“For the Romantic poet, the idea of revolution
has a special interest, and a special affinity. For Romanticism seeks to effect
in poetry what revolution aspires to achieve in politics: innovation,
transformantion, defamiliarisation" (Divid Duff,p. 26) Revolution is a
dominant spirit in almost all the romantic poets. Percy Bysshe Shelley, a
Romantic poet, is also called rebel for his idea of revolution in his poetry.
As The French Revolution dominated all politics in those years, unlike
Wordsworth or Coleridge, Shelley never abandoned the ideals of the revolution,
though he was appalled by the dictatorship of Napoleon. Shelley only
experienced the revolution at second hand through the books of various writers
and was influenced by Rousseau, William Godwin etc. When he looked back, all he
could see was the flame of revolution still flickering in spite of the terror,
was and disease. His long poem, The Revolt of Islam, written at the height of
his powers, is clear on one matter above all else- that the ideas of progress,
which inspired the revolution, will triumph once again.
In the "Ode to
The West Wind" Shelley is seen as a rebel and he wants revolution. He
desires a social change and the West Wind is to his symbol of change. This
poem, written in iambic pentameter, begins with three stanzas describing the
wind's effects upon earth, air and ocean. The last two stanzas are Shelley
speaking directly to the wind, asking for its power, to life him like a leaf,
or a cloud and make him his companion in its wanderings. He asks the wind to
take his thoughts and spread them all over the world so that the youth are
awoken with his ideas.
In the first stanza
of this poem, Shelley says that the West Wind drives away the last sign of life
in trees and also helps to rejuvenate the world by allowing the seeds to grow
in the spring. In this way the West Wind acts as a destroyer and preserver.
Shelley says, “Wild spirit, which art moving everywhere;/ Destroyer and
preserver; hear, oh, hear!" Actually the West Wind acts as a driving force
for change and rejuvenation in the human and natural world. And it is the
symbol of revolution. Shelley begins his poem by addressing the Wild West Wind.
He quickly introduces the theme of death and compares the dead leaves to
ghosts. The imagery of "Pestilence-stricken multitudes" makes the
reader aware that Shelley is addressing more than a pile of leaves. His
claustrophobic mood becomes evident when he talks of the wintry bed and
The winged seeds,
where they lie cold and low/ Each like a corpse within its grave, until/ Thine
azure sister of the Spring shall blow"
Although the West
Wind symbolizes his own personality and in the middle of the poem he seems
somehow pessimistic when he says, "Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a
cloud!/ I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!", at the end of the poem
he is seen very much optimistic when he say that his revolutionary ideas must
bring a change and the new order will be established.
The wind blows
through the jungle and produces music out to the dead leaves. Shelley requests
it to create music out of his heart and to inspire him to write great poetry,
which may create a revolution in the hearts of men . He wants the Wind to
scatter his revolutionary message in the world, just as it scatters cries and
sparks from a burning fire. His thoughts may not be as fiery as they once were,
but they still have the power to inspire men. He tells the Wind to take message
to sleeping world, that if winter comes, spring cannot be far behind. After bed
days come good days. Here he says, " If winter comes , can spring be far
behind?"
We also find
Shelley’s revolutionary zeal in ode “To A Skylark”. According to Shelley, the
bird, Skylark, that pours spontaneous melody from heaven and sours higher and
higher can never be a bird. It is for the poet, a joyful spirit that begins its
upward flight at sunrise and becomes invisible at evening like the stars of the
sky that become invisible in day light. Moreover, it is compared with the beans
of the moon whose presence is rather felt than seen. It's a heavenly bird and
by singing it spreads its influence through the world.
In the opening
stanza, the bind is seen as a "blithe spirit" that "pourest thy
full heart/ In profuse strains of unpremeditated art." The words
"Pourest thy full heart" mean that the bird pours out its heart in
song and with "In profuse strains of unpremeditated art", Shelley
refers to the spontaneous flow of music which comes from the Skylark. There is
nothing artificial in its music, it overflows profusely from its heart. And
Shelley says as a spirit of revolution it spreads it revolutionary message as
the moon spreads its beam. He says,
"All the earth
and air
With thy voice is
loud,
As, when might is
bare,
From one lonely
cloud
The moon rains our
her beams, and Heaven is overflowed."
As in the beginning
of the poem, the poet says the bird is a heavenly bird and it is a joyful
spirit, its life is not sorrowful like that of human being. The life of human
being is full of sorrow, suffering and it is rare to find ecstasy without pain.
Our happiness is often mapped by memories of part affections and sorrows, and
the painful uncertainly of what is to come in the future. Man is a creature
that looks "before and after". He is subject to weariness and
satiety, so that he can never enjoy happiness perennially. But the Skylark
knows on satiety. It is the very embodiment of perennial delight, ever fresh
and full of west and unwearied in its enjoyment of happiness. Human life, on
the other hand, is subject to recurrent spells of frustration and pain. As he
say,
“We look before and
after,
And shoe for what
is not:
Our sincerest
laughter
With some pain is
fraught:
Our sweetest songs
are those that tell of saddest thought."
So the poet wants
to experience half the gaiety of the bird and them he would sing wit such
excellent poetic ecstasy via the people of the world listen to him. He says,
"Teach me half
the gladness
That thy brain must
know,
Such harmonious
madness
From my lips would
flow
The world should
listen then-as I am listening now."
In the concluding
part it can be said that Shelley is a true revolutionary poet whose message
bears the ideas of revolution……………
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