Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ode to the West Wind

Paul William Whickman

Ed. by Daniel Robinson, Widener University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University), Emily Rohrbach (University of Durham)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1820

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Lyric
Poem

Resources

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Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” was likely composed in October 1819 near Florence (Donovan 300); it first appeared in print as one of the “Miscellaneous Poems” in his 1820

Prometheus Unbound

volume. Sharing thematic and formal concerns with other poems in the volume as well as others composed in 1819, “Ode to the West Wind” is a poem that is also informed by its particular historical context.

Literary and Historical Context

The year 1819 was a remarkable one in literary history. James Chandler notes the sheer “quantity and quality of extraordinary writings produced in a relatively brief epoch” (Chandler xiii); during that same year appeared such major works as the first two cantos of Byron’s Don Juan and the six odes that ensured the

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3161 words

Citation: Whickman, Paul William. "Ode to the West Wind". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 April 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34176, accessed 23 November 2024.]