What is the relationship between the speaker or poet and nature in Shelley’s work? Does the poet work in harmony with nature or rebel against it somehow? Or some combination of the two?
The narrator of “Ode to the west wind” written by Percy Shelly follows a powerful theme in the romanticism period in which nature is glorified as a spiritual being. In this case, the poet wants to become part of the spirit of nature. The poet demonstrates this by first calling out for the wind to hear him “Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear!”. In an attempt to ask the wind to “hear”, the poet is personifying nature as someone or something that can listen and understand. It is later revealed in the poem why the poet was calling to the wind. After numerous attempts for the wind to “hear” him, the poet writes “One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud. ” Not only does the poet glorify the wind as being tameless, swift, and proud, but the poet also believes that he is very similar to the wind. The poet says “Be thou me, impetuous one” to connect himself to the spirits of nature, revealing to us that his relationship with nature is something that he desires.
I agree with your ideas of the author of Ode to The West Wind embracing the ideas of nature. It is subtly showed throughout the poem that Shelley wants to become one with nature. I like the way you quote the poem and analyze your ideas through text evidence. I also agree with the way you focus on wind and its symbolic value in the poem.