Themes

The main themes of the poem “Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley are the connection between man and nature and the decay of things. A meta-theme of the poem is that of communication.

Man and nature

The connection between man and nature has always been explored by writers and poets. This is also Shelley’s choice, who adopts the form of the apostrophe to instil a connection between man and nature.

Here, nature is symbolized by the West Wind, a force of nature that brings cold, numbness and decay. The wind is more powerful than a man can dream of ever being, sometimes even bringing disastrous consequences. This is why the speaker’s plea to the wind is absurd and will never be fulfilled. He wishes to become powerful and uncontrollable like the wind, but human beings are never granted such powers, as they would most probably be more destructive than nature.

Mankind has always wante...