How does Shelley develop the symbol of the " Ode to The West Wind " as a destroyer and preserver?
'Ode to The West Wind' is Shelley's one of the best poems. ere he is seen at his best. Despite the poet's despair as reflected in the line. " I fall upon the thorns of life, I bleed " The poet gets hope from the Wind in the concluding line. " If winter comes, can spring be far behind? " The poet describes The West Wind in its wild form in whose unseen presence the dead leaves are driven like ghosts fleeing from an enchanter. But the wind is sympathetic toward all life which it does not annihilate completely.
This is another aspect of the great wind. The wind is, therefore, wild and mild at the same time. This is the peculiarity of the poet's description of The West Wind which makes the poem memorable. The poet wrote this poem in October 1819 in a wood that skirts the Amo near Florence.
On that day, as The poet has himself said, a tempestuous wind was blowing. It began at sunset with a violent tempest of hall and rain, attended by thunder and lightning. Thus The poet saw The West Wind as a symbol of power. The wind strikes terror in the heart of the weak. The old pate leaves of trees are dead and fear the approaching wind.
They fall down and are driven away by the force of the wind in multitudes. The wind denudes all trees which shed their leaves during the Autumn season. In this way, the wind appears to be a destroyer. But that is only one aspect of the powerful wind. Another aspect is full of promise and hope.
By this aspect, the wind preserves the seed of life for future growth. It - destroys the form but not the seed. It takes the seeds to their dark wintry bed where they lie cold and low They are preserved there with care until the spring breeze which is perceived as the sister of The West Wind blows over the earth to quicken new birth.
Then the seeds sprout again in the form of new vegetation. It is, therefore, clear that The West Wind did not destroy the seed of life but only preserved it for future rebirth. The poet has therefore rightly made this invocation to the wind.
Wild Spirit, which is moving everywhere Destroyer and preserver, hear oh, hear. "
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