On Shelley

Explaining how the origin and inception of mythological retellings impacts the modern genre

I have mentioned in brief my intention to link this series of paid articles on a diverse set of authors together in interesting and peculiar ways. We began the triad with a figure from the end of the Romantic period, moved on to one who preceded the Romantic period, and now we will end with one smack dab in the middle of it who exemplifies the attitudes of the era. Percy Bysshe Shelley may not be the most prominent figure of that time, but his desire to challenge the political and religious status quo makes his body of work the ideal case to examine the period as a whole. 

Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” comes straight out of Rome’s golden age of literature. Paying tribute to one natural force or another is very much in the style of Vergil’s Georgica or more specifically Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura.¹ Zephyrus, the Greek namesake of the topic of this poem, is of course most famous for his role in delivering Odysseus back to Ithaca on the first unsuccessful leg of his journey. Because both trade and travel tend to happen across latitudinal patterns, both the east and the west wind gained an illustrious reputation in antiquity. Zephyrus is generally considered to be the most favorable of his brothers because his presence also indicates that spring has sprung.² This is not mere mythology; we call the mid-latitude cell between 60° N - 30° N that blows cool air from the Mediterranean onto the city of Rome a “westerly.”³ Shelley focuses on the bond between this wind and the changing of the seasons in cantos 1, 3, and 5, while 2 and 4 are extended metaphors about certain characteristics of its presence. The words relating to the seasons in these cantos in order are as follows: “Autumn,” “wintry bed,” “Spring,” “summer dreams,” “autumnal tone,” “Winter.” It would be folly to assume that this cyclical pattern is mere coincidence. If we look more closely at the odd pair that cut between this pattern, we see that the former ties itself to heavenly concepts, while the latter strictly pertains to earthly affairs. This may appear to be directly contradictory, but Shelley argues that Zephyrus is a janusian destroyer when he blows the life-giving leaves off trees in autumn while also shaking the seeds from those same trees in its role as a preserver. From a different perspective, the same breeze that blows a lost thought from the mind is also fumigating one’s brain for new ideas to take root. If we understand this as an allegory for Europe in Shelley’s time, then it follows that he views himself (and the Romantic movement at-large) as something meant to “destroy” old and rigid interpretations of the ancient world and to breathe new life into them. He is no base Savonarola; the original texts will continue to persist in their original forms, but more will be added to them with the passage of time.