Percy Bysshe Shelley Study Questions, Ode to the West Wind, Other Poems

E212: British Literature since 1760

Percy Bysshe Shelley Study Questions

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"Mutability"

1. In this poem Shelley describes the inconstancy of human emotions and aspirations, even of life itself. To what extent is the sentiment in this poem a comment on poetry's potential to transform the individual and the community?

"Ozymandias"

1. The traveler suggests that the statue's sculptor intended his work to express the cruelty of Ramses II. The sculptor and time's ruinous effects appear to have issued their sentence against the Pharaoh, but in what sense has he defeated them both--what statement do the ruins still make about human history and human nature?

"Ode to the West Wind"

1. How might we apply Shelley's theories in "Defence of Poetry" about inspiration, expression, and poetry's value, to this poem?

2. Describe the structure of this poem. How does the "terza rima" verse form suit the poem's subject and aims?

3. Characterize the West Wind in this poem -- what are its powers, what effects does it have on nature and the poet? In what way does it embody both danger and hope? How is the operation of Shelley's West Wind different from natural forces in Wordsworth and Coleridge (or Blake)?

4. What is the traditional purpose of an ode? What does it seem to be to romantics such as Shelley?

5. What assistance does the poet ask of the West Wind? Why has he been striving with the Wind, and why doesn't the Forest have to do that?

6. When towards the poem's end the speaker prays to the West Wind to scatter abroad his words and thoughts like dead leaves and ashes, what is he implying about poetic language? How does such a prayer relate to Shelley's ideas about inspiration and expression?

7. Is the speaker certain that the West Wind will grant the prayer that has been uttered? What is the task of the poem with regard to the reader and perhaps to the human community?

8. In what way or ways does the organic metaphor operate in this poem?

"To a Skylark"

1. Why can't the poet define the skylark? How does the skylark exceed the capacity of human language to describe its qualities or the qualities of its song?

2. What is the purpose of the similes that the speaker employs in place of direct definition? Do they adequately describe the skylark?

3. What is the relationship between the skylark and physical nature? What is the source of the skylark's song?

4. What prevents the speaker (and us) from singing as the skylark does? Why is the skylark's song better than even the best productions of human genius, language, and emotion?

5. In what sense might this poem (like many other romantic lyric poems) be said to efface the act of writing in favor of the spoken word? Why would a poet do that, whether consciously or otherwise?

6. At the poem's end, does the speaker seem confident that his words can have the same effect on future readers as the bird's pure song has upon him? Why or why not?

Edition: Abrams, M.H. et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 2. Seventh edition. New York: Norton, 2000.