‫اإلتحاد الطالبي‬
"‫"ها شاء هللا ال قوة إال باهلل‬
‫نسأل هللا الدعاء والتوفيق لصاحبته‬
)‫أم هحود اليافعي (زكاة العلن‬
Part (1): Comparative between Wordsworth and Shelley:
Shelley is a romantic poet like Wordsworth. Both of them share the same believes systems about the
self-insight and the inner imaginative life, nature is better than people, childhood is better than adulthood,
and they believe that they were chosen as a prophet by to celebrate the nature and to express the relationship
between the human and nature .
Wordsworth was the father of romantic, he writes about himself and his history as a special person who
unifies his self because he knows who he is. His works represent the notions of home, simplicity and
rootedness in nature. The individual's feelings for him and memories are important. Most of his works have
similar themes about the great impact of the beautiful nature in the human soul and how can we learn from it.
He has been writing, rereading and adding to his poems several times throughout his life. The aim from
adding and reproducing is to reassemble the fragments of memory to reach to the clearest experience and
memories which enables him to describe his Romantic life. His sister Dorothy shares her brother the
experience by writing in prose as a dairy .She maybe writes the journal to support her brother's works and to
add some biographical context in his works .Her brother Wordsworth always talks in one tone which is about
his desire of going back home and childhood and unifying himself. His sense of belonging and family is
strong unlike Shelley.
Shelley's Romantic life as a voiced is rootles nature and no sense of belonging and has multi characters.
He was from a high class status, an educated person but he was an atheist and used to criticize religion,
government, law and the society .he was exiled to Europe and rejected by the society and by his own family
and loosed his children custody. He has some secrets in his life and that had affected in his writings. His
character is not unified and doesn't have connection to anyone or anyplace. He is a radical intellectual and
known for his long narrative poems, verse dramas and romantic allegories)‫ )الرمىز‬drawing on classical
mythology. He doesn’t have a unified self as Wordsworth in contrast; he has multi selves and tones in his
works. Sometimes he writes in persona as a celebrated poet, otherwise he is a political or radical poet as an
angry accuses, angry father or citizen. Sometimes his poets are written with a historical tone or as a witness to
challenge, question and criticize the society, government and religion. He was atheist and exiled from his
country and nobody accepted his thoughts and believes. Another difference is, Shelley is interested in opposes
"day and night", "life and death" and he has two sides when he looks at the nature around. Most of his famous
works are direct with a clear address "Ode ".
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He describes the unseen's aspects. For example, he looks about the death of the daffodils not only to her
beauty. The encounters in his poems are varied, elusive )‫(صعبت المنال‬, often accusatory )ٍ‫ (اتهام‬and sometimes
have prophetic tone .They are dramatized rather than recollected and shifting rather than stable. He didn’t
have the chance of retrospective )ٍ‫ )أثر رجع‬reassessment
)‫(إعادة تقُُم‬of
his own writings because he died before his
thirtieth birthday. He didn’t have the chance to edit on his works. After his dead, his wife "Mary" publishes
his work for her own financial and to glorify his reputation and memory because he was rejected by the
society and by his own family. She was a great writer, so when she edited her husband's works, she tried her
best to enlighten the readers, give them more information about the poems and to add a broader
understanding. Her notes forming a kind of diary of Shelley’s Romantic life and her own feelings color the
account. She presents a clear version of the author's life and imaginative experience. For example, "To a
Skylark" conveys the image of the poet that Mary Shelley wanted preserved. She recalled that the piece was
written about 7july when they were living in Italy, wandering among the lanes until they heard suddenly the
caroling of the skylark which inspired him to write the poem. With her notes and her own feelings, she forms
Shelley's Romantic life as mythological tragic genius. His poems have different tones such as:
1- The celebrated lyric poems: "Skylark "and the "Ode to the West Wind". They are about the
nature. They were written in Italy in 1819; a year after the political turbulence for Britain. Both poems
explore the imagination to the vocation of the poet.
2- The tone in "England in 1819" and "To the Lord Chancellor" is political the voice of the accuser
and offer a coruscating ‫المع‬satire of the establishment.
3- "Ozymandias" which was composed near London in 1817, and "Written on Hearing the News of
the Death of Napoleon (1821) ", both of them are historical and about the stance of political protester
modulates ‫ ينظن‬into historical observer.
4- "Mont Blanc" it was written during the tour of Switzerland in 1816, where a heroic character is
questing for truth and the ideal through an encounter with the awe-inspiring landscape of the Alps.
John Bailey’s image of Shelley was based on the constructed version of Shelley’s life by his wife. He says
that Shelley was almost ethereal creature and an elevated being that exists on another level from the rest of
us, other-worldly—this figure is ―distant, solitary, and aloof ‫""معسل‬we are of the earth earthy and he is airy of
the air.‖. This airy figure has access to the higher powers of the cosmos: stars moon and circling worlds of
other planets. He is more opened than others and has the ability to see the beautiful and the dark side of the
nature as circling worlds. He is interesting in composing opposite in describing the nature such as ―life and
death‖, ―before and after‖, ―sun and a moon‖. His nature poets deal with the elements rather than a landscape.
In his poem, there is no sense of a poet who engaged contemporary issues. When his wife published his
poetical works, she tried to convey the image of the ideal archetypal Romantic poet and as a mythologized
airy version that was far less radical from the actual radical life of Shelley.
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Shelley
Wordsworth
1- His works convey contrasting ideas of exile,
rootless, mysteriousness, and classical
affinities. ‫واالنتماءاث التقلُذَت‬.
2- Shelley's works project versions of the varied,
elusive, multi tones, often accusatory and
sometimes prophetic in tone
3- They are dramatized rather than recollected,
and shifting rather than stable.
4- His wife directed his works as works of the
ideal archetypal Romantic poet. She tried her
best to present a clear version of the author’s
life and imaginative experience, enlighten the
readers and improve his reputation as a
mythologize poet. She tried to make him
acceptable by the readers and gave logical
reasons for his in order to spread his works
and sell as much she can..
5- When editing his collection of work, The
Poetical Works‫ األعمال الشعرَت‬of Percy Bysshe
Shelley, published after his death. Her Shelley
is far less political than the Shelley who had
been feted by radicals in the circulation of his
first poem, Queen Mab.
1- Notions of home, simplicity and rootedness in
nature.
2- He attempted to project a grand, unified 'self',
described through conscious, autobiographical acts
of recollection.
3- His life is rooted in a specific landscape (Lake
District) and he used the act of memory to reach to
the clearest memories to feel unified and write his
experience perfectly.
4- He used Dorothy's account in her writings as an
aid to his memory and displayed some of her
divergence, beside both of them shared the same
experience.
"To a Skylark" and "Ode to the West Wind" “romantic poet”
-
Mary recalled that the piece was written on or about 7July, when the Shelleys were living near Pisa
in Italy. They were wandering until they heard the carolling ‫الغناء بمرح‬of the skylark which inspired one of the
most beautiful of his poems. In fact, Shelley was facing domestic difficulties and secret gloom in that period.
He was struggling to find a London publisher for some of his political poems and he was anxious about the
health of his daughter whom died later. The contrast between his real life at that time and the joyous raptures
imagined in the poem are stark ‫ صارخ‬. The skylark’s songs emanate from heaven ‫ ;تنبثق من السماء‬it sings a pure
expression of happiness that inspires the poet. It loves without pain and the mystery behind the skylark’s song
is that it is free of every kind of knowledge that gives pain to man. The skylark knows what lies behind death
and has no fear. In contrast, man’s laughter and happiness is fraught with pain and sadness– man is aware of
death. And even if he frees himself from hatred/fear/pride, his joy will never equalize nor exceed ‫ال َتساوي وال‬
‫َتجاوز‬that of the skylark. The secret of the skylark’s capacity to sing would be a gift to the poet– if the skylark
could communicate half the secret of its happiness, the poet would write poetry that would read as joyful as
the carols of the skylark.
The poem captures Mary’s image of her husband ―airiest flight of fancy ― in which the poetic imagination
transcends ً‫ َتخط‬the contrasts of everyday existence. It is composed in a moment of direct inspiration and
the tone of the first -person voice. His poem is Ode that speaks directly to someone or something and has a
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direct addressed and message. On reading the entire poem, we will have seen that it argument develops as it
proceeds, with one key shift in direction and a changing role for the voice of the first –person speaker. For
example, the line 60 onwards, the image of the airy fanciful ٍ‫خُال‬comparisons gradually gives away to
contrasts between the transcendent ٍ‫المتسام‬perfection of the birdsong of the shortcomings ‫ أوجه القصىر‬of
human existence. Then, in lines 77-80 we are told that the bird is free from "languor" and the "sad
satiety" of worldly love. And lines 86-90 might remind us of the "difficulties and secret gloom" which
characterized Shelley's life at that time.
The first three stanzas, Shelley is greeting the skylark and sees it as spirit. He respects it soul because it is
not like any other birds. He can't see the bird but he can hear it sings. Shelley uses his imagination to describe
the skylark by saying it is compared to 'a cloud of fire' (I. 8) and 'a star of Heaven'. Shelley has apparently
discovered the 'purest form' to capture the image of flight and compare it with the liberating impetus of
poetic creativity.ٌ‫ قىة دافعت لالبذاع الشعر‬and it was imitated the movement of the bird. It comes from heaven, it
sings as he can fly, and his song is rich loud and flows. Shelley is celebrating the natural in at the beginning of
the poem. The bird has the power and the mythologized Shelley admires the bird that ―comes from heaven‖.
In Shelley's imagination, the bird is totally free in singing loudly and openly to the sun, to the cloud and to the
darkening sky at the end of the day. It can fly as higher it can and let the nature listen to its song. He sees it as
something special with mysteries. The bird doesn’t have objects life like humans to feel happy. Next He uses
another tone of wondering and gloominess. He says that there is suffering and pain in our lives and we always
concerning. We always worried about the past and what will happen next, and the death. We never live the
moment or feel the pleasure ―we look before and after, and pine for what is not, our sincerest laughter
with some pain is fraught". He says that our best of arts is that involves sadness, and the sweetest songs or
arts are based on miserable. He wonders about the bird and how he could reach to it. He says that the bird has
the highest level; it soars so high that it disappears from view, though the joy of its song continues to echo
throughout the poem. In this critical moment Shelley uses the pronouns "me", "my" and" I" to show that
the birdsong is not so much as the poet himself and his vocation. "The world should listen then" which
refers to the sympathy from the public for Shelley's work. In the last stanzas he asks the bird to teach us how
we can be like it, happy and free of annoyance and languor. He wonders what he has that makes it happy.
Later, he says that ignorance of these objects life is the key of gaining pleasure. He wants from the world to
listen to the birdsong, and then listen to his poetry. He is a prophet who learns from the nature and writes what
he learns in his poems. Therefore, he wishes to spread his work round the world like the bird and make people
read his poetry to change their thoughts and understand the nature like him.
The Ode to the West Wind was written earlier than to the skylark in 1819. The scheme is more intricate
‫ معقذ‬than" To the Skylark" and the first fourteen line stanza adopt the approximate of a sonnet with their
iambic pentameter. The present poem is an Ode dedicated to the West Wind and its power. The Ode is a lyric
poem usually addressing a particular person or thing—in this poem, the poet-speaker demands to be heard by
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the west wind. It was composed in a moment of direct inspiration when the couple was living in Florence. It
begins with the speaker's invocation to the west wind of autumn. The wind scatters the dead leaves and
enables seeds to spread in order to be nurtured by the spring. The speaker addresses the wind with words
"destroyer and preserver". He wants the West Wind to listen to the speaker. The speaker says that the West
Wind causes violent storms and according to him, the wind changes the Mediterranean from his summer
dreams and cleaves ‫ تشقق‬the Atlantic into choppy chasms.‫هىة متقطعت‬
Critical analysis, the speaker addresses the west wind and praises ‫ َشُذ‬its power. He describes how the
wind controls the rest of the nature and it blows a cross every part of the earth. It has the powers both to
preserve and destroy. He is focusing on the elements of nature, though this time in more turbulent form. It
controls the seasons, clouds, seas, and all the aspects of the nature. The west wind is a source of inspiration for
the poet and it is a metaphor for the awe inspiring spirit of nature. He admires the power of the west wind
in the air and admires its impact on the Mediterranean. The speaker finally wants to be assisted by the west
wind in his creation of poetry. He prays to the wind to inspire him. He wants that the wind should spread his
words across the land. Since it is an Ode, excitement, pleasure, joy and hope are obvious in the tone of the
speaker. The poet draws a parallel between the changing moods of the west wind and his own ever changing
spirit. The speaker knows that he is bound by time and mortality but he requests the wind to make him its lyre
‫قُثارة‬so that his works could be carried through land and time. He maybe wants to return home. He demands
the wind to take his words like the leaves to be revived and bring the lively spring after the death of winter.
These words will rebirth thoughts when people read his poems. The winds from the Atlantic may hint at the
revolutionary change which had led to the creation of the United States of America in 1776. When Shelley
wrote the poem, people weren’t satisfied with the government because they were working hard for low salary.
So they protested against the government to demand their rights .Unfortunately the government didn’t listen to
their demands and sent the army to attack the protesters. They killed and injured hundreds of them. Shelley’s
last stanza could be a call for a revolution to stand and protest against the unfair government and live free. The
conditions of the final stanza interpret the energy and optimism there as infused with an element of personal
desperation.
There are similarities between both poems. Both of them are Odes and celebrating the nature at their
beginnings, but then they have different tones such as anger or wondering. The poet says that he doesn’t see the
skylark or the wind but he feels the beauty of the bird and the power of the wind. After that, he becomes darker
through his shifts of the tone from energy and hope to difficulties and secret gloom. Both poems have the image
of the airy mythologized poet but in different ways. In the skylark the bird is from heaven and its song like ―rain
of melody‖ but the west wind is compared to breath and fleeing ghosts and call of‖ clarion‖ in more turbulent
.Another difference is that the tone in skylark is wondering and the poet is reflected by it song and happiness,
but in the Ode west wind the tone of the poet speaker is urgent and demanding. And finally, the listening
persona of the skylark inspired by animated nature is replaced here by more intensely personal voice which
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becomes almost self- dramatizing in its anxiety to be heard, not only by the wind but by ―mind kind‖, and even
―universe‖ reaching us from worlds ―distant and aloof‖.
"to a Skylark"
1-
234-
"Ode to the West Wind"
Similarities
Explore the centrality of the imagination to the vocation of the poet. The "airiest fancy" of both
poems in the final analysis, is inextricably linked through the imagination to the real world of
"regret and lost hope".
Both of these poems seem at some level to conform in their imagery, word choice, and subject
matter to the version of the Romantic life constructed by Mary Shelley.
Both of them are Odes and kind of poetic ambition appears. In the earlier of the poems, they are
energetic and hopeful at least at first, and then the hint of gloom and inadequacy are appeared later.
He expresses his respect and admiration for the spirit of the skylark and the west wind in his
poems. And asks them to spread his words round the world.
Differences
1- Less turbulent, the poet focuses on the element of
the nature "rainbow clods" and "pale purple".
2- The motif of music and song is shared but instead
of "rain of melody" and notes which flow like a
"crystal stream".
3- The tone is wonderment and reflection evoked by
the song of skylark.
4- Less intricate than the west wind
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1- More turbulent form and focuses on the
power of the wind and its impact, he uses
words such as " wild " " fierce" and "
impetuous".
2- The motif of music and song he uses
summoning call of "clarion" and" trumpet".
3- The tone is urgent and demanding.
4- More rhyme scheme than the skylark.