Triptych for Ode to the West Wind-key

For my remapping of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind,” I constructed a triptych. A triptych is an artwork, traditionally used for religious alter pieces, made up of three panels, in which the three panels are often hinged together so the side segments, called “wings”, fold over to protect the central area. In total a triptych has five faces, and for my project I dedicated one face to each of the five sonnets of “Ode to the West Wind.” (Each segment, or wing, will hold a section of Shelley’s “winged thoughts.”)

This project draws upon the divine nature of the wind, a theme discussed at some length in my E1:

After its initial usage in the first line, the west wind is referred to only through the archaic pronoun “thou,” or the word “spirit.” It is not by haphazard selection that “thou” replaces the more specific title of West Wind. In losing its specificity of address with the adoption of “thou,” the subject of the poem gains a divine element with its connection to the term of address frequently used in prayers or hymns.

Within each sonnet of the poem, a natural element emerges as a central theme affected by the wind. From my study of the poem, the themes appear in this order: earth, sky, water, humans, and finally the Wind. When applied to the triptych, earth and sky are on the outer panels, and then water and humans sit on the left and right of the opened triptych, with wind at the center. The colors on each panel represent the natural force described in the stanza. For example, the front left panel has brown tissue paper covering green paper to visually represent the browning of the earth that occurs with the arrival of autumn.

Traditionally in triptych alter pieces, the most holy image is on the central panel, and similarly with my project, the stanza that focuses on the divine life-force, the wind, appears on the center panel. As explained in E1, “Growing ever bolder, in the fifth stanza the poet compounds his ardent desire to be “one too like thee,” meaning one like the wind, the divine spirit in all its omnipotence.” (line 56) The central placement of the wind is a critical part of my remapping. Unlike the lines from the preceding four stanzas, the lines from the “wind” stanza are broken up across their panel to show the poet’s desire for the wind to “scatter” his words. (line 66, OWW)

In practical terms, I built this triptych using foam board, which is sturdy enough to stand up on its own, as an alterpiece would. It is about one and a half feet high, and to upload it graphically onto the RAP, I tooks take digital pictures of the final piece, including a close up of each wing.