An Analysis of Ode to the West Wind
Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" appears more complex at first than it really is because the poem is structured much like a long, complex sentence in which the main clause does not appear until the last of five fourteen line sections. The poem's main idea is held in suspension for 56 lines before the reader sees exactly what Shelley is saying to the west wind, and why he's saying it. In the first four sections Shelley addresses the west wind in three different ways, each one evoking the wind's power and beauty. And each section ends with Shelley asking the West Wind to "hear, oh hear!" The reader's curiosity is therefore both aroused and suspended, because we know the west wind is supposed to
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We only know that Shelley cries out, "Destroyer and preserver: hear, oh, hear!" (14)
The second stanza shifts emphasis to another image, not the dead leaves of autumn and the "wingèd seeds" that will germinate in the spring, but the roiling autumn clouds that promise storm and rain. This image is less complex than the wind that drives the leaves and seeds, because little is evoked except for the terrific power of the wind. It shakes the clouds "from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean" (17). Here, the clouds take on a leaf-like aspect&emdash;a clever technique Shelley uses to connect the west wind of part one with the west wind of part two. The image in this second stanza focuses more clearly on the death of the year proclaimed by the powerful storms that the wind blows in. The clouds are "Angels of rain and lightning" (18) and, torn to shreds by the fierce wind, look "Like the bright hair uplifted from the head/ Of some fierce Maenad" (20, 21). The ominous, death-like aspect of the winds sound to Shelley like the "dirge/ Of the dying year" (23, 24). All of this emphasizes death, but also the power of the west wind to bring about vast change. So two features of the west wind have become clear in the first two stanzas: it destroys and preserves; it profoundly changes things. It is clear that Shelley's apostrophe is addressed to a powerful force, but we do not yet know why he asks it "oh, hear!"
The mystery is only deepened in stanza
The Way of the Wind by Amos Oz, is about a man named Shimshon Sheinbaum, and his view of his son, Gideon. Shimshon was a military, political, and social hero amongst his kibbutz. He is a founding father of the Hebrew Labor Movement. People in his kibbutz looked for him for guidance, because this man was in top physical and mental shape devoting all of his life to learning as much as necessary and the remainder to stay in peak shape. As one can imagine, he would expect the same of his son, and he does but his son isn't the same man as his father. His father didn't have someone else make a decision like that for him and he can't make that decision for Gideon. Shimshon, regardless how much he cared for his son, pushed him too far and had too
Shelley used imagery and a very impressive ironical way to write this poem. Basically, the poem is divided into two parts; the first eight lines are describing an ancient decayed sculpture seen by a traveler. The last six lines however talk about the words on the pedestal and the desolate surroundings; he contrasts the great sculpture with the surrounding emptiness, which gave a stronger feeling about the poem. In Shelley’s work, it described the visage "sneer of cold command"(Line, 5).
I believe that the state should not tell people what to believe. Everyone has their own mind and they have the right to believe what they want to believe. I see nothing wrong with teachers teaching about Darwinism or Creationism. I think that everyone should be educated on both matters. There is nothing wrong with knowing information about both subjects, and believing or not believing in them. It is the job of teachers to educate the students on people’s ideas and findings from their research. Once a teacher is telling students what they should or shouldn't do then it is a problem. In the movie, Inherit the Wind, there are many instances where I believe that Bert Cates should not have been found guilty for educating his students on the
Mary Shelley utilizes figurative language in this excerpt to describe the surroundings of Frankenstein on his journey home and set the tone of gloomy, because of his brother’s death. Shelley uses personification to express the pattern of the raindrops as “violence quickly increasing” as if the raindrops were a person becoming very violent. This figurative language device develops the tone by tying into the violent actions of whoever murdered William, Frankenstein’s brother. Shelley uses the figurative language device of simile to compare the weather of nature such as, “vivid flashes of lightning dazzled my eyes, illuminating the lake, making it appear like a vast sheet of fire”. Shelley begins the sentence with a cheerful tone then takes a
The Wind in the Willows (published in 1908) by Kenneth Grahame is a children's fictional novel set in England during the early 20th century. This allegory from the stimulus booklet evokes feelings of magic and adventure but also feelings of reflection as we relate the actions of Ratty, Mole and Toad to our lives.Grahame evokes an imaginative journey within the mind of the reader as he questions "Which journey's do we take that we really want to experience?" Kenneth Grahame conveys this idea through Mole who is being forced to take Ratty's journey instead of his own. This text broadens our understanding of the world today in that it helps us to undertsand the complex interactions between people.
Throughout the twentieth century, numerous dramas that were written in the United States presented ideas and situations that had the purpose of changing a reader’s attitude towards a specific subject. This is the case of the play “Inherit the Wind”, a piece written by the playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. Throughout the years, many literary scholars have argued whether or not “freedom of thought” has stood as a predominant theme in the play. While this issue may bring about countless debates, my respect towards others’ viewpoints has allowed me to pick a side and to defend it with textual evidence from the play itself. From my perspective, the main theme in Inherit the Wind is freedom of thought.
In this first paragraph I’m gonna explain how Mary Shelley uses imagery in this passage. The imagery used is almost all sight and things Victor Frankenstein is seeing as he is seeing the creature. He is seeing lightning flash all around him which subtly illuminates the creature at first. On the second flash it clearly illuminates the creature. “For another flash discovered him to me hanging among the rocks,” (Shelley, 63). This shows that it is really dark where he is and he can only see when the lightning flashes. He is in a storm so he is feeling the cold rain. The rain and the darkness are a very unsettling combo causing his teeth to chatter. He does think that the storm is beautiful though while in the beginning of the essay he just sits there and marvels at it before it starts becoming uncomfortable.
A canon is a collection or list of sacred books accepted as genuine (“Canon”). There are many different canons depending merely on the teacher or the institution the teacher is at. There will always be a canon of some sort because all teachers must have a book they get their criteria from. This class had a wonderful canon because it was all stuff we needed to know, from Mary Rowlandson to Johnathan Edwards. In a Tempest: An Ode to the Hurricane by Jose Maria Heredia is one text I think Mr. Higginbotham should include in his class because it speaks of a different country, shows how they wanted to control America and covers things that are common to today in America all through the symbol of a Hurricane.
Inherit the Wind is about a 24-year-old teacher named Bertram T. Cates, who is arrested for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution to his junior high-class. Some high-profile Hillsboro town’s people press charges and have Cates arrested for teaching evolutionism in a stringent Christian town. A famous lawyer named Henry Drummond defends him; while a fundamentalist politician Matthew Harrison Brady prosecutes. The story takes place in Hillsboro, which is a small town in Tennessee. Cates is merely trying to teach to his class that there is more to life than just what the Bible teaches. He is not trying to be nonreligious; rather he is just teaching his class to think outside the box. The town’s people think that Cates is trying to push
Inherit the Wind, based on the famous “Scopes Monkey Trial” in the small town Dayton, Tennessee, was written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The play was not intended to depict the actual history or the proceedings in the Scopes’ trial but it was used as a vehicle for exploring social anxiety and ant-intellectualism that existed in the Americas during the1950s. Lawrence and Lee wrote the play as a response to the threat to intellectual freedom presented by the anti-Communist hysteria of the McCarthy era. The major themes depicted in the Inherit the Wind include the intellectual curiosity, narrow-mindedness or limited perception, the importance of religion, and the relationship between the perception of
Stanza two and three depicts two types of storms, one externally and one internally, that are bound to happen. As the storm persists, the speaker observes that “weather abroad / And weather in the heart alike come on / Regardless of prediction.” The speaker associates the storm currently happening as a parallel to the troubles he has metaphorically. The “weather abroad” speaks of the disorder present outside of his sentiments. Even though predictions or storm warnings can aid people in toughing through the occurrence, such as stocking up on food and basic disaster supplies, the storm is imminent either way; the weather cannot be manipulated and it will continue to bring forth destruction. Meanwhile, in regards to the emotional state of the speaker, it is of the heart. An individual can attempt to brace themselves in the face of trying times that will weather away the heart, however, they can’t hinder the turmoil set to come. The speaker “can only close the shutters” to the storm raging outside or within. However, by closing the only way he can view the turbulent storm, either from the house or within oneself, he is closing his eyes to the destruction, choosing to be blind to it. Nevertheless, the storm will go forth and wreak havoc that will remain for an extended period of time, engendering suffering. Instruments may well predict the storm, but it is unavoidable and the outcome depends on what one does with the
Shelley’s presentation of specific and powerful diction helps illuminate his strong thoughts about the mutability of humans. Shelley’s use of the two words “poison” and “pollutes” in the third stanza of the poem alludes to his thoughts about the human mind mentioned in his biography, “We rest.---A dream has power to poison sleep; / We rise.---One wandering thought pollutes the day; / We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep; / Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away:” (Shelley, 1734). Shelley was frequently bullied as a child and was expelled from school for being an alleged atheist; thus, he had notions before writing the poem about man’s corruption and “man’s general
The poem gives a wonderful amount of images so a mental picture can be drawn. Just in these six lines Shelley introduces another character, tells all about this sculptor, gives information that is important to the mood of the poem, and lets the image of an upset artist appear in the picture.
Despite the flowing syntax, the poem has a clear and predictable structure to replicate the persona’s calm familiarity with experiencing and answering to “storms” in their life. It is interesting to note that even though parlous weather is on its way, there is a lack of panic, chaos, and anomalies in the structure of the poem. There continues to be seven lines in each stanza throughout the piece;