Ode to the West Wind: Notes

In this apocalyptic poem Shelley characterises it as a destructive and fearsome force, yet it is also a harbinger of the inevitable coming of Spring. It is, therefore, both Destroyer and Creator, and Shelley sees the West Wind as a symbol of the regeneration which will follow the destruction and Death of Winter.
In a personal sense Shelley addresses the Wind as a force which will reinvigorate him, the Wind of Spirit and Inspiration, at a time (aged 27) when he feels his own powers as a poet are on the decline.
Socially and politically, the Wind represents the destructive and revolutionar…