Shelley as a revolutionary
The word revolutionary is derived from the word revolution, which means an
overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system.
According to this definition, a revolutionary poet is a poet who wants to
overthrow the social order of the society and different systems and to bring a
new system based on justice. In this regard, P.B. Shelley is regarded one of the
greatest revolutionary poets of the world.
Among all the romantic poets, he was the most revolutionary. We see his
passionate search for personal love and social justice in his poems. As we know
that a poet cannot get rid of his society, culture, and personal feelings. Same is
true of P.B. Shelley. Two notable examples of his revolutionary poetry are "Ode
to the West Wind" and "Ode to a Skylark." Both poems reflect Shelley's profound
connection with nature and his desire for societal transformation.
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 "Pestilencestricken 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
Shelley as a revolutionary
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?"
ode to a skylark
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
Shelley as a revolutionary
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…