Why do you think Shelley chose to write an ode to the wind? Does the wind represent some larger concept?

Shelley having the speaker practically worship the changes in the autumnal winds placed great emphasis on the cycle of life. As she describes in the poem, the West wind serves as a “…Destroyer and preserver.”While the wind tarnishes the autumn leaves leaving them to lie alone in their graves, the wind will once again return and start afresh from the Spring. The larger concept pertains to the idea that as old ideas begin to fade or”die”,it paves the path for new ideas to arise. The speakers near obsession with the wind and it’s connection to life and death can be interpreted in several ways. Considering this was written during the period of Enlightenment, the cycle of the wind very resembles the saying, “out with the old in with the new.” This fits well with the embodiment of the Enlightenment which wanted to put behind the old ways of thinking and encouraged new ideas and methods of reasoning.