who wrote ‘Ode to the West Welley
Percy Bysshe Shelley--- A young radical
❖ A radical young fellow, Percy Shelley was expelled from Oxford University in 1811 when he published The Necessity of Atheism. His early poems advocated social reform, reflecting the influence of the philosophical writings of William Godwin. He fell in love with Godwin's daughter Mary, who later gained fame as the author of Frankenstein. After Shelley's first wife committed suicide in 1816, Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin were married. Shelley was lost at sea in 1822, while sailing off the coast of Italy.
Ode to the West Wind
→Introduction
❖ “Ode to the West Wind” was first published in 1820 in Shelley’s collection Prometheus Unbound: A Lyrical Drama in Four Acts, With Other Poems. In his prefatory note to the poem, Shelley wrote: “This poem was conceived and chiefly written in a wood that skirts the Arno, near Florence, [Italy] and on a day when that tempestuous wind, whose temperature is at once mild and animating, was collecting the vapors which pour down the autumnal rains.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley
❖ ‘Ode to the West Wind’ (1819) best represents his impetuous (猛烈的，奔腾的) idealism, foreshadowing Prometheus Unbound (1820), which imagines a bloodless revolution where ‘mankind had only to will that there should be no evil and there would be none’. His life was abruptly ended by an accident at sea. Shelley's body washed ashore, and later, in keeping with strict quarantine (检疫, 隔离) regulations, was cremated on the beach near Viareggio.
Ode to the West Wind
→Introduction
❖ His description gives the location of the poem, but says nothing of the strained emotional circumstances in which it was composed. Four months before Shelley began writing “Ode to the West Wind” in October 1819, his son William had died; the year before, he had lost his daughter Clara. His wife Mary had consequently suffered a nervous breakdown, and he himself was plagued by ill health, creditors, rumors of illegitimate children, and the failure of his political hopes. To top it off, the public had been largely indifferent to or critical of his writings.
Percy Bysshe Shelley---cremated
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
❖ II. Major works
❖ Queen Mab 麦布女王;
❖ Revolt of Islam ❖ 伊斯兰的反叛;
❖ Prometheus Unbound ❖ 解放了的普罗米修斯; ❖ Adonais 阿东尼斯; ❖ The Cenci 钦契;
Part VII The Romantic Period
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Shelley, Keats, Coleridge
Percy Bysshe Shelley 珀西·比希·雪莱
❖ I. Life and career ❖ Born: 4 August 1792 ❖ Birthplace: Near Sussex, England ❖ Died: 8 July 1822 (drowning) ❖ Best Known As: 19th century romantic poet
❖ Song to the Men of England 致英国人民;
❖ England in 1819;
❖ The Masque of Anarchy ❖ 专制魔王的化装游行;
❖ Ode to the West Wind ❖ 西风颂; ❖ To a Skylark 致云雀; ❖ A Defense of Poetry 诗辩