Be thou me, impetuous one!

In his Preface to Lyrical Ballads, 1802, William Wordsworth clearly asserts his disdain for personification in his poetry, as he opts instead for a more realistic approach to the language of men. Percy Bysshe Shelley?s ?Ode to the West Wind? is the poem we have encountered so far that most radically rejects Wordsworth?s view. Shelley?s Ode not only makes the ?wild west wind? into a breathing, empowering, nurturing, damning, and utterly awe-inspiring entity, in the process it undermines the power of actual human life. After devoting three stanzas to the wind acting upon all the various natural elements, the narrator finally interjects: "If I were a dead leaf though mightest bear; If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee?" By speaking in ?if? clauses, in stark contrast to the firm ?though who didst??speech used when describing the wind?s actions, the narrator shows signs of his own dehumanization. His inclusion of ?self? in this poem does not represent the man he is, but rather the man he never was, or the man he wishes to be. The narrator firmly believes that the wind controls his destiny, and he can merely implore that it ?be through my lips to unawakend earth.? By ascribing life-altering powers to the wind, the narrator loses his own sense of entitlement to life.