Percy Shelley(1792—1822)

Lecture outline

• 1.Appreciation: Ode to West Wind

• 2. Shelley’s criticism in China

• 3. Shelly’s life and Major works

• 4. Shelly’s literary status

Poem appreciation

• Ode to West Wind

• What is ode?

an elaborately formal lyric poem, often in the form of a lengthy ceremonious address to a person or abstract entity, always serious and elevated in tone.

-----Oxford concise dictionary of literary terms

Brief introduction

• Position among Shelley's major works

one of the most celebrated works

1) Lyric poem: Ode to the west wind

2) Lyric poem: To a skylark

“the youngest, freshest, gladdest paean( 赞歌 ) of the pure spirit of freedom”

3) Sonnet: Ozymandias

4) Lyric drama: Prometheus unbound

Ozymandias was the GOzymandias was the Greek name for Ramesereek name for Rameses II of Egypt, 13th cents II of Egypt, 13th century B. C.ury B. C.

Shattered statue

four-act play

Ode to the west wind typically reveals Shelley’s views of life and politics: to enjoy freedom and to fight against tyranny

• Background of the writing

• written on a day when the weather was unpredictable and windy

Shelley’s notes

“This poem was chiefly written in a wood that skirts the Arno, near Florence, and on a day when that tempestuous wind, whose temperature is at once mild and animating, was collecting the vapors which pour down the autumnal rains. They began, as I foresaw, at sunset with a violent tempest of hail and rain, attended by that magnificent thunder and lightning peculiar to the Cisalpine regions.”

• Florence was the home of Dante, creator of terza rima, the form of his Divine Comedy.

Close reading

• 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 winged 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 odors plain and hill:

• Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; • Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh, hear!

Stanza I

哦，狂暴的西风，秋之生命的呼吸！ 你无形，但枯死的落叶被你横扫， 有如鬼魅碰到了巫师，纷纷逃避： 黄的，黑的，灰的，红得像患肺痨， 呵，重染疫疠的一群：西风呵，是你以车驾把有冀的种子摧送到

黑暗的冬床上，它们就躺在那里， 像是墓中的死穴，冰冷，深藏，低贱， 直等到春天，你碧空的姊妹吹起

她的喇叭，在沉睡的大地上响遍， （唤出嫩芽，像羊群一样，觅食空中） 将色和香充满了山峰和平原。

不羁的精灵呵，你无处不远行； 破坏者兼保护者：听吧，你且聆听！

Question 1

• What does the west wind mean to Shelley in the first stanza?

both a destroyer and preserver;

West wind leaves

Breath of autumn’s being

dead like corpse

or pestilence-stricken

Unseen presence Lie cold and low in grave (dark wintry bed)

Enchanter Spring, azure sister, blow her clarion

Wide spirit Fill with living hues and colors

Question 2

• How do you interpret the image of Spring? Do you think it is personified?

pastoral shepherdess

“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 odors plain and hill”

reflection of Romanticism: to idealize the nature

Question 3

• What are the features of the stanza form in the poem?

1) run-on line to imitate the unrestrained and free wind

2) a combination of Terze Rima (tercets 三行诗 ) and Shakespearian sonnet rhymed aba, bcb; cdc; ded; ee

3) one sentence forms a stanza: west wind as the breath of Autumn’s being, wild spirit, destroyer and preserver, thou hear!

• 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 aery surge, • Like the bright hair uplifted from the head

• Of some fierce Maenad, 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 vapors, from whose solid atmosphere • Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: oh, hear!

Stanza II

没入你的急流，当高空一片混乱， 流云象大地的枯叶一样被撕扯 脱离天空和海洋的纠缠的枝干。

成为雨和电的使者：它们飘落在你的磅礴之气的蔚蓝的波面， 有如狂女的飘扬的头发在闪烁，

从天穹的最遥远而模糊的边沿 直抵九霄的中天，到处都在摇曳 欲来雷雨的卷发，对濒死的一年

你唱出了葬歌，而这密集的黑夜 将成为它广大墓陵的一座圆顶， 里面正有你的万钧之力的凝结；

那是你的浑然之气，从它会迸涌 黑色的雨，冰雹和火焰：哦，你听！

Question 4

• What’s the stanza about?

the west wind as a stream in the sky

mid the steep sky commotion: in disorder

Question 5

• How do you understand the nature images in the stanza? (lightning, approaching storm, bursting black rain, fire and hail)

suggest the coming of violent force.

Question 6

• What figures of speech are used in this stanza? allusion: fierce Maenad metaphor: tangled boughs of heaven and ocean; angles of rain

and lightning simile: loose clouds like decaying leaves; like the bright hair

uplifted from the head personification: thou dirge of the dying year

Question 7

• What feature(s) of Romanticism are presented in this stanza?

imagination

tangled boughs of heaven and ocean

closing night will be the dome of a vast sepulchre

Stanza 3• Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams • The blue Mediterranean, where he lay, • Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams,

• Beside a pumice isle in Baiae'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: oh, hear!

是你，你将蓝色的地中海唤醒， 而它曾经昏睡了一整个夏天， 被澄澈水流的回旋催眠入梦，

就在巴亚海湾的一个浮石岛边， 它梦见了古老的宫殿和楼阁 ,而且都生满青苔、开满花朵， 那芬芳真迷人欲醉！呵，为了给你 让一条路，大西洋的汹涌的浪波 把自己向两边劈开，而深在渊底

那海洋中的花草和泥污的森林 虽然枝叶扶疏，却没有精力； 在水天辉映的波影里抖颤

听到你的声音，它们已吓得发青： 一边颤栗，一边自动萎缩：哦，你听！

Stanza III analysis• The 3rd Stanza deals with the awakening of nature. It relates

the winds effect on the waves in the sea: The Mediterranean has been awakened by the "West Wind" out of his long sleep in which it has seen "old palaces and towers“ which are covered with "moss and flowers".

• The scenery cannot be described with words, because its view robs Shelley and everyone else of his senses. It is difficult to describe nature. Shelley tries to find metaphors which presents nature as a person.

• But this stanza also tries to conveys the power of the "West Wind". Because of it, the Atlantic separates and "the sea-blooms and oozy woods" change their colour and become grey. The Atlantic like the dead leaves obeys the wind. This makes plain how powerful the wind, on the one hand, and the power of the cycle of life, on the other hand, are, because the wind is only one part of the cycle.

• The verse ends like the others.

Stanza 4• 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 seemed a vision; I would ne'er have striven

• As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need. • Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! • I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

• A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed • One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.

哎，假如我是一片枯叶被你浮起， 假如我是能和你飞跑的云雾， 是一个波浪，和你的威力同喘息，

假如我分有你的脉搏，仅仅不如 你那么自由，哦，无法约束的生命！假如我能像在少年时，凌风而舞

便成了你的伴侣，悠游天空 （因为呵，那时候，要想追你上云霄， 似乎并非梦幻），我就不致像如今

这样焦躁地要和你争相祈祷。 哦，举起我吧，当我是水波、树叶、浮云！我跌在生活底荆棘上，我流血了！

这被岁月的重轭所制服的生命 原是和你一样：骄傲、轻捷而不驯。

Question 8

• Why does the poet hope to a dead leave or a swift cloud or a wave?

to fly with the wind

to share the impulse of strength

to be as free as wind

Questions 9-10

• What’s kind of hope does the poet express? old past days come back again “if I were as in my boyhood” to be comrade of the wind” in my sore need I fall upon the thorns of life. I bleed! a heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed/ one too li

ke thee: tameless, swift and proud.• What kind of mood is uttered? What dose it indicate? sad, sorrow life has changed him, who is “chained and bowed” he wishes to get youth and liberty back

Stanza 5• 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 withered leaves to quicken a new birth! • And, by the incantation of this verse,

• Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth • Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! • Be through my lips to unawakened earth

• The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind, • If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

把我当作你的竖琴吧，有如树林： 尽管我的叶落了，那有什么关系！你巨大的合奏所振起的音乐

将染有树林和我的深邃的秋意： 虽忧伤而甜蜜。呵，但愿你给予我狂暴的精神！奋勇者呵，让我们合一！

请把我枯死的思想向世界吹落， 让它像枯叶一样促成新的生命！ 哦，请听从这一篇符咒似的诗歌，

就把我的话语，像是灰烬和火星 从还未熄灭的炉火向人间播散！ 让预言的喇叭通过我的嘴唇

把昏睡的大地唤醒吧！要是冬天 已经来了，西风呵，春日怎能遥远？

Question 11

• How do you understand leaves in stanza 5? Any connection with the leaves in stanza 1?

“my leaves”----leaves of the poets----leaves of thought (“dead thoughts”= withered leaves)

leaves (stanza 1)---winged seeds

to quicken a new birth

Question 12

• What does the incantation of this verse mean?

with the help of the poem to scatter my words like “ashes and sparks”

“the trumpet of a prophecy! O wind,

if winter comes, can spring be far behind?

Question 13

• What kind of artistic attitude does the poet express in the 5th stanza?

the function of poetry:

Poetry is the indispensable agent of civilization.

Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.

Poetry can play a very important part in the spiritual life of society

Question 14

• The poem ends it with a question --- rhetorical? Or indicating Shelley's own uncertainty?

hopes for radical social change, or a rebirth of personal inspiration

Overall Analysis

• The "West Wind" represents liberty, the untamedness of nature and power for Shelley. The wind is the changing part in nature, which also controls heaven and the sea. It can stand for death, but at the same time it means life. It is a destroyer and a preserver.

• Shelley sees the wind as a chance to get a new inspiration and to transmit his ideas and "prophecy".

Shelley’s criticism in China

郭沫若心中的雪莱 •雪莱是我最敬爱的诗人中之一个。他是自然的宠子，泛神宗的信者，革命思想的健儿。他的诗便是他的生命。他的生命便是一首绝妙的好诗。

•他是一个伟大的未成品。宇宙也只是一个永远的伟大的未成品。古人以诗比风。风有拔木倒屋的风，有震撼大树的风，有震撼小树的风，有动摇大枝的风，有动摇小枝的风。这是大宇宙中意志流露时的种种诗风。雪莱的诗风也有这么种种。风不是从天外来的。诗不是从心外来的。不是心坎中流露出的诗通不是真正的诗。雪莱是真正的诗的作者，是一个真正的诗人。

郭沫若心中的雪莱•译雪莱的诗，是要使我成为雪莱，是要使雪莱成为我自己。译诗不是鹦鹉学话，不是沐猴而冠。

•男女结婚是要先有恋爱，先有共鸣，先有心声的交感。我爱雪莱，我能感听得他的心声，我能和他共鸣，我和他结婚了。——我和他合而为一了。他的诗便如像我自己的诗。我译他的诗，便如像我自己在创作的一样。

鲁迅：《摩罗诗力说 》•修黎者，神思之人，求索而无止期，猛进而不退转，浅人之所观察，殊莫可得其渊深。若能真识其人，将见品性之卓，出于云间，热诚勃然，无可沮遏，自趁其神思而奔神思之乡。奥古斯丁曰，吾未有爱而吾欲爱，因抱希冀以求足爱者也。惟修黎亦然，故终出人间而神行，冀自达其所崇信之境；复以妙音，喻一切未觉，使知人类曼衍之大故，暨人生价值之所存，扬同情之精神，而张其上征渴仰之思想，使怀大希以奋进，与时劫同其无穷。世则谓之恶魔，而修黎遂以孤立；群复加以排挤，使不可久留于人间。

Shelley’s Life

wealthy

Eton Mad Shelley

OxfordThe Necessity of Atheism《无神论的必要性》

expelled to leave the schooldisowned by the father

Shelley’s LifemarriedHarriet

runaway marriage

turn to LondonWilliam Godwin

married Mary immoralist

forced to leave England in 1818

Shelley’s Life

four-year troublesin Italy

poor health

financial problems

restless moving

death of his two sons

drowned in1822, buriedat Rome near Keats

friendship with Byron

The burning of Shelley’s body

Shelley’s main works

• First important poem: Queen Mab

• The Revolt of Islam

• Prometheus Unbound, struggle against tyranny and oppression----masterpiece

• Lyrics on Nature and Love– Ode to the West Wind– To a Skylark– Love’s philosophy– One word Is Too often Profaned– With a Guitar, to Jane

• critical essays: Defense of Poetry

Summary

• Artistically • Shelley has a reputation as a difficult

poet: erudite (/érudait/) (learned), complex (difficult), full of classical and mythological allusions.

• His style abounds in personification and metaphor and other figures of speech.

Summary

• Thematically • Shelley is one of the leading Romantic poets,

an intense and original lyrical poet in the English language.

• Shelley loved the people and hated their oppressors and exploiters.

• He called on the people to overthrow the rule of tyranny and injustice and prophesied a happy and free life for mankind.

summary

• He stood for this social and political ideal all his life.

• He and Byron are regarded as the two great poets of the younger generation in English Romanticism.

Comments on Shelley

• Byron, his best friend, said of Shelley “the best and least selfish man I ever knew”.

• Wordsworth said, “Shelley is one of the best artists of us all”.

Mary Shelley’s comments

• Shelley loved the people and respected them as often more virtuous, as always more suffering, and therefore more deserving of sympathy, then the great. He believed that a clash between the two classes of society was inevitable, and he eagerly ranged himself on the people’s side.

His wife Mary

Life may change, but it may fly not;Hope may vanish, but can die not; Truth be veiled, but still it burneth;

Love repulsed,but it returneth.

Quotes

Homework for next lecture

• Two students’ presentations and answer the following questions

• Describe in your own words, the scenes on the Grecian urn. Who are they in these pictures?

• Who is the speaker of the last two lines in the ode?

• Comment on the epigram “beauty is truth, truth beauty”.

• What are the similarities and differences among Byron, Shelley and Keats?