"If winter comes, can spring be far behind?" This sentence is taken from the fifth section of his ode to the west wind.
One autumn afternoon, the poet Shelley was walking in the Woods outside Florence, Italy. Suddenly there was a strong wind and dark clouds rolled. At night, the storm poured down with hail and lightning, sweeping the earth and shaking the world. The great symphony of nature inspired the poet. He wrote an immortal lyric poem "ode to the west wind". This happened on 18 19.
At that time, the workers' movements and revolutionary movements in European countries were surging. In order to fight for their right to exist, the British working class is waging a heroic struggle against the bourgeoisie, with machine destruction and strikes one after another. 18 19 In August, 80,000 workers in Manchester held a massive demonstration, and the reactionary authorities sent troops to brutally suppress it, creating the famous Petrou Massacre in history. Shelley, full of grief and indignation, wrote a long poem "Masked Parade Tyranny" and made a solemn protest against the bloody atrocities of the bourgeois government. Since the collapse of Napoleon's monarchy and the restoration of Bourbon Dynasty in France, class contradictions have been extremely acute, and the broad masses of the people are brewing a revolutionary struggle against the feudal restoration forces. The disintegration of Napoleon's empire also greatly promoted the Spanish people's revolutionary movement against alien oppression and feudal autocracy. 18 19, 1 In June, an armed uprising finally sounded. On the eve of the armed uprising, Shelley presented an ode to the Spanish people and sounded the horn of the Spanish revolution. In Italy and Greece, the national liberation movement is in the ascendant. Shortly after the publication of Shelley's ode to the west wind, vigorous armed uprisings broke out in these two countries. Facing the revolutionary situation in Europe, Shelley was deeply encouraged and excited, and the poet's chest was boiling with fiery revolutionary passion. At this time, under the trigger of a stormy natural scene, this uncontrollable revolutionary passion immediately rushed out of his chest and poured thousands of miles away, turning into passionate and generous singing:
In your roaring symphony,
There will be Woods and my low voice,
We will sing Qiu Ge gently and sadly.
Genie, let me become you, fierce and strong!
Dispel my thoughts of dying in the universe,
Like a piece of dead leaves to stimulate new life;
Please listen to the spell in my poem,
To convey my words to people all over the world,
It's like blowing sparks from the eternal furnace!
Shelley is singing West Wind. He sang that the west wind swept away the residual leaves with great strength and ruthlessly swept away "a large group of people who died of the plague in black, red, lead gray or sallow"; He sang that the west wind "set off a torrent in a turbulent space", stirred up "thick clouds and dense fog", called "electric fire, hail, black rain" and "sang an elegy for this dying year"; He sang that the west wind awakened the sleeping sea, and the waves were rough, which made the clusters of Jyukai flowers hidden in the depths of the sea pale with fear and "shivered and withered one after another". Shelley sang about the west wind and the revolutionary storm that swept across Europe. He sang that the revolutionary movement is sweeping away all the dark reactionary forces in the old world with overwhelming force. The revolutionary movement was surging, the crown fell to the ground with the wind, and groups of monsters fled at the wind, which was a vivid portrayal of the European revolutionary situation at that time.
Shelley is singing West Wind. He sang "Zephyr is both a destroyer and a protector". He sang that the west wind not only swept away the broken branches and leaves, but also "sent flying seeds to their winter beds". Next spring, when Xifeng's younger sister, Dongfeng, comes to the earth, it will "bud and spit fragrance" and "blossom colorful flowers all over the mountains", and a new world with bright spring will appear. Shelley is singing the west wind and revolution at the same time. Unlike those bourgeois mortals, he did not simply regard revolution as a negative destructive force. He saw that on the one hand, the revolution was sweeping away corruption and ruthlessly destroying the old world, on the other hand, it was "inspiring new life" and actively creating a better new world. Although Shelley's understanding of the new world is still vague, it is impossible to break through the level of utopian socialism.
Shelley is singing West Wind. But he is not a singer who looks on coldly. He has a strong love and yearning for the west wind. He used the west wind as a metaphor. The west wind is his soul, his body, the poet and the west wind are one;
If I were a fallen leaf you blew off;
If I were a cloud, I would fly with you;
If it's a wave, it rushes under your power,
Enjoy the push of your divine power and be free,
Almost like you, ah, you can't control it!
Otherwise, if we can go back to childhood,
Fly freely in space with you forever,
It is not an illusion to think that you are faster than you;
Then I wouldn't be in this awkward position,
Begging you: oh, lift me up quickly,
Like a leaf, a cloud and a wave!
I met the thorns of life, and my blood flowed!
The burden of time trapped me and overwhelmed me.
I am so much like you: unruly, agile and proud.
This is Shelley singing the west wind, and at the same time, he is encouraging and urging himself. Shelley is a passionate and romantic poet and a brave revolutionary soldier. He took poetry as a weapon, actively participated in the revolutionary movement, experienced failures and setbacks, but always maintained a high morale. In his early years, he went to Ireland to participate in the national liberation struggle. After returning to Britain, he continued to attack tyranny, advocate revolution, sympathize with and support the workers' movement. So he was persecuted by the reactionary bourgeois government and had to leave the motherland angrily. During his stay in Italy, he kept close contact with Italian "Charcoal Party" and Greek revolutionaries, sympathized with and supported their revolutionary activities. In ode to the west wind, Shelley's bumpy life path is projected, filled with Shelley's resentment against reactionary rulers, filled with Shelley's indomitable fighting spirit, and expressed Shelley's strong desire to join the revolution.
Ode to the west wind is a Qiu Ge and the voice of the times. /kloc-At the beginning of the 9th century, scientific socialism was not yet born, the workers' movements in European countries were still in the spontaneous stage, the reactionary forces of feudal nobles and bourgeoisie were still very strong, and the ghost of "holy alliance" wandered around. The earth has not yet awakened, and winter has not yet arrived. Therefore, ode to the west wind inevitably has a tone of "euphemistic sadness". However, as a pioneer of socialist thought, Shelley always maintained an optimistic belief in the future of revolution and the fate of mankind. He firmly believes that justice will overcome evil, and light will replace darkness. Generally speaking, the melody of ode to the west wind is "violent and powerful". The poet loudly declared to the world with the attitude of "genius prophet":
If winter comes, can spring be far behind?
Ode to the west wind is an artistic treasure in the history of European poetry. The whole poem consists of five sonnets. Formally, the five articles are complete and can be written independently. From the content point of view, they are integrated and run through a central idea. The first section describes that the west wind swept away the residual leaves in the forest and blew up the seeds of life. The second section describes the west wind stirring the thick clouds and dense fog in the sky, calling for the arrival of heavy rain and lightning. The third section describes the turbulent waves of the sea caused by the west wind, which destroyed the flowering trees on the seabed. Three verses and three artistic conceptions, the wings of the poet's fantasy fly between the Woods, the sky and the sea, between reality and ideal, with vivid images and rich imagination, but there is only one central idea, that is, singing the west wind to sweep away decay and stimulate new life. From the fourth season, the scenery description turned to lyricism, from describing the momentum of the west wind to expressing the poet's mind, expressing the poet's love and yearning for the west wind, and reaching the realm of scene blending, while the central idea is still singing the west wind. Therefore, a prominent artistic feature of ode to the west wind is its rigorous structure, distinct levels and concentrated themes.
Secondly, ode to the west wind uses symbolism, and the whole poem is written around the west wind in autumn from beginning to end. No matter landscape writing or lyric writing, there is no separation from this specific description object and no use of a political term and revolutionary slogan. However, after reading this short poem, we deeply feel that Shelley is singing the west wind, not exactly the west wind. The poet is essentially singing the revolution by singing the west wind. West wind, leaves, seeds, floating clouds, thunder and lightning, waves, flowers and trees on the seabed, etc. Poetry is only symbolic, but it contains profound meaning. The moving scenery of nature is a symbolic reflection of the booming revolutionary struggle in the world. In this sense, ode to the west wind is not a landscape poem, but a political lyric poem. Although there is no direct description of the revolution, the whole poem reflects the revolution. In particular, the well-known poem "If winter comes, can spring be far behind" at the end not only summarizes natural phenomena, but also profoundly reveals the historical laws of human society, and points out the bright future of the revolutionary struggle, which has far-reaching implications and endless aftertaste, and has become a famous motto widely read by people for more than 100 years.