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أكـاديـمـي ذهـبـي
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رد: Third Year's Students Come Here To Be One Hand
POETRY
LECTURE ELEVEN
First of all let's talk about Shelley he is another major romantic poet he is also influential not only upon the modern writers. He is similar to Byron, he is against the regulations of life , young Shelley was well educated he read widely in Eton schools and unfortunately he embraced atheism because he was influenced by William Godwin's ideas , William's book has influential inquiry about political justice it talks about justice in general and about politics of course, because he was a democratic liberal person .
When Selleys was in collage at oxford he and his friend Hogg wrote a pamphlet and it is called The Necessity of Atheism this action was not accepted in the great immanent collages in England oxford so they expelled the 2 students Hogg and Shelley , at a later stage ironically when Shelley became an immanent poet they wanted to amend the mistake that they committed by a statue of Shelley at the entrance of the university as a kind of an apology.
The young Shelley who was rebellious in accepting all of the regulations, he had this highly spirited nature similar to Byron , both had relations with women but Byron's relations were more incestuous but Shelley's were more inspirational ex. He was married to a young girl at 16 years old they fell in love and got married, of course the marriage was not successful because both were very young and after one year he married another woman out of inspiration, all his marriages were like this.
After he was expelled from the university he faced some financial difficulties and he had kind of a stormy emotional behavior, after his marriage to Harriet Westbrook and they had a child.
Later on he met Robert Southey, he was one of the great poets known at his period, he was the poet laureate of Britain and he found out that Southey was not representing the same radical ideas that he believed in.
He met Godwin and fell in love with his daughter and they both ran a way first to Switzerland than to Italy and in Italy he sent a letter to his wife inviting her to come and live with them, this behavior is out of innocence but of course it is foolish, and his wife committed suicide
Shelly started his works by a long poem Queen Map and it has a kind of a historical importance later on he wrote Alastor it is significant and it’s a kind of an allegorical poem, it talks about the idea of the beauty of the mind then he wrote , The Revolt of Islam written in 12 cantos, it talks about the failure of the French revolution, we could see in the poem Shelley's complete search for reformation and liberty for the mind.
The 3rd major work is Prometheus Unbound Prometheus was one of the gods and in a way he took the torch which is only under gods command and gave it to the human beings in a way of sympathy because according to the myth humans don't know how to lit a fire so Prometheus who took the fire from the Olympian torch and gave it to human Zeus of Jupiter was very upset and condemned Prometheus to torment, his punishment was to roll a great piece of rock around the mountain and the moment he reaches the top the rock falls down again and he has to do it again he condemned him for continues punishment for ever because he has taken something that belongs to the gods and gave it to humans , this is the myth so Shelley took this myth and wrote the poem Prometheus Unbound it took him a whole year to finish this verse drama. Prometheus is a noble champion of the rights of man who remain year less confronted to the gods of course Shelley and Keats are great poets for writing the ode's is a lyrical poem in which it is too personal , subjective it talks about the personal feelings of the poet towards something, you feel the intensity of emotions.
The poem we are going to deal with is talking about Shelley when he heard the wailing of the west wind influenced by this he created his poem .
The poem talks about the power of the west wind it is powerful because it comes from the Atlantic. What we know about the wind in the romantic imagination is that it is a symbol of creative imagination. The speaker here experiences the presence of the west wind , he was in pain ,distressed, broken so he addressed the west wind to uplift his spirit , how???? He talks to the wind as having great power that has dominance over the earth.
In the first stanza he addresses the west wind and he describes its power upon earth and how it moves the trees , what you will notice is that he followed a specific method description.
In the second stanza he addresses the west wind and its power on stars, look at the movement.
In the 3rd stanza he talks about the power of the west wind how it could split the sea and going deep not only on the surface.
After he greatly emphasizes the power of the west wind on all of these parts of the universe then he performs his prayers, he prays to the west wind to uplift him , to carry him as it carries the dried leaves , to push him as it bushes the light clouds and the heavy clouds, move him as if it is moving the waves so as a poet he can revive his spirit and produces poetry and his poetry would spread all over the world to create new generation, this is the whole idea of the poem.
In the poem we Will notice that every image is linked to the other all the metaphors , the figures of speech all the images are linked together like a series .
O WILD West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being
Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes! O thou
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill;
Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and preserve; hear, O hear!
The speaker here addresses the strong powerful wind , highly spirited, monstrous =wild, the wind the breath of autumn , it has a breath like man , what is so specific about autumn??? It is the season of melancholy and decay, nature is not dead but weak and sick, the green leaves become reddish, yellowish brown and dark and go with the soil, it's like being old in age , we can't see the wind but feel its presence, look at the beautiful simile here the dead leaves are described as ghosts from a magical world , the leaves are described as running away from a magician who is the wind , they are afraid they might be caught , notice the series of images, look how the poet compares the materialistic with the nonmaterialistic elements = the wind + ghost. Why is the speaker addressing the wild wind??? "hear, O hear! All of these descriptions is to make the wind listen to his plea , we do not know yet what he wants.
Look at all these colors of the leaves all of these leaves as if they have fatal epidemic diseases ,yellow pale black and sick thousands of leaves are sick nature the wind is like a roman warrior driving the leaves and the seeds look at the metaphor of the seeds, they have wing and they are driven to their burial ground we have a simile as if the seeds are dead bodies , to indicate they are going to have a new life.
Who is the sister of the west wild wind ??? it is the spring wind , imagine a burial ground carrying all these seeds like dead bodies covered by snow then the spring wind will blow its trumpet announcing life and rebirth , here we have the theme of rebirth and resurrection, in spring the snow will melt and the seeds will start to grow again, notice the cycle of seasons.
The wind is masculine in winter and here it is feminine because there is rebirth , the earth is dreaming because it is in a state of sleep from winter season .
In spring when plants start to grow it is the season of fertilization, the spring wind will drive all these fertilizing buds to feed like a shepherd as if they are flocks of sheep, all of the colors will grow again.
This wind with its masculine and feminine qualities it is like an uncontrollable wild spirit it is an invisible force, the wind is described as a destroyer because it destroys all of the leaves bush them and bury them under ground and at the same time it is it is a preserver, it carries the seeds and bury them safely underground for rebirth again in spring contrasted images here, the speaker is trying to give great qualities to the west wind so it will be in his request and answer his plea.
Thou on whose stream, 'mid the steep sky's commotion,
Loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed,
Shook from the tangled boughs of heaven and ocean,
Angels of rain and lightning! there are spread
On the blue surface of thine airy surge,
Like the bright hair uplifted from the head
Of some fierce Mænad, even from the dim verge
Of the horizon to the zenith's height,
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge
Of the dying year, to which this closing night
Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,
Vaulted with all thy congregated might
Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain, and fire, and hail, will burst: O hear!
In the 1st stanza we saw the power of the wind on the land ,now we will move and see the power of the wind on the sky , what can the wind do in heaven , commotion is physical distortion in the sky, we have stars, clouds, they are in the bath of the wind, imagine heaven like a big tree in that big tree we have the clouds they are like the leaves, the night clouds are like the sick leaves the wind shakes them and they are driven.
In heavens but there is not only the light clouds but also the heavy pregnant clouds, the moving of the clouds the lightning and the shaking and rain is compared to mythological dancers in a temple, they perform a frenzy dance around the altar, an energetic kind of dance.
The wind is the song of the dying year the sound of the wind, the sound of wind is compared to a song of grief because it is an announcement of the end of the nature cycle, here the poet compares the coming of the night as if the night here as if it is a cover of grey, as if the earth is covered in darkness, the night will be like a dome, the heavy cloud that are driven and shedding rain by the power of the mighty wind rain and lightning could appear at night sometimes there is hail هيل بالانجليزي مب حق القهوة يعني البرد...وشرايكم بفنيجيل يمدحون القهوة...كني طلعت برا الموضوع..هههههه
It might case fear and horror o, hear he is addressing the wind, how is it powerful to move the clouds and cause thunder ,hail and rain.
III
Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lull'd by the coil of his crystàlline streams,
Beside a pumice isle in Baiæ's bay,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave's intenser day,
All overgrown with azure moss, and flowers
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou
For whose path the Atlantic's level powers
Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below
The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear
The sapless foliage of the ocean, know
Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear,
And tremble and despoil themselves: O hear!
Now the speaker is taking about the power of the west wind over the sea first he describes the Mediterranean, then the Atlantic ocean.
Now look how he describes the Mediterranean as falling asleep, it is in the early civilization it is surrounded by great areas of geographical changes because of volcanoes so many cities are under the sea because of this , the Mediterranean sea is like a sleeping person sleeping on all these civilizations he sees dreams about them he sees castles , gardens and beautiful nature, the west wind is a fierce power it awakens the sleeping Mediterranean and annoys it, because it disturbed its dream you cannot describe the beauty under the sea , the west wind disturbs also the Atlantic ocean the west wind cuts and slices the ocean into two to the deep, the sea becomes cold and faint because of the mighty and powerful wind this is an exaggeration , all of these great descriptions but what is the speaker is going to ask the wind for.
If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share
The impulse of thy strength, only less free
Than thou, O uncontrollable! if even
I were as in my boyhood, and could be
The comrade of thy wanderings over heaven,
As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
Scarce seem'd a vision—I would ne'er have striven
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
O! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!
A heavy weight of hours has chain'd and bow'd
One too like thee—tameless, and swift, and proud.
The speaker says if I was young and was highly spirited but now I am in need ,he is not that weak but the speaker needs help to push him forward, if he was like he was before he would not need help from the west wind, he does not want this uncontrollable power of the west wind ,he wants the power to be controlled by him if I was young as I was earlier I would be your companion but now I have lost my powers and I need your help the speaker asks to be moved by the spirit of the wild west wind before young man as d he is no more an idealistic young man like before but now he is a man that had experienced pain , look at the word thorns of life here we have a biblical reference to Christ through his crucifixion, he says I am now suffering, look at the speaker he does not under estimate his self he is very proud of himself and he knows his powers but he knows he is weak and in distress that’s why he asks for help from the west wind to up left his spirit, he feels chained but actually he is untamed like the wild west wind the speaker shares 3 characteristics with west wind tameless, swift and proud.
Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own?
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies
Will take from both a deep autumnal tone,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe,
Like wither'd leaves, to quicken a new birth;
And, by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguish'd hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawaken'd earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
How is the west wind going to help the speaker, lyre = القيثارة وهي اصل كلمة ليركس
The speaker says make me your musical instrument as the forest is your musical instrument ,why his musical instrument because he is a poet I feel a stage of decay so I am like a forest the leaves are falling , if I become your musical instrument I would share your natural cycle if I am part of your cycle I would be reborn again you see how smart he is he is very talented , you have lost your musical instrument because the trees have shed their leafs and so am I but there is another side of nature when the leafs are on the trees and music would be revived again, he want the mighty spirit to be his own, he has thoughts but they are dead he wants them to be rebirth to be scattered all over the world like the seeds that may inspire other generations, he wants to be immortal by his works, he wants to be a fertilization for the future generation, look how he moves to another metaphor he compares himself like fire, he is like ember he wants the wind to feed him to help in his rebirth him make me like a trumpet for the new generation, he wants the wind to be the prophet of the new season of renewal he wants to be a singer of his own .
The poem is out of a natural phenomena , out of experience it is a kind of a vision in the speakers mind shoeing a never-ending cycle of birth growth, death and rebirth the vision has fear and terror but at the end there is hope, the poet laments the loss of original spontaneous vision in him because he is weak and distressed that’s why he needs the help of the west wind.
The poem is written in tirzarhyme stanza, written in triplets or a series of 3 lines in trisect with interlinking rhyme ab ab bcb cbc bee
Shelley did not take lt as it is he changed it , he used it but he changed the last 2 lines into a couplet, it is used for any length and brought to a conclusion by a single final line which rhymes with the 2nd line of the last stanza .
This kind of rhyme forces the reader to realize how much experiences is behind the lines, it is like a chain each stanza is linked to the other. The poem is symbolic because the wind is a symbol of the creative imagination in the romantic poetry , we have great descriptive language , very rich and highly metaphorical language .
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