A wave to pant beneath thy power

Shelley slowly reveals the many layers within Ode to the West Wind. What at first seems a hymn to nature, develops both a personal narrative twist and a more subversive political message. Each unfolding situation is represented by a different metaphorical “wave” beneath a different “power.”

The natural transition from autumn to winter is obvious, yet vital in setting up the following metaphors. The “wave” is an actual wave and the “power” is the west wind that turns the calm fall into a blustery winter.

The first base-level metaphor is relating this transition from the “autumn” to the “winter” of life. Shelley is admitting that his transition was not so smooth. He pleas to have been “a dead leaf thou mightest bear” or a swift cloud to fly with thee,” but his “boyhood” was not so simple as the autumn. With further research, this fact is verified: Shelley’s life was far from the norm. Rather than going with tide, he made his own path. Yet, it is inevitable that, no matter the means, his winter has come.

The final metaphor is related to the first. Shelley’s distress has followed the political turmoil of his time. But along with lamenting his troubles, Shelley is speaking to the reader. He tells us not to be part of the “pestilence stricken-multitudes,” for if they continue to reign winter will never end.

The final line of the poem is ironic. The spring may not have been “far behind,” but it never came for Shelley, who died young, only three years after writing this poem. The questions answer seems to be a rhetorical “yes,” but in fact for him, it is a resounding “no.” The image of the “trumpet of prophecy” leaves the poem with an eerily visionary tone. Shelley’s overall message is to break with the easy movement of the wind, yet his early death does not favor his example.