Author: Ano Sensei
Format: Video
Subject Matter: change, nature, nature poetry, power, prophetic poetry, revolution, revolutionary verse, the sublime, wind
Related content:
Shelley, "Ode to the West Wind" - In-depth analysis of the symbolism, techniques and core meaning.
0:00 Introduction
0:11 Canto 1: Textual analysis
1:16 Canto 1: Context and comments
2:58 Canto 2: Textual analysis
4:37 Canto 2: Context and comments
5:28 Canto 3: ...Textual analysis
6:33 Round-up of cantos 1-3
7:20 Canto 4: Textual analysis
8:54 Context and comments
10:12 Canto 5: Textual analysis
11:08 Concluding comments
This video explains how Shelley describes the West Wind in his poem, focusing on its wild and unseen qualities and its role in nature. I discuss how the wind drives away dead leaves, carries seeds, and is connected to the changing seasons, providing a detailed description of the imagery used. This is an English story about poetry, exploring the rhythm and language of the poem.
This is a companion video to my dramatized reading of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem (https://youtu.be/IOV5LqecTOI).
I have made in-depth videos on Keats's Odes (https://tinyurl.com/anokeats), Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" (https://tinyurl.com/anokubla), Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" (https://tinyurl.com/anotintern) and many others. Subscribe/join and get the best poetry analysis videos on YouTube!
A Spanish-language version of this video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyBAt7xENHg%5D.
And here is a version in Italian: https://youtu.be/M8pPpb1T1nI
You can also see the reading and analysis combined as a playlist (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzVb6yL_jY68kvKQYjfOBXwK3NZyy0pCj).
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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
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
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;
Destroyer and preserver; hear, O hear!
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
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 with burst: O hear!
The comrade of thy wanderings over heaven,
As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
Scarce seemed a vision―I would ne’er have striven
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
O! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
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.
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,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?Show More
230 Comments
Ode to Professor John Wilson, who is charioting the leaves of the great English literature throughout the world. At least to Hong Kong, China😁
Thank you, Xiaodong! Long may you continue to love and appreciate these “leaves”!
@anosensei Yes, Sir. You remind me of a Professor Chambers (from Rutgers) and a Professor Beatrice Spade (from Colorado) who taught me English literature in the early 1980s in Shandong. I didn’t understand much then, but the two of them surely blew some spring wind (East or west I’m not sure😃) and sowed a powerful seed in my dim mind. Only until many years later did I learn to appreciate uplifting power of English literature. Your reading of Shelly’s Ode is just so beautiful. In an age of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson and Simon Webb and BBC and Woke, I can only appreciate more the value of people like you and Maugham and Rowling and Mariner’s rime. Thank YOU, Professor Wilson!
@xiaodongwang7753 I am glad your life has been touched by these eminent people, though I doubt I merit being placed in such exalted company. Yes, indeed, the Trumps of this world are so removed from someone like Shelley that it is hard to believe they belong to the same species!
Brilliant! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you!
The explication was perfect… Engrossing and intriguing… Really, one can not ask for anything more…
Thank you for the feedback! I’m glad you enjoyed it and found it useful.
@anosensei It was mind-boggling… I just loved the way you delivered it, Sir… Love you 😍
@meditationandnature2500 Thank you again! Unfortunately, YouTube is changing its policies on the first of June, making it harder for me to keep this channel the way I want it. I’ll still be here, but the channel will have to change a bit, and I’m working round the clock trying to set up an alternative!
@anosensei ok dear, Sir… It will be great to continue hearing from you such illuminating expositions…
@meditationandnature2500 Unfortunately, the changes on YouTube mean I will have to work on technical matters for the next few weeks, but I will certainly continue to make videos as soon as possible!
spectacular🥂
Thank you! I hope you found it helpful.
Love your explanation. It’s unliveable that only 12 minutes takes to understand the whole poem.Amazing👍
Thank you for the feedback! I’m sure there are other aspects of the poem that could be considered but, yes, this video should give you a fairly good insight into the main themes and historical / biographical content of the poem. Don’t hesitate to let me know if there’s a poem you’d particularly like me to make a video about. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll do my best!
Thank you so much
You’re welcome!
Thank you so much! Your explanation is really helpful
You are very welcome. Thank you for the feedback!
Terza Rima
Yes. This video deals with the contents of the poem, rather than the structure, but I touch on the structure at 1:32: https://youtu.be/BRUCpRKL5kw?t=92
Great
Thanks for the feedback!
thank god I found you. I was so amazed
I’m glad you found what you were looking for – and thank you for the positive feedback!
Thank you very much! This helps a lot! <3
You’re welcome. I’m glad you found it useful!
THIS A AMAZING NARRATION I REMEMBER MY PROFESSOR
Thank you for the feedback! Did your professor teach this poem?
Fantastic and interesting analysis
Thank you for the feedback. I’m glad you liked it!
Thanks alot ❤
You’re welcome!
Thanks sir
You are welcome!
This is amazing..Thank you so much for explaining it so interestingly ❤
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
This is the exact way a poem is supposed to be taught. Every teacher can’t make students feel the emotions of the poet. You did it Sir.
I agree with you entirely! If we can’t enter into the poet’s feelings we aren’t really experiencing the poem.
This really got me to engage with the poem, thank you so much
I’m glad you found it useful!
Thank you so much, Sir, this was so concise, yet informative. I will be making good use of all your videos and sharing them with my friends too!
Thank you for the feedback, Farhaan! I’m so glad you found it useful.
Arigato gozaimasu Ano Sensei!!
Do itashimashite, Shashwat-san!