"Winter has come, can spring be far behind?" is a poem from the British poet Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind".
Percy Bishop Shelley was the greatest British lyric poet in the 19th century. Born on August 4, 1792 in an ancient aristocratic family in Sussex, England, Shelley began learning Latin at the age of 6, and later studied mathematics, French, astronomy, geography, physics, and chemistry. Entered the Noble Middle School at the age of 12. Among his classmates, he had a strong aversion to all despicable and decadent people and things, and never compromised. He is willing to help the weak and those who are bullied.
In 1810, Shelley began to enter the field of literature. He co-wrote the long poem "The Wandering Jew" with a friend, and wrote two legendary stories of his own. In this year, he entered Oxford University. A year later, he was expelled from school and kicked out of the house by his father because he violated the church by publishing the pamphlet "The Inevitability of Atheism".
In 1815, Shelley's father died. After Shelley received financial subsidies from his family, he gradually entered his prime years of creation.
The young Shelley loved nature and usually liked to spend his youth in the open wilderness. He often sets sail on the sea, lies in the boat, and lets the sun burn, just like a child who likes to float a paper boat with the current. He liked to write poems at sea, and his famous poems were written on bathing beaches, on the roofs of beach houses, on beautiful boats, or in caves by the sea.
In 1816, Shelley met Byron, and their friendship became deeper and deeper. In 1818, Shelley was deprived of custody of his children by the British court on the pretext of being an atheist, and was forced to leave his motherland for Italy, where he lived with Byron on the Mediterranean coast.
Shelley wrote many poems throughout his life. His definition of poetry is: "Poetry is the image of life expressed in eternal truth." He fully affirmed the fighting power and social role of poetry. He said: "The power of a poet is not to influence others, but to influence others." Through creative practice, he faithfully fulfilled his literary opinions.
In 1819, Shelley wrote the famous "Ode to the West Wind". During his stay in Italy, Shelley wrote many poems full of beautiful and vigorous fantasy and romantic colors. "Ode to the West Wind" can It is said to be the pinnacle of this type of poetry. It is a pearl in the treasure house of world poetry. In this poem, the poet takes the west wind as the center and accurately and powerfully describes a series of natural sowing seeds, driving clouds, and thunder and lightning, which wakes the Mediterranean Sea from its summer slumber and paints the Atlantic Ocean with solemn autumn colors. . It describes how nature changes under the influence of the west wind. On the other hand, the poet uses it to symbolize the entire reality at that time and repose the poet's hope for the future. Aren't those "dead leaves" the reactionary forces? Although they seem to be powerful in numbers, the "winged seeds" - the revolutionary ideas that spread like wildfire - are hidden underground, waiting for the spring thunder to sound. It will fill the world with its color and fragrance. The old must give way to the new. The poet asks the west wind to cheer him up and make him sing revolutionary songs.
Please broadcast my withered thoughts to the universe, and let them promote new life like withered leaves. Shelley’s revolutionary optimism made him issue a prophecy that resounded throughout Europe at the end of the poem. We heard it. The poet's call from the whole soul:
If winter has come, how can spring be far away, West Wind?
The poet hopes that poetry, like the West Wind, can promote the birth of a new world, " May you blow from my lips a warning to awaken the world," like a prophetic trumpet that wakes up the sleeping earth.
Shelley's other type of lyric poetry has brilliant imagination and beautiful sentiments. Such as "Clouds", "To the Skylark", "Changing the Moon", etc., they are good at expressing their own thoughts and feelings in describing natural scenes.
In Shelley's lyric poems, the protagonists are often full of confidence, which is in harmony with nature. He firmly believes that nature and society are in eternal change, and temporary pain and darkness will eventually turn into happiness and joy.
Shelley's poetry expressed the most advanced ideas in Europe at that time. In the preface to Prometheus Unchained, Shelley explains his desire to change the world through his writing.
In the history of British poetry, Shelley's lyric poetry is outstanding. The richness of imagination, the harmony of phonology, the beauty of metaphors, and the depth of philosophy are all rare. His lyric poems and Byron's narrative poems are also the peak of British poetry and are worthy of our careful chanting.
On July 8, 1822, Shelley took a boat from Liverno back to Lerici. On the way, he suddenly encountered a storm and the boat capsized, taking away the poet's young life of only 30 years old. It took several long days and nights before his body was found on the sand. Local law stipulated that anything floating on the sea must be burned, so Shelley's body was cremated by Byron and Trelawny. That day, the sky was clear, the flames rose very high, emitting dazzling golden light, and finally cremated the body of the great poet Shelley. Surprisingly, the heart was intact, and was burned from the white flames by Trelawny. Grab it from the pile.
Shelley's ashes were sent to Rome and buried in the Protestant cemetery next to the Pyramid of Sethus. A stone tablet was erected on the cemetery to mark the place where the poet was buried. The poet's name was engraved on the tablet: Percy Bysshe Shelley, there are two Latin words engraved under his name: Heart of many hearts.
This concise inscription is the appraisal of his character by his wife Mary, and it is also the most practical and profound tribute to Shelley's life.