{"id":179,"date":"2008-04-29T09:30:26","date_gmt":"2008-04-29T08:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/2008\/04\/29\/inpm-29-ode-to-the-west-wind\/"},"modified":"2016-12-10T10:55:48","modified_gmt":"2016-12-10T09:55:48","slug":"inpm-29-ode-to-the-west-wind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/2008\/04\/29\/inpm-29-ode-to-the-west-wind","title":{"rendered":"INPM #29: Ode to the West Wind"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"icon Ode to the West Wind<\/strong><\/p>\n

I<\/strong><\/p>\n

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,
\nThou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
\nAre driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,<\/p>\n

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
\nPestilence-stricken multitudes: 0 thou,
\nWho chariotest to their dark wintry bed<\/p>\n

The wing\u00c3\u00a8d seeds, where they lie cold and low,
\nEach like a corpse within its grave,until
\nThine azure sister of the Spring shall blow<\/p>\n

Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill
\n(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
\nWith living hues and odours plain and hill:<\/p>\n

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
\nDestroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!<\/p>\n


\nII<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thou on whose stream, ‘mid the steep sky’s commotion,
\nLoose clouds like Earth’s decaying leaves are shed,
\nShook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,<\/p>\n

Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread
\nOn the blue surface of thine airy surge,
\nLike the bright hair uplifted from the head<\/p>\n

Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge
\nOf the horizon to the zenith’s height,
\nThe locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge<\/p>\n

Of the dying year, to which this closing night
\nWill be the dome of a vast sepulchre
\nVaulted with all thy congregated might<\/p>\n

Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere
\nBlack rain, and fire, and hail will burst: O hear!<\/p>\n


\nIII<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
\nThe blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
\nLulled by the coil of his crystalline streams,<\/p>\n

Beside a pumice isle in Baiae’s bay,
\nAnd saw in sleep old palaces and towers
\nQuivering within the wave’s intenser day,<\/p>\n

All overgrown with azure moss and flowers
\nSo sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou
\nFor whose path the Atlantic’s level powers<\/p>\n

Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below
\nThe sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear
\nThe sapless foliage of the ocean, know<\/p>\n

Thy voice, and suddenly grow grey with fear,
\nAnd tremble and despoil themselves: O hear!<\/p>\n


\nIV<\/strong><\/p>\n

If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
\nIf I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
\nA wave to pant beneath thy power, and share<\/p>\n

The impulse of thy strength, only less free
\nThan thou, O Uncontrollable! If even
\nI were as in my boyhood, and could be<\/p>\n

The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,
\nAs then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
\nScarce seemed a vision; I would ne’er have striven<\/p>\n

As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
\nOh! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
\nI fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!<\/p>\n

A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed
\nOne too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.<\/p>\n


\nV<\/strong><\/p>\n

Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:
\nWhat if my leaves are falling like its own!
\nThe tumult of thy mighty harmonies<\/p>\n

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,
\nSweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
\nMy spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!<\/p>\n

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
\nLike withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
\nAnd, by the incantation of this verse,<\/p>\n

Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
\nAshes and sparks, my words among mankind!
\nBe through my lips to unawakened Earth<\/p>\n

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
\nIf Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?<\/p>\n

– Percy Bysshe Shelley<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zephyrus, or just Zephyr,<\/a> in the original Greek Zephuros (\u00ce\u2013\u00ce\u00ad\u00cf\u2020\u00cf\u2026\u00cf\u0081\u00ce\u00bf\u00cf\u201a), in Latin Favonius, is the Greek god of the west wind. The gentlest of the winds, Zephyrus is known as the fructifying wind, the messenger of spring. (Wikipedia)<\/p>\n

The icon is based\u00c2\u00a0on an engraving by William-Adolphe Bouguereau<\/a> dating from 1875.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Overview: (Inter-)National Poetry Month 2008 \u00c2\u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ode to the West Wind I 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 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[38,211],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-junomagic","tag-international-poetry-month","tag-poems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12006,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions\/12006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}