azure sister of the Spring

In Ode to the West Wind, Percy Bysshe Shelley uses an abundance of color do describe either the life or death of the natural world. Leaves, ?Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red? are ?pestilence-stricken,? driven like ghosts through the winter. Spring, on the other hand, will bring flowers ?With living hues? markedly in contrast to the death-like colors of the fall and winter. In particular, Shelley treats the colors blue and azure in a different manner, odd considering that azure is simply a light, purplish shade of blue. The distinction is quite clear, however.

Described specifically as blue, Angels are spread on the ?blue surface? of the wind and the ?blue Mediterranean? is woken from summer dreams to the fall (followed by death and winter). And, in contrast, those in azure are: the ?azure sister of the Spring,? while Mediterranean islands in spring and summer are covered in ?azure moss and flowers.? Blue seems reminiscent of death, and darkness, analogous with gray and black. Azure is described in terms of light and air, hope and Spring. In general, the colors used to describe the spring are of ?living hues? and are much more positive than the pessimism with which Shelley treats the fall and winter, replete with darkness, sickness and cold.