Reading Notes W8: Percy Bysshe Shelley, Part B

"Ode to the West Wind" begins by addressing the beginning of Autumn. This season leaves behind the ghostly remains of dead leaves. The remains of these leaves eventually give rise to new life come Spring in a never-ending cycle of life. Spring brings about rain and lightning. The lightning is an unpredictable pattern and each shape looks like that of hair being lifted. From what I can interpret, Shelley seems to want all of his knowledge and wisdom to be spread around like dead leaves when he passes away in hopes that he can leave behind something great. He wishes for his death, while he views it to be sad, to at least allow it to do something great for the world. "Scatter" "my words among mankind. (401). "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" (401). He hopes that the spreading of his wisdom won't come too long after his death.

The conclusion of Shelley's "A Defense of Poetry," I assume, summarizes most of his key points. He believes that poetry is the best method of recording life's best moments. He acknowledges this idea that looking back on memories through poetry can sometimes leave yourself with regret or wishing that things were even better than they were but reminds himself that pleasure is still there regardless of any negativity. He believes that poets can bring experiences and feelings to life with their poems. Poetry is a powerful tool to explain things such as emotions that other wise can't be expressed with literal terms. Poetry is a way to immortalize something throughout time. Shelley believes that the most divine feature about human beings is our ability to capture feelings through the simple act of writing a poem. Poems can retain the sense of beauty that the writer saw when appreciating nature or something else they enjoy and they can use poetry to address darker topics as well. You can coat words of darkness with things that can shed light on them and make them less painful or at least make them into something that can be appreciated for having occurred.

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. The Norton Anthology World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, Third Edition, vol. E, W. W. Norton 2012, pp. 395-401