Discuss
the functions of the West Wind both as Destroyer and Preserver.
The West Wind has been portrayed by
Shelley as a great force of Nature. It is a force that both destroys and
creates things anew. It brings about an annual revolution in the physical
world. So it is both a destroyer and a preserves or a creator. Shelley imagines
the West Wind as the force of Nature and this imagination about the Wind is not
a mere poetic fancy, it has a realistic basis. The poet minutely observed the
role of the Wind, which is to destroy things in order to create them anew
according to the laws of Nature. In the physical worlds creation and
destruction move in a cyclic order.
This dual role of the West Wind
as destroyer and preserver has been
realistically presented within the scope of the poem. The dual role is
suggested by the Hindus conceptions of Siva and Vishnu who destroys and creates
respectively. Shelley has the pagan spirit and has expressed adoration of the
forces of Nature such as we find in the Vedic hymns. Ode to the West Wind
contains the poets’ prophetic and inspired faith in the dawn of a millennium
where all his dreams and visions will be realized. The West Wind, conceived by the poet as
an unfailing force, will drive away all old and dated customs and social orders
and thereafter, rouse mankind from bondage of old custom and convention and
pave the sure way of rebirth and regeneration.
