Poetry ode to the west wind...?

Question

Does anyone know the metaphors and similes in this poem?

Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay
Lulled by the coil of the crystalline streams
Beside a pumice isle in Baiae's bay
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave's intenser day

Answer 1

The poem is chock full of metaphors and similes. Every stanza, almost every line, has one. The lines you have quoted do not contain the most obvious examples. This quotation is indeed metaphorical, but it exemplifies a special subcategory of metaphorical language: personification. The west wind is personified as one who awakens the "blue Mediterranean," and the Mediterranean itself is personified as one who lies asleep "lulled by . . . the crystalline streams." Furthermore, the Mediterranean dreams of "old palaces and towers" reflected ("quivering") in the light of an "intenser day."

Look at these opening lines of the poem for more obvious examples of both metaphor and simile:

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 wingàd seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow

Here are some of the metaphors (and similes, too).

(1) The west wind is the "breath of Autumn's being"
(2) dead leaves are "like ghosts fleeing" -- a simile because of the use of the word like
(3) the wind is an enchanter driving the leaves as ghosts
(4) the leaves are also "pestilence-driven multitudes" of many races (referring to the colors of autumn leaves)--yellow, black, pale, red
(5) the wind is seen as a charioteer
(6) the earth on which seeds fall is seen as their bed
(7) the seeds themselves are compared each to a corpse awaiting a resurrection in the spring (another simile)
(8) Spring is personified as the "azure sister" of Autumn

You can go on and on, citing many metaphors, similes, and personifications in the poem.

The dominant images of the first three stanzas focus on the leaves, the clouds, and waves of water all blown by the wind.

These images are brought together in the dominant image of the poem, expressed in this simile, referring to the poet himself:

O! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

In Section V, Shelley uses a more complex, but also more interesting set of metaphors.

"Make my thy lyre," he says, desiring to be a musical instrument upon which the West Wind plays its music. But then in a simile he adds, "even as the forest is." Finally he hopes that his thoughts will be scattered (through the reading of his poem), "Like wither’d leaves, to quicken a new birth," and that his words will be scattered like "ashes and sparks" from a blazing fire, "unextinguished hearth," to inspire mankind. In his final explicit metaphor, he hopes that his poetry will be "the trumpet of a prophecy."

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

Winter, of course, in this implicit metaphor goes well beyond the season, but the reader has to suppoly the subject of the metaphor.

However bad things may be, if we hear Shelley's poetry as "the trumpet of a prophecy," we may live in hope that they will improve.

This is just a beginning. The poem is rich in metaphors. Some of them are not very fresh or original, and some of them come close to producing mixed metaphors, but they are there and their interaction is sometimes subtle and always engaging.

Ultimately, what does the West Wind itself stand for metaphorically? Yes, Spirit, of course. But what kind of spirit? What role does the west wind play as the inspiratoin of Shelley's ode?

Enjoy!

Answer 2

The whole stanza is one big metaphor.Always remember that the poem is about the west wind and here, it is refered to as a man dreaming about palaces and towers.