Shelley and Keats :: essays papers

Shelley and KeatsAutumnal Theme in English Romantic PoetryShelleys Ode to the West Wind and Keatss To Autumn.A season of surrender is traditionally associated with transienceand mutability, with dying of nature and expectations of thefollowing winter time. For Romantic poets who atomic number 18 known fortheir extraordinary sensitivity to natural sense modalitys the period offall becomes a expectant force for poetic creativity. Percy ByssheShelleys Ode to the West Wind and John Keatss ode ToAutumn are two beautiful poems which were blown to its germsby the English autumn both poets are influenced by theseasonal process in nature which ushers them into the mood oftransience and maturation. However, the two of them differentlyperceive the same natural manifestations. The primary poetShelley observes the deadly changes in nature caused by theautumnal wind with an expectation for the following spring andrevival. In the seasonal process he sees a symbolical prototypefor possible r evolutionary changes both in his own life and inthe existing social structure of his country. His Ode to theWest Wind primarily appeals to the industrious sublime power ofthe west wind to give him that energy which is able to change theworld. At the same time, another Romantic poet Keats drowsy accepts theidea of aging and accomplishment in his ode To Autumn he celebratesfruitfulness of the autumn and bides farewell to the passing away yearand together with it to his great poetry.The Romantic autumnal odes of Shelley and Keats are born from thepoetic observations of natural changes and from their ability topenetrate the mood of fall which provides them a incentive forartistic creativity. In Ode to the West Wind Shelley mainlyconcentrates his forethought on his observations of the death caused bythe autumnal wind. He compares the dead leaves to ghosts (WW,676/2-3), and the winged seeds to dead bodies which lie cold andlow... within their grave (WW, 676/7-8). All these images talk tothe author of the dying year (WW, 677/24), of transience of time andof aging. Little by little his mind becomes full of deadthoughts(WW, 678/63) which overwhelm him after he penetrates theautumnal mood of nature thus his mind generates the mood of theseason and he becomes a part of it. However, observing the autumnaldevastation Shelley knows that this season is not to rule over theearth forever for him it is just a period of darkness which waits fora redeemer (Webb, p.178). He expects the time when Spring shall blow