Winter comes, can -pring be far behindB

http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1902.html#1


























Notes 1C According to -helle's note, Dthis poem was conceived and chiefl written in a wood that skirts the Arno, near =lorence, and on ada when that tempestuous wind, whose temperature is at once mild and animating, was collecting the vapours which pour downthe autumnal rains8 The began, as ? foresaw, at sunset with a violent tempest of hail and rain, attended b that magnificentthunder and lightning peculiar to the >isalpine regionsD 01))8 =lorence was the home of ante Alighieri, creator of terza rima, theform of his Divine Comedy 8 Eephrus was the west wind, son of AstrFus and Aurora8

C The four colours of man8 hectic red % the compleion of those suffering from consumption, tuberculosis8

+C Thine azure sister of the spring % 5atin ver , but not a formal mthological figure8

1.C clarion% piercing, war$like trumpet8

1C Destroyer and preserver % #erhaps like the /indu gods -iva the destroer and 9ishnu the preserver, known to -helle from*dward 7oor's Hindu Pantheon, introduction b :urton =eldman 05ondon% G8 Gohnson b T8 :ensle, 1)1. reprinted Hew !ork%Iarland, 1+) and the works of -ir William Gones 01(&$1(+8

21C Maenad % a participant in the rites of :acchus or ionsus, Ireek god of wine and fertilit a :acchante8

23C locks% cirrus clouds take their name from their likeness to curls of hair8

31C coil % encircling cables, or perhaps confused murmuring or noise8

32$3&C /aving taken a boat trip from Haples west to the :a of :aiae on ecember ), 1)1), -helle wrote to T8 58 #eacock aboutsailing over a sea Dso translucent that ou could see the hollow caverns clothed with glaucous sea$moss, and the leaves andbranches of those delicate weeds that pave the une@ual bottom of the water,D and about Dpassing the :a of :aiae, and observingthe ruins of its anti@ue grandeur standing like rocks in the transparent sea under our boatD 0Letters, ??, &18 :aiae is the site ofruined underwater Joman villas8 pumice% lava cooled into a porous, foam$like stone8

3+$2C DThe phenomenon alluded to at the conclusion of the third stana is well known to naturalists8 The vegetation at the bottomof the sea, of rivers, and of lakes, smpathises with that of the land in the change of seasons, and is conse@uentl influenced bthe winds which announce itD 01)) -helle's note8

"(C lyre% Aeolian or wind harp8

&+C trumpet of a prophecy % -helle alludes to the opening of the :ook of Jevelation of -t8 Gohn the ivine in the :ible, 183$1)%

3 Blessed is hee that readeth, and they that heare the words of this prophesie, and keepe those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.4 Iohn to the seuen Churches in Asia, Grace e !nto you, " peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come, and from the seuen spiritswhich are efore his throne:

# And from Iesus Christ, who is the faithful witnesse, and the first egotten of the dead, and the $rince of the kings of the earth: !nto him that loued !s,

and washed !s from our sinnes in his owne lood,% And hath made !s &ings and $riests !nto God and his 'ather: to him e glory and dominion for euer and euer, Amen.

( Behold he commeth with clouds, and euery eye shal see him, and they also which pearced him: and all kinreds of the earth shall waile ecause ofhim: euen so. Amen.

) I am Alpha and *mega, the eginning and the ending, saith the +ord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

I Iohn, who also am your rother, and companion in triulation, and in the kingdome and patience of Iesus Christ, was in the Isle that is called$atmos, for the word of God, and for the testimonie of Iesus Christ.

- I was in the spirit on the +ords day, and heard ehind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

-- /aying, I am Alpha and *mega, the first and the last: and what thou seest, write in a booke, and send it !nto the seuen Churches which are in Asia,!nto 0phesus, and !nto /myrna, and !nto $ergamos, and !nto 1hyatira, and !nto /ardis, and $hiladelphia, and !nto +aodicea.

-2 And I turned to see the voice that spake with mee. And eing turned, I saw seuen golden Candlesticks,

-3 And in the midst of the seuen candlestickes, one like vnto the Sonne of man, clothed with a garment downe to the foot, and girt aout the paps witha golden girdle.

-4 is head, and his haires were white like wooll as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire,

-# And his feet like !nto fine rasse, as if they urned in a furnace: and his !oice as the sound of many waters.-% And hee had in his right hand seuen starres: and out of his mouth went a sharpe two edged sword: and his countenance was as the /unne shineth in

his strength.-( And when I sawe him, I fell at his feete as dead: and hee laid his right hand !pon me, saying !nto mee, 'eare not, I am the first, and the last.

-) I am hee that liueth, and was dead: and ehold, I am aliue for euermore, Amen, and haue the keyes of hell and of death.

Hyn to Intellect!"l Be"!ty (1817)



1The awful shadow of some unseen #ower 2 =loats though unseen among us visiting 3 This various world with as inconstant wing As summer winds that creep from flower to flower "5ike moonbeams that behind some pin mountainshower, & ?t visits with inconstant glance ( *ach human heart and countenance

)5ike hues and harmonies of evening, + 5ike clouds in starlight widel spread, 1. 5ike memor of music fled, 11 5ike aught that for its grace ma be 12ear, and et dearer for its mster8

13-pirit of :*AKT!, that dost consecrate 1 With thine own hues all thou dost shine upon 1" Of human thought or form, where art thougoneB 1&Wh dost thou pass awa and leave our state, 1(This dim vast vale of tears, vacant and desolateB 1) Ask wh the sunlight not for ever 1+ Weaves rainbows o'er on mountain$river,

2.Wh aught should fail and fade that once is shown, 21 Wh fear and dream and death and birth 22 >ast on the dalight of this earth 23 -uch gloom, wh man has such a scope 2=or love and hate, despondenc and hopeB

2"Ho voice from some sublimer world hath ever 2& To sage or poet these responses given% 2( Therefore the names of emon, Ihost, and/eaven, 2)Jemain the records of their vain endeavour% 2+=rail spells whose utter'd charm might not avail tosever, 3. =rom all we hear and all we see,

31 oubt, chance and mutabilit8 32Th light alone like mist o'er mountains driven, 33 Or music b the night$wind sent 3 Through strings of some still instrument, 3" Or moonlight on a midnight stream, 3&Iives grace and truth to life's un@uiet dream8

3(5ove, /ope, and -elf$esteem, like clouds depart 3) And come, for some uncertain moments lent8 3+ 7an were immortal and omnipotent, .idst thou, unknown and awful as thou art, 1Leep with th glorious train firm state within hisheart8 2 Thou messenger of smpathies,

3 That wa and wane in lovers' ees Thou, that to human thought art nourishment, " 5ike darkness to a ding flame4 & epart not as th shadow came, ( epart not$$lest the grave should be, )5ike life and fear, a dark realit8

+While et a bo ? sought for ghosts, and sped

". Through man a listening chamber, cave andruin, "1 And starlight wood, with fearful steps pursuing "2/opes of high talk with the departed dead8 "3? call'd on poisonous names with which our outhis fed " ? was not heard ? saw them not "" When musing deepl on the lot "&Of life, at that sweet time when winds are wooing "( All vital things that wake to bring ") Hews of birds and blossoming, "+ -udden, th shadow fell on me &. ? shriek'd, and clasp'd m hands in ecstas4

&1? vow'd that ? would dedicate m powers &2 To thee and thine% have ? not kept the vowB &3 With beating heart and streaming ees, evennow &? call the phantoms of a thousand hours &"*ach from his voiceless grave% the have invision'd bowers && Of studious eal or love's delight &( Outwatch'd with me the envious night% &)The know that never Mo illum'd m brow &+ Knlink'd with hope that thou wouldst free (. This world from its dark slaver, (1 That thou, O awful 5O9*5?H*--, (2Wouldst give whate'er these words cannot

epress8

(3The da becomes more solemn and serene ( When noon is past there is a harmon (" ?n autumn, and a lustre in its sk, (&Which through the summer is not heard or seen, ((As if it could not be, as if it had not been4 () Thus let th power, which like the truth (+ Of nature on m passive outh ).escended, to m onward life suppl )1 ?ts calm, to one who worships thee, )2 And ever form containing thee, )3 Whom, -#?J?T fair, th spells did bind )To fear himself, and love all human kind8

Notes 1C ?n her note on the poems of 1)1&, 7rs8 -helle writes% Dhe spent the summer on the shores of 5ake Ieneva8 TheHymn to Intellectual Beauty was conceived during his voage round the lake with 5ord :ron8D?ntellectual% knowable b the mind without the aid of phsical sensation 0as is made clear in lines 1$28



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Shelley- Ode to the West Wind, Hymn to Intellectual Beauty